Days 6 and 7 - Kangeroos, koalas, and boomerangs, oh my!

We ran into/away from some thunderstorms while cruising overnight from Eden down to Melbourne.  We were suppose to get into Melbourne in the morning but because of the storms we didn't get in to the afternoon, resulting in us missing one of our land tours.  Turned out to be a relaxing day at sea instead.  The next day we spent all day touring about outside of Melbourne where we got to opportunity to get up close and personal with Australian animals in the wild.  Can we say kangeroo poop!  Got back to the ship just in time for afternoon tea, how civilized!


Pulling into Melbourne harbour... Our tour bus.
Arriving at our first tour location of the day, Serendip Sanctuary...

Kelly, our park tour guide.  She knew the name of every bird, plant, and animal in sight, incredible! Our first kangeroo sighting!

As close as the female kangeroos were going to let us get.  Females are in charge, when they leave, all the other kangeroos follow... An emu in the wild.  Our tour guide pointed out to us and strongly suggested we avoid walking in emu poop.  Kangeroo poop was okay but emu poop = throw away your shoes.

A female kangeroo relaxing in the grass... A "mob" of kangeroos.  Area had received lots of rain over the last two weeks so there were areas that were quite wet and muddy.

Wetland area in the park... ... and another view, pretty.

Lunch in a tent included a presentation by an Australian aborgine.  He had all kinds of aborgine tools, instruments, and weapons that he talked about, passed around, and demonstrated. Some sort of aborigine weapon/stick.  Carvings on the side denoted ownership and history.

After lunch we moved over to the You Yang Regional Park, home of any number of koalas.

If you look close you can see a koala hanging out in the tree.  Koalas apparently have a tail bone that they use to sit in tree forks. A young male koala, we think this one is called Clancy.

Still in You Yangs Park, taking a hike up Big Rock, a granite formation. On our way up, big rock is right!

Panoramic view from the top of Big Rock.

Made it back to the cruise ship, just in time for tea! Pretty plates.