Overseas Adventure Travel to Australia: March 27-April 1. Part II; Victoria

After a wonderful pre-trip in Tasmania, we flew 1 hour across the Bass Strait to busy, fun Melbourne, capital of the state of Victoria, where we would meet the additional 6 travelers. Melbourne, founded in 1835, city of 3.5 million, is named after the then-British Prime Minister Lord Melbourne. Businessmen led by John Batman bought 600,000 acres for a few trinkets from the local aborigines. Just after Victoria separated from New South Wales (Sydney)gold was discovered in Victoria in  1851, making Melbourne the richest and fastest growing city in the British empire, and is considered the nation's arts and sports center. Cochlear implants and freezing eggs for IVF implantation were invented here. In 1901, when Australia became a Federation, Canberra became the capital, as it is half-way between Sydney and Melbourne.

   Some of us on the bridge between our hotel and the old train station. 

We attended a very informative talk/demonstration by a lovely young mixed race (European/Aboriginal) woman on indigenous people (250 in Australia) in the area. She showed us weapons, furs, tools, shields, etc., including spears, boomerangs, digeridoos. Wamanjika means 'welcome, come listen.' Pure indigenous live more in center/outback.

Kaali, to take out kangaroos, which have over-populated Australia, as the A. Tiger(extinct) and dingo (wild dog) can no longer control them.

Opossum fur with ochre drawings inside the pelt are passed on to several generations. Language was oral, still spoken. One of the very few rainy days of the trip, we walked through the murals area and then into the very elegant arcades of the gold rich 1880's, with magnificent mosaic floors.

Our leader Michael brings our attention to the suffering of many lost and abused women and the rampant racism here as elsewhere. This aboriginal mural is off to the side.

Beautifully wrapped chocolate Easter eggs are sold everywhere

Michael took 3 of us to the Marvel stadium which holds 55,000 to see an Australian Football League game (St. Kildra vs. Brisbane), which was really exciting, a unique combination of soccer, basketball and ?

Karen and I then visited the famous Victoria State Library (1853) with a beautiful dome, 1000's of old and new books and lots of history. John Batman's treaty with the Aboriginals (to steal their land) was dishonest and disrespectful and has never been honored. Land is disputed still.

     Modern Melbourne is filled with skyscrapers, trams, and culture

    McCubbins' (the Pioneer) and Barry William Hale's aboriginal        drawings and other art works are interesting.

St. Paul's 1892 Anglican Cathedral stands across from Flinders station

We all opted for the Optional all-day trip along the 150 mile Great Ocean Road, which was magnificent. It is much like the beautiful California coast highway, but built by Australian sailors and soldiers, returning from battlefields of WWI, having survived a terrible war. 330,000 Australians had volunteered, 60,000 killed,160,000 were wounded. The road building was hoped to be a mental health boost, after what was then called shell-shock and what we now call PTSD. They were given the opportunity to work for pay 5.5 days a week, sharing tents, camaraderie, and hard-work with fellow soldiers, building this road that runs south at first inland, then west along the coast. They could stay as long as they wanted. 

           We stopped to feed the alpacas at a small chocolate factory

The coast is treacherous, recording about 150 shipwrecks. One story told of Tom, a lone crew survivor, who heard the screams in this inlet, Loch Ard, of a 17 year old girl whose physician father and all the rest of the family had died in the wreck. He managed to rescue her. She eventually returned alone to Britain.

        The Twelve Apostles (only 7-8 left) was a breath-taking site

    The whole road was beautiful. We walked in a lush Maits rain forest and explored the Cape Otway Area of ancient trees,ferns and waterfalls

   At the end is a monument to these remarkable road builders who whacked their way through rain forests, swamps, and rocky shores.

We loved to see kangaroos on our way back to Melbourne or anywhere
 The following day we rode the bus to a wildlife sanctuary  on the Mornington Peninsula to see and feed kangaroos, wallabies, quokkas, lots of birds, emus, lizards, and dingos.

                                       quokka (small marsupial

                                pink cockatoo

                                           Regent parrots

We enjoyed a delicious barbecue, including kangaroo sausages, at the Royal Botanical Gardens.

After lunch we met Bob, proud owner of one of the colorful Beach Boxes (which are expensive and hard to get) at Brighton Beach, then drove through the Melbourne neighborhood where Michael grew up.

I spent an enjoyable hour at the Victoria Art Gallery, then went with the group to an especially delicious dinner at Seafood and Grill. Although Australians love their chips (fries), which really are good and always available, I loved my favorite barramundi (very plentiful white fish), boiled potatoes, broccolini and Panna Cotta with berry sauce. We met Michael's boss Jimmy who joined us.

We walked to the hotel, packed up and would set off the next morning, March 31 for the Outback, a 3-hour flight to Alice Springs in the middle of the red desert in the Northern Territory.