Day 83: Queenstown to Mount Cook to Chirstchurch (March 31, 2011)

Another pre-7 a.m. wake-up to catch my bus north. My tour today is part of the bus system I've been on the past few days, but it's supplemented with more commentary and stops. At the moment, I'm writing from the base of Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest peak. It's a popular destination for people to hike up part of the mountain -- even camp up in huts further up -- but I'm content just looking at it from the bottom. Today I have neither the clothes nor the energy to contemplate a walk up a snow-covered mountain.

Mt. Cook

The main hotel in town, where we are taking our break, has a little museum dedicated to Sir Edmund Hillary, who climbed Mount Cook before he climbed Everest. It also has a planetarium, so I checked out a show about the southern night sky. It was kind of simple, given my level of knowledge of astronomy, but as I'm not familiar with the southern sky, I learned a bit. And it refreshed my memory of things I used to know but have forgotten.

[About 5 hours later...] I've managed to suffer from almost no feelings of motion sickness so far on this trip. Let's see if I can manage to write on the bus. It's a good time to praice my tuping without looking, so I can look out the window while I type. At the moment, we're about an hour away from Christchurch. I am so looking forward to taking a shower and getting into bed! This area of the South Island is pretty dull -- we're on the Canterbury Plains and it's just farmland. Occassionally we'll drive through a dinky little town and the driver will tell us its history, but even those highlights aren't making this part of the ride too captivating.

Most of the trip today was more interesting than this last bit, though. After leaving Mount Cook, we still had more mountains to see, and stopped at some little famous church, The Church of the Good Shepherd. If our driver told us why it was famous, I either missed it or forgot it (probably slept through it). But it's a tiny little thing in the middle of nowhere. Charming, but I'm not sure why everyone stops to see it. Unless it's because of the dearth of old buildings in this country, and most tourists love old buildings, so we'll stop to look at any of them!

The Church of the Good Shepherd

The view from behind the church (which almost no one else bothered to go see).

Wow, I managed to type two paragraphs while mostly looking out the window while I typed. I hope this is the start of the end of my motions sickness! Then again, there's a difference between tapping my fingers while looking out the window on a smooth road, and, say,trying to read in stop-and-go traffic. I'd write more, but not a wholoe lot happened today to write about.

Oh yeah, this... At the town we stopped for lunch, there was this great antiques, collectables, and odds and ends shop. Among other things, it sells costumes used in films and TV shows shot in New Zealand, like these from Zena, Warrior Princess, and from lots of other things, like whatever this was starring the world's scariest mannequin:

Zena & Friends

From the WTF Show.

I'd have stayed longer if I had more time!

Tomorrow I head to the North Island. I'll be taking the ferry and THAT will be a test to see how motion sick I get! Boats and I have never gotten along. I'll be in Wellington for a full day or two, in part just to rest and also because Wellington sounds like a cool city, easy to explore on foot. Then I'll keep heading north.

Day 82: Franz Josef to Queenstown (March 30, 2011)

 Yesterday ended on a good note. I had a really nice soak in the Hot Pools in Franz Josef, and chatted for a while with a fellow traveler from Canada. She lives on Prince Edward Island, which I'll have to think about visiting later this year. It's not quite as far away as some places I'd like to see, but it's pretty far from home.

After the pools, I went to dinner at a restaurant on the main strip -- one that I'd looked at earlier and seemed to have a nice menu. It was late and the only other customers were this one couple. After I'd been there a few minutes, reading, the lady asked if I'd like to join them. The couple was on their honeymoon and the woman was a stewardess and said she recognized travellers who'd been alone too long. I must have looked quite lonely and woebegone, although I didn't feel like it. lol.

So I joined the couple, Jude and (I hope this is right; forgive me if not!) Elena while they finished their meal and I started mine. They live in Christchurch and were very sweet to welcome me like that. I can't say all the New Zealanders have been quite as kind as they were, but everyone's been pretty friendly. They remind me of midwesterners, sort of. Anyway, I wound up having a really nice meal and chat, when I'd just expected it would be me and my book. :) PS: If either Jude or his wife is reading, please send me an email to say hi and let me know if I got everyone's name right!

Today was a bus trip from Franz Josef to Queensland, which is one of the tourism and exploration centers in the South Island. Lots of hotels and restaurants here, but I'll only be here overnight, as my tour (real tour, not just a bus ride) leaves early tomorrow morning. It'll be 12 hours to Christchurch, and will have some stops along the way.

Even the bus trip today made several stops (a few more than were really necessary) but some of them were quite beautiful. I'm not getting to see a whole lot of the South Island's beauty up close (no glacier hikes, for examples) but I'll seeing quite a bit of it from the road or occassional rest points.

Early this morning, I started chatting with another solo traveller on my bus -- Jim from Chicago. We wound up having a pretty good rapport, and are on similar trips -- his trip is shorter but fancier -- so we compared our travel experiences so far, which is a common conversation topic among travellers. But we talked some about work and home, etc. We had dinner together at a tasty seafood place here in Queenstown, then parted ways so we could both write in our blogs. As always, it feels good to make friends on the road. I forgot to take a photo of Jim, though, or anyone I met last night. :(

The skies over Queenstown.

Tonight is another night I really didn't want to write. I'm sleepy and had a drink with dinner, which always makes me sleepier, and an early start tomorrow. Ugh! But I won't regret later that I stayed up to type this.

Bah... crappy internet connection means no photos tonight!  Will upload when I can.  [Next night:  Done!]

Day 81: Greymouth to Franz Josef (March 29, 2011)

Greymouth has exactly one thing to see: The History House Museum, which is one of those quaint small-town museums about the history of the area. I really should stop being surprised at how thorough most of these little museums are. This one only had a handful of artifacts from the area, but it had a ton of printed material (photos, letters, newspaper articles from the 19th century, etc.) documenting pretty much ever facet of area's history. Since the settlers arrived about 150 years ago, at least.


Queen Elizabeth II sat here.

It actually seemed more like a library with how much material they had. If I were a grad student in history, I might consider writing about Greymouth just because it has so much local material already gathered in one spot.

So I did learn that Greymouth used to be more than just the last stop on the railroad: It used to be a major shipping port (and still has shipping) and was and still is a major coal mining area. It also seems really prone to disasters. The museum had one room dedicated solely to floods, which apparently happen about every 5 years. And another room dedicated solely to coal mining accidents, of which there have been several in the past 150 years.

Around 1pm, I caught my bus to Franz Josef, another small town on the west coast. The drive wasn't too long and it was pretty scenic.

The most unusual thing I saw was this bridge, which not only has a single lane for traffic going both ways, but also serves at the railroad bridge. Our driver said that trains "usually" have the right of way. I wonder exactly who the trains are supposed to defer to?

Like Greymouth, Franz Josef seems comprised of mostly hotels, serving people who've come to tour the glacier. I considered staying here for two nights so I could hike it too, but since I only have sandals and summer clothes with me, I decided I'll just have to admire the glaciers from afar. If the clouds lift that is! Plus, I like this whole skip-winter-entirely thing I've got going on.

I'm posting this fairly early in the evening, so I can take advantage of a coffee shop's free wifi and still have time to go to the Hot Pools for a soak. Assume I'm having a wonderful and relaxing time in the pools, and I'll write again when I can.

My stuff

On my flight from Australia to New Zealand, I finished reading the only book I brought with me: The wonderful And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer. I chose it because at 1,433 pages long, I knew it would last me for a while, and indeed it did -- nearly 2/3 of my trip. For the first few weeks, I had averaged reading only about 10 pages each day, and at such a slow pace I wouldn't have finished before I returned home. As the book is rather bulky, it is not something I wanted to carry with me the entire trip. Fortunately, I got into a reading groove and the story flew by.

I left it behind at my Christchurch bed and breakfast. It's quite likely no one will pick it up, as it's in terrible condition: stained, horribly creased binding, and both the front and back covers are attached to the book by packing tape. But hopefully an astute bookworm will recognize that it is a much-loved book, and will give it a shot.

Early in my trip, I grew to both love and hate my stuff. Maybe "love" is too strong a word... it's more like I'm dependent on my stuff and it's all I possess, so I value it more than I would otherwise. I lost a couple of small and replaceable things already, and each time I was much angrier at myself than I would have been if I were at home. But I sure am glad every time I use something up and can throw something away (empty pill bottles, old razors, paperwork) or mail unneeded stuff back home (an extra scarf, superfluous electronic equipment, etc.). I started out with about 11 kilograms of stuff and am down to about 9. BTW, I haven't adopted the metric system for my everyday use. But each time I check in for a flight, I weight all my stuff, so I know how much it weighs in kilograms but not pounds.

Eventually I will toss or donate several items of clothing, too, mostly the second-hand shirts I bought for the trip that now appear to be permanently stained. And if I use them right, I will finish up most of my toiletries as the trip ends, so I won't have to purchase more. I'm a little worried about the deoderant. Based on how quickly I used up my first mini-stick, my second one might come up a few days short, and I'll have to decide between being stinky and buying more stuff to carry.

And speaking of buying stuff to carry... I didn't set out on this trip with the goal of buying much. In part because I'm on a budget, but mostly because I didn't want to carry it or ship it all home. So the few things I've bought for myself have been small and light: a few paintings, which get rolled up; a bikini; a couple of CDs; a necklace. I saw many pretty things that were larger or bulkier (statutes, wood carvings), but I didn't want to deal with the chore of shipping things. It's OK, I'm in a phase of purging stuff, not collecting stuff.

A couple of stops ago, I picked up a new books. Well, new to me; someone else left it at a hostel. The Plains of Passage by Jane Auel. I've read it before, and the first book in the series, The Clan of the Cave Bear, is one of my favorite books of all time, and essential reading for anyone on a paleo-diet (hint, Rob). I had thought about Plains several times earlier in my trip because the two main characters journey across pre-historic Europe, and they constantly have to look at their stuff and re-evaluate when they can carry and what they have to leave behind. So when I saw the book on a hostel shelf, I knew I had to read it next.

Women take naps. Men go potty.

Or maybe men and women don't function the same way in New Zealand as they do back home?

Day 80: The TranzAlpine to Greymouth, NZ (March 28, 2011)

What's that, you say? You never heard of Greymouth? Well it is the westernmost stop on the TranzAlpine railway line, one of the three passenger railway lines in New Zealand -- the one that runs west from Christchurch across the Southern Alps, the mountain range in NZ's south continent. Greymouth is a pretty small town, and seems to be made up almost entirely of backpacker hotels and coffee shops, with a few walking trails thrown in for exercise. I arrived at about 1 and walked around from about 2 until 5. My guess is this is a common stop for people travelling on the west coast of the South Island, but isn't much of a destination itself. But it's OK, I'll be here for 24 hours before moving on.

View of Greymouth from the overlook walking trail.

Old bridge supports in the river.  I thought they were cool.

Anyway, the real point of today's trip was the train ride itself, which is supposedly the most beautiful in New Zealand. See for yourself:

There were several spots where the clouds hovered somewhere between the ground and the mountaintops.

I was planning to ride one of the other three lines a few days from now, from Christchurch to Picton, where I will catch the ferry to the North Island. But it is still closed because of the recent earthquake. So I'll have to take the bus instead.

It wasn't a tour, but the conductors give commentaries about the sights along the way.

Back to Greymouth and specifically, the hotel I'm staying at. I've now stayed at a number places that are called, interchangeably it seems, hostels or backpacker's hotels. They are all inexpensive compared to other hotels but are no-frills. Linens only get changed when you check out, and sometimes you have to bring your own or rent towels. They are most well-known for the dorm room, which sleep between 4 and 10, depending on where you stay, but most of them also have private rooms for a bit more money, although you usually have to share a bathroom. (I've been staying in private shared-bathroom rooms. I can't afford real hotels, but I also don't want to deal with packs of drunk college kids all night. That might be more of a stereotype than the reality, though.)

All of these places have kitchens where guests can bring and cook their own food, and are supposed to (and usually do it seems to me) clean up after themselves as well. Tonight there was a group of 5 young people in the common room, who'd all pitched in to cook this elaborate dinner of pasta, homemade sauce, vegetables, etc. That wasn't the first time I'd seen people put a lot of effort into their hostel dinner, and makes me wonder how long they stay at each place. I go to groceries or bakeries, but I don't waste my time getting a bunch of food I really have to prepare myself. Then again, I've always been content with eating an apple and bagel for dinner, so I wonder why anyone would go through that hassle night after night.

I'm not sure why hostels aren't more popular in the States. Or are they, and I just have no idea? No, they can't be. I've walked around enough downtown streets, I'd surely have seen some. And they are always downtown, where people can walk to the major sights and public transportation.

That was kind of rambling. Maybe because my day felt kind of rambling: A long train ride then a long meander around town. My next three days will be more rambling, all via buses in a circle around the South Island. As always, I'll post when I can, but my schedule will be weird and the internet in New Zealand is not as wide-spread as I expected. Maybe because, I am told, users are charged by the megabyte, so it's hard for businesses to give it away free or cheap.

Oh last thing... As I was choosing what photos to upload, I came across a few of nearby rock formations, where it's clear the land was once flat, then was pushed upwards at an angle.  Between my trip last summer to Yellowstone, The Badlands, Craters of the Moon, and Glacier National Forest, and this trip, I'm seriously thinking of making geology my new hobby.  I'm not that into rocks, but I've really been fascinated at learning how the earth moves and grows.  Not that I know what a hobby geologist does ...  Anyone?

Thoughts on Going Down (Under)

I really liked Australia. Frankly, it would be really hard to dislike Australia. Obviously, some places were better than others, but it was a very fast 19 days. If you're wondering, I liked my four stops in the following order (favorite to least):

Melbourne > Sydney > Darwin > Alice Springs

Melbourne

I already talked about the things I didn't like. The food wasn't as great as I'd hoped. And the Red Center tour was pretty much a bust, although with different physical conditions and tour guide, it could have been a lot better. (So I wouldn't try to dissuade anyone else from going there.) And the scenery was beautiful, and my photos will remind me of that at least.

View from the Great Ocean Road.

I did like meeting people, especially Australians but also fellow travelers. The Australians weren't as friendly as the people from Ghana (no one is lol), but they were easy to approach and liked to talk.

Melbourne and Sydney were both cool, and I could envision myself living in either one (I'd pick Melbourne; I like its Second City inferiority complex lol). I didn't get out and see as much of either city as I'd have liked. In Sydney, it was due to my enjoyment of just staying home for a while (I am a homebody at heart and hadn't realized how much I missed just sitting around for hours on end). And the damn rain. In Melbourne, I just didn't have that much time, and I wanted to take those couple tours outside of the city. I don't regret either tour, but would have liked more time in the city itself.

Sydney:  A tribute to its convict heritage.

Even Darwin and Alice Springs were fine for a couple of days each. They were both small towns, and kind of folksy, but I like that. I especially liked The Reptile Center in Alice, and that whole day of hanging out around town with Maartje was a lot of fun.

Darwin

I think I planned a pretty good itinerary in Australia, and saw several different climates. Wet and forest up north, barren and deserted in the center, beautiful coast along the southeast. This was definitely a country I could have spent more time in. If any of you are thinking of visiting, you could easily spend a whole month there. I'm also glad I booked planes between my four destinations. My travel agent suggested I could save some money by taking buses everywhere (and she was right, tours and Greyhound buses would have gotten me where I wanted to go). But the country is so big, it would have been a real drag and probably a waste of time. I can't imagine taking a 1,000 bus ride from Darwin to Alice Springs, for example.

I knew from books and school that Australia has very unusual wildlife, but I don't think I really got it until I saw it for myself. Kangaroos, wallabees, koalas, crocodiles, little penguins, emus. I didn't see the platypus, but it's there too. And the massive number of dangerous animals, like snakes. I didn't even get to see the Great Barrier Reef or other ocean life, but everyone told me it's amazing. I scoffed a little bit at Australia's quarantine procedures (and I still question whether they work) but I understand more now why Australia at least attempts to keep foreign plants and animals out.

One thing I didn't write about before but I feel like I must to make this a complete journal is the Aboriginies. I know very little about them, except I don't think they've always been treated very well by the european settlers. Oh, and I saw the wonderful movie Rabbit Proof Fence, which is partly the true story about some europeans' efforts to "assimilate" Aboriginies by making them work for white people then basically breeding them out of existence. :( I believe that nowadays, some live in the cities but many still live in traditional ways far from the cities.

I didn't meet many Aboriginies, and of those I did meet, I'm pretty sure all of them were part Aboriginal and part "Australian" (as my tour guide in Litchfield, who was half and half, called himself). Sydney and Melbourne didn't have a lot of Aboriginies at all, so most of those I saw or met were in Alice Springs or Darwin. And, I don't really like saying this, but, the non-integrated Aboriginies sort of scared me. :(

Almost all of the "pure" Aboriginies I saw were drunk, usually sitting around a park or a bus stop or the middle of the sidewalk even. I assume (hope) the kids weren't drunk, but they just sat around too, even at times when I thought they should be in school. In Darwin, my hotel was a few minutes walk outside of the city center. I could have walked on the nice paved walking trail on the west side of the street, but it took me past this Aboriginie hangout that just didn't feel comfortable, so I'd walk on the dirt trail on the east side of the street. I didn't like feeling unsafe (I kept thinking about that scene in Hairspray when Prudence Pingleton accidentally wandered into downtown Baltimore), but before I began my trip, I said I would listen to my feelings that said something was unsafe, and I would avoid it. So I didn't walkt too close to the Aboriginies, despite wondering if I really needed to be worried.

But then... On the morning my Red Center tour left Alice Springs, we were all sitting in the tour bus just outside the downtown tour office. Our guide was standing in the open door of the bus, giving us some background about the tour. Keep in mind, it was 7 am. An Aboriginie wandered up and asked if he could use the guide's cell phone because "Some guys just tried to stab me." He wasn't in a hurry or bleeding or anything; he just casually mentioned he'd almost been stabbed (a story that didn't jibe with his demeanor). So. The guide sent him on his way then closed the bus door.

About 2 minutes later, four Aboriginies came running up the sidewalk and got in a fight right outside the bus! A real fight! At 7 in the morning! Kicking, punching, etc. It looked pretty sloppy, so I don't know that anyone got hurt. And I assume they were drunk, which wouldn't have improved their aim. But who knows. In the bus, we all just sat there, staring open-mouthed. I mean, who's actually seen a fight since high school? After a couple of minutes the four men ran off. Apparently, this sort of thing is a regular occurance in Alice Springs.

So, the Aboriginies didn't change my opinion of Australia, because they were mostly on the cusp of my experiences there. I feel sorry for them collectively, because I know they weren't always treated very well. But it was hard to feel sorry for the people I saw because it just didn't feel safe being around them.

Day 79: Christchurch, NZ (March 27, 2011)

I have an ear infection!!  /outrage/  Well, better an ear infection in New Zealand than something nasty in someplace scary.  And since I have antibiotics with me just for this very malady, I can treat it and will feel better in a couple of days.  (If you're wondering, I get ear infections about once every other year, so I can identify them and know how to treat them.)

Mushrooms.  Completely unrelated to anything else in this post.

The forced sedentary day wasn't so bad, though:  I have the rest of my South Island visit planned, and a good idea of what I'll do in the North Island.  So I can relax and start travelling tomorrow.  I'm a little worried that my itinerary (trains and buses, with one tour along the way) will prove to be a bit dull.  If the scenery is beautiful, as it supposedly is, it should be fine.  If it's dull, it's going to be a long week!  Also, I'm a little paranoid that my heavy head led to some mistakes in my bookings.  Probably not, but by now you know how paranoid I get about upcoming plans!

I did make it out later in the day when I was feeling close to normal.  At my host's suggestion, I rode a bus out of town a little to a suburb on a hill that overlooks the city.  It was dreary, which I usually like, but it was bad for photographs of the distant skyline. 

Ah well, I got some fresh air and exercise and got to see more of the city.  It seems like a nice town, a comfortable and pretty place to live.  When it's not recovering from a recent earthquake, that is.

This was a house, down the street in the opposite direction.

Day 78: Christchurch, NZ (March 26, 2011)

Woke up this morning with a very sore throat and stuffy head.  Well, I went to bed last night with a minor sore throat, which I'd hoped had been caused by changes in weather or lack of sleep (both can give me sore throats... hell, everything gives me sore throats...)  But I guess it's either a cold or my allergies have hit really hard, after not bothering me at all for 2.5 months.  /sighs and rolls eyes, feels sorry for self/

So I stayed tucked in bed until early afternoon, when hunger drove me out to the bakery and grocery store.  I bought some meat pies (yum), locally-made soups (yum) and fruit and veggies (boring but good for me).  My B&B in in a residential neighborhood that borders a ... what do I call it? ... light industrial park area.  When you can buy tires, new kitchens, that sort of thing.  So I didn't pass anything really nice on my way to the shops, but I did see some remnants of the earthquake that happened about 5 weeks ago.  Most buildings (that I saw) are still standing and don't have obvious damage.  Others appear to only have mild damage, but must be pretty bad because they are fenced off and completely empty.

About 3 houses down from my B&B.

On the drive from the airport last night, I couldn't see a whole lot because it was dark, but a large number of streets were blocked off because they are ripped up.  And we have to boil the tap water before we drink it (the B&B host does that for us).

When I returned, I slept for about 4 hours, probably caused by a combination of lack of sleep in Melbourne and my fuzzy head.  And let's face it, I enjoy a good nap, and I don't think I've had one since Singapore.  This means I'll be awake until 2am, but that's probably good because I need to figure out bus schedules and stuff, get myself out of this closed-down town.

UPDATE:  I can't believe I forgot this part.  At one point during my nap, I was awoken by ... something.  At the time it sounded and felt like a large truck rumbling past, or someone upstairs dropping a large box of books, but my first thought was "earthquake!"  Turns out it was an earthquake -- well, aftershock.  But for some reason it didn't phase me at all, maybe because it was so small and I was so tired, and I just went right back to sleep.  Chet, the owner of the B&B told me they've been getting aftershocks at least once a day, but most of them are very small and don't cause damage.

Day 77: Melbourne (AUS) to Christchurch (NZ) (March 25, 2011)

I only had a few hours this morning and afternoon in Melbourne before I had to leave for the airport. Maartje and I walked through the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, which a fellow traveler said was really nice (it was). 

I discovered something while at the botanical gardens that made me really angry with myself.  My camera, which is quite good, actually takes better photos in "automatic" mode than it does on a specific setting!!!!  (Those were exclamation points of outrage, at myself for not knowing this!)  I don't know if that is true in all cases, but at least on days that are very bright but cloudy, my camera has never been very good.  Until I tried the auto setting.  /Grrrr at myself for not learning more about my camera before!/  And I know that a lot of my photos so far have been good, but of course I'll wonder what could have been even better, had I let the camera just do its thing.

Then I showed Maartje some of the alleys and things I saw on my walking tour a few days earlier. I didn't even charge her for the private tour. We spent quite a bit of time just chit-chatting over a cup of coffee, too. About travel and families and girl stuff.

While touring the graffiti-covered alleys, we came across this couple and their photographer taking wedding photos.  Way cooler than a boring old garden trellis, that's for sure.

Looks like the groom forgot to change his pants.

My train rides to the Tullamarine Airport were kind of annoying. The trains and trams in Melbourne seem pretty extensive and reliable. But due to not being familiar with the different train platforms and lines, I managed to get on the two least efficient trains possible. But I made it to the airport in plenty of time. Tullamarine is big, clean and pretty efficient, and parts of it are kind of science-fictiony. I don't know if it has dedicated sleeping areas, but there are enough couches and out of the way places that people could sleep if they wanted to. It supposedly has free wifi, but something is wrong with it, as I am currently connected but can neither send nor receive data. :( (So you'll be reading this long after I write it, although you probably will anyway because most of you are sound asleep as I write.)

Security was the norm: x-rays and bag scan, nothing unusual. Oh well, there was person weighing people's carry-on luggage just before the security gate, and if anyone exceeded the 7kg limit, they were sent back to check-in. I haven't seen that anywhere before, either the bag weighing or being sent back.

By the time I post this, I will probably be in Christchurch, New Zealand, unless the wifi magically turns on before I leave the airport. My review of Australia will follow in the next couple of days.  [The next morning:]  Yup, I'm posting on Saturday morning from Christchurch.

[So time to add a bit more:] My flight to New Zealand was uneventful and on time. I got to my B&B around 1am. The only unusual event happened at the Christchurch airport when one of the airport's dogs that sniffs for quarantined materials (and maybe drugs? I dunno, but I was told it was looking for quarantined material) went crazy over my carry-on backpack. The lady with the dog wound up taking everything out of it without finding any fruit or meat or drugs (among other things, she had to touch my dirty hankie haha) and the dog still had his nose buried deep in the bag. I told her a cat had tried to pee on the bag about 5 days earlier, and suggested that was the cause of the dog's excitement. Who knows?? Eventually the woman shrugged and commented that that the dog's behavior was weird, and she repacked my bag and I went on my way. I guess we'll never know.

Day 76: Phillip Island, Australia (March 24, 2011)

Today's day tour went to Phillip Island, home of the Little Penguins (that's really what they called, being the smallest of the 17 penguin species). These little guys are about 10 - 12 inches tall, and are the most reliably viewed animals in the wild. Every evening just after the sun sets, hundreds or thousands of the Little Penguins come up out of the ocean where they've been fishing for a few days, and make their way up paths to their nests on shore. They appear in small groups, just popping out of the surf, like fat, hairy and miniature Aphrodites. Then they waddle up the beach until they make it home, where they hang out for a few days before going back in the ocean for more fishing.

Today's visit was at the start of molting season, where the penguins shed their old feathers and grow new ones before winter (remember the seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere).  Since the molting takes 21 days, the penguins have to overfeed because they won't be able to hunt again for 3 weeks.  So several of the penguins were very fat when they returned to land.  The fat ones would waddle about 10 steps, then would fall forward onto their bellies and just lie there for a minute or two before continuing towards their nests. 

There was one crazy penguin who was running in the opposite direction of everyone else, like he lost his buddies and was going back to look for them.  He was very excited and kept flapping his wings and getting in the faces of the other penguins.  I splurged on a private guided tour so I could ask questions and get the best views of the penguins.  My guide said she'd never seen such strange behavior in a penguin.  She even radio'd the other guides to ask if penguins might get mental illnesses and the consensus was yes, probably.  So I saw a mad penguin on the loose.

No one is allowed to take photos of the penguins during their nighttime return home, but earlier in the day, we went to a penguin hangout and managed to spot a few hiding out under a boardwalk:

This hillside area right next to the coast is the windiest place I've ever been in my life. It's hard to photograph the wind (which is sort of "duh" but also too bad because the wind can be cool), but maybe you can see by my hair how hard the wind blew:

It later took me 30 minutes to comb the snarls out my hair.

Seeing the Tiny Penguins waddle up the beach to their homes was the highlight of the day. The rest of the day was fine, but it was kind of a weird tour. Like, whoever put it together didn't know what else to include, so we got a hodgepodge of local things:

A winery, which was good, but not unique to Australia:

A chocolate shop, which gave out tons of free chocolate (well, free for people who pay to take the tour) and which features several pieces of chocolate "art" like this mosaic of local gal Dame Edna, made up of 12,000 truffles:

And the Koala Conservation Center, which at least went along with the theme of seeing native Australian wildlife:

See the baby?

Their big bottoms let them sit comfortably in the trees without falling out.

We also stopped for lunch and dinner at two real podunk towns between Melbourne and Phillip Island. Australia continued its lousy track record for food at both stops.

I got back to the hotel late, to discover that Maartje was in the room right next door. Yay! So she and I chatted for a bit, and compared our last few days in Australia.