A 12-hour tour

I think from now on, Friday will be the day I go on tours when I travel. Last year when I went to Mexico City, I took a tour to the pyramids on a Friday. This one was much longer, with more stops. 

Our tour guide Peter was delightful. Of course he spoke with an Australian accent which makes everyone sound delightful. There were 24 of us on a small bus. 

We started off going to the Brighton Beach Boxes. These were built starting in the 1860s so people would have a place to change. They do not have water or electricity. Now they are considered a status symbol. Peter asked me how much I thought one cost and I puffed out my chest and said "Well I do live in one of the most expensive cities in the states, so my point of reference is skewed. $10,000?" He informed me they cost half a million Australian dollars. Eek! 

We then went to the Moonlit Sanctuary. We saw koalas, wombats, wallabies, beautiful birds. I had a nice talk with a staff member named James who told me about trying to train a couple of Emu brothers, one appearing much smarter than the other. I suggested that perhaps the dumb-appearing Emu was actually too smart to fall for his antics. I'm not sure he appreciated my reframe.

These pictures are not in chronological order:

Pink Cockateels 

Drunk-looking koala 

It turns out they sleep 20 hours a day.

Emu

Wallaby

Echidna 

Some kind of owl

Wombat

Rainbow parrot

THE DINGO ATE YOUR BABY!

A green snake I don't remember the name of but it had "green" in the name.

Then we went to Nobbies, which is a lookout on the coastline of the Bass Strait. I took a bunch of panoramic shots. I am not sure how well they will show up here.

We then went to the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island. These are little fuzzy penguins that come out of the water at sundown, to gather and crawl into the beach. We were not permitted to take picture because flashes disturb the penguins (didn't stop some a-holes from trying,) but you can see pictures online. Unfortunately many of the penguins who did come out of the water, did so away from our bleachers. 

From there it took us two hours to get back to my hotel. 

Peter reminded us that today is Anzac Day, which is a holiday. So I will not be going to the market. I will likely be figuring out how to get to a museum outside the city.