Melbourne, Australia

We docked at Port Melbourne early Tuesday morning to overcast skies and high winds. Doug and I decided to see Melbourne on our own for we have been here before. We took the shuttle bus to downtown Melbourne. Along the way, we noticed that the boulevards were dry and brown. Mary Anne and Harry talked to a tour operator who said Melbourne has suffered drought for the past 8 years in a row. You can see it in the dry brown grass in the parks and green areas. We took a tourist shuttle bus around the city and saw the old-world buildings and the very modern buildings. The sky was grey and the winds were whirling around the downtown areas. This is a very cosmopolitan city with large buildings, spacious walkways along the river, quaint trams, and impressive high-rises. There are many Italians and Greeks in the city, and therefore many ethnic restaurants.

After the city tour, we decided to go on our own to the Melbourne Zoo to see Australia's wildlife. We patted the Kangaroos, watched the echidnas with their long tongues. We love watching the sleepy and dozy koala bears trying to hide from the wind in the eucalyptus trees. We also enjoyed watching the Fairy penguins, now renamed the Little penguins waddling around looking at us and trying to figure out what we were saying to them. All the animals were so cute and well taken care of in this large outdoor zoo. We took a tram from the zoo to the downtown area and then came back to the ship. We looked at the skyline and it looked angry with dark dark clouds and grey skies. Little did we know what we would be in for on our way to Adelaide - a perfect storm.