a_t_rain

So I have to admit I was not all that enthusiastic about Melbourne, possibly because I got there on a cold, grey day on next to no sleep, and possibly because it was Yet Another City and I was feeling like it was time to get out into the wilderness and see some things I couldn't see at home. Some of the Victorian shopping arcades were pretty impressive, though.

I went to Phillip Island, which turned out, however, not to be a great place to go without a car. (Dammit, the map in the Lonely Planet made it look a lot smaller than it is!) I went for a long walk on the beach, which was supposed to end up at the wetlands reserve, which was supposed to lead, eventually, to the koala conservation center, but I couldn't find the turnoff for the wetlands reserve, so I walked all the way back along the beach. I gave up on the koala conservation center and went to the wildlife park instead. They gave me a paper sack of kangaroo chow when I went in. Here I learned that kangaroos are absolutely shameless beggars.

And there was a wombat, which was nice, because that was one animal I didn't get to see in the wild.

The journey to Adelaide took all day, so I really only had one day to explore. This is kind of a shame, because I liked it better than Melbourne. It helped that the sun had finally come out. Behold the lorikeets in their splendor.

I took a two-day tour to Kangaroo Island, which was DEFINITELY a highlight, even though I'm not sure how I feel about the whole organized-tour thing. (There were a bunch of very random stops at places like the eucalyptus distillery, which seemed to be mostly an excuse to have us wander around the gift shop and buy eucalyptus products.) But there were pretty beaches: