Righty-Oh!

Internet is a little limited, so as a courtesy for those actually paying for it, I'm not going to be uploading any pictures. Sorry.

Melbourne was really nice. Monday morning I took a stroll to town (about a half hour/forty minute walk). On the way I came across the Shrine of Remembrance, and since it was free I checked it out. Then I continued along until I got to the aquarium where there were PENGUINS! Lots and lots of them! There were waddling around, trying to steal the stones from other penguins' nests. Some of them were even swimming. I'll have to put together a "I love the Aquarium" video at some point and show you just how much I loved them.

They also had a tank with sharks and giant rays and lots of fun fish. They had a couple tunnels to walk through where the fish would swim over and you could see them up really really close, like the Adventure Aquarium in Camden (they still have that, right?). So cool. I do love fish...when they are behind glass and can't touch me :)

Then I walked back toward the hostel that was actually in the outskirts of Melbourne. On the way I went through the Royal Botanical Gardens. Lots of pretty plants and birds that I thought were ducks until they got out of the water and had chicken legs. Weird.

Tuesday I met up with Catherine, a girl I met in Wales. We walked through the center of the city and checked out the Victoria Art Gallery (with some fantastic albeit expensive pastel works). Fortunately for my wallet I have the problem of anything that I buy now I have to carry on my back for the next six weeks. Then we went to the Melbourne Gaol, which is a prison.

It was really cool. I learned all about Ned Kelly, who was sort of like Australia's Jesse James, only he wore armor! They hanged people right in the jail, so that was....interesting too. They don't still hang people there, in case you were worried.

We checked out the Koorie Heritage Center, which was really neat - lots of stuff about the Aboriginals. Their treatment was not Australia's shining moment. Not unlike some other people we know...

Then we went back to Catherine's house, walked the dogs on the beach (and had to watch out that they didn't try to eat the washed up PUFFER FISH), ate some snack, then some dinner while watching the Big Bang Theory (always a winner).

Wednesday was conquer the public transportation day. I got a bus at 6:38am to the train to another train to a bus. The bus ride was beautiful. I'm finding I'm a giant fan of wide open spaces, no matter what the country. And...

I SAW A KANGAROO! In the wild! It was just chilling under the trees by the road. I almost missed it because it blended in pretty well, but I saw it! I did not, however, get a picture. Sorry.

Met up with my WWOOFing family in Mt. Gambier. They are really nice and funny and there are two other girls here too who are pretty much hilarious. So far it's been a good time.

I'll be here for nine days I think before heading up to Adelaide.

Oh, and I'm staying in the world's most awesome camper van. I was a little leery at first since it's completely gutted except a bed and a heater, but last night I slept really really well and wasn't as cold as I originally thought I would be. I woke up to the sound of roosters, but managed to fall back asleep (which is great, since roosters don't have the best concept of when morning actually is). And it's nice to have my own space at night.

This is a lot of text for a post with no pictures. Hopefully I will get some posted at some point, but it really just depends on my connections in the future.