Melbourne, AU

Melbourne is located in the southeast region of Australia at the north side of Phillip Bay. We arrived early in the morning and had decided to take a ship tour and see some of the country and animals.

We started the morning by going on a short train ride. The “Puffing Billy Railway” is a historic, Victorian Railway that has been restored and is run for tourists and people on outings for the day. It is an old steam engine that is now run on coal. We rode from Belgrave to Menzies Creek, about a 30 minute ride.

Next, it was off to a winery. We went to Rochford Winery for a short tasting and a great lunch. The bus drove through the countryside so we could get a taste of the area outside of the city.

The highlight of the day was our visit to Healesville Sanctuary. This Sanctuary is for local animals and is maintained and run by almost all volunteers. We saw kangaroos, koalas, platypus, wombat, lizards, birds, dingo, etc.

One of the koalas happened to be awake and we got some great photos. Due to the heat of the day, most of the animals were sleeping…so there was not too much activity to be witnessed. The platypus is kept in their large water tank within a dark ‘house’…so no photos, but it was great fun watching them swim around and play.

We drove through the City on the way back to the ship. Melbourne is a pretty large city; about 4 million people...the second largest city in Australia. Looking at the buildings and how they sprawl along the shore, I would say the downtown area is about twice the size of Seattle.