On Monday morning, we caught a Qantas flight from Canberra at 6:40am to Melbourne, Australia. We arrived in Melbourne at about 8 am. After getting our bags, we found the Elderhostel leaders, Phil – for the whole tour and Don – for Melbourne, waiting to meet the direct flight from Los Angles. Most of our tour members were on this flight. 
We left the airport by bus and headed for the Shrine of Remembrance. Originally built as a tribute to the soldiers of World War I, this is dedicated to all of the war dead from the state of Victoria. Inside the memorial is a floor plaque with the inscribed words: “Greater Love Hath No Man” (from the Gospel of Matthew). On the 11th day of the 11th month at 11 am, sunlight comes through an open window of the shrine and illuminates LOVE on the plaque. In today’s high tech world, this is replicated every 30 minutes by a beam of light. The effect is still neat, but it loses some of the uniqueness. 
We left the shrine and visited Fitzroy Gardens where we saw Cooks Cottage (actually his parents’) which was moved from Great Britain and also the spring floral display in the conservatory. 
From here we went to our hotel to check in and have a surprisingly good buffet lunch. After an orientation lecture on Melbourne and Australia, we headed out on the bus to the second tallest building in Melbourne. From here we got a panoramic view of the entire city. Here’s just one picture showing the neat architecture of the city. It’s a great blend of old and new. 
The folks who flew in from LAX were ready to crash. They did a great job of staying awake!
Tuesday morning we had two lectures. The first was an introduction to Australia and its people. This was an excellent overview of the founding and development of Australian culture. Next, we had a brief overview of opals, the national gemstone of Australia. The cultural overview was great; the opal overview was miss-able since we weren’t interested in buying any gems while in Australia.
After the morning session, we headed over to the Victoria Market for a little sightseeing. There were outstanding fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish as well as many open air stalls. We used our “lunch money” to purchase German Brats with sauerkraut—delicious!
After lunch we left the hotel for a trip to Phillip Island to see the Little Penguins (or formerly known as “Fairy” – which today isn’t PC). On the way to Phillip Island we stopped at an Australian animal park. We got to see several additional indigenous animals – the Tasmanian devil, the kookaburra, and the wombat. We also had a chance to get up close to some gray kangaroos. 
At the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island, we were not allowed to use cameras – couldn’t even bring them into the area. The penguins start coming on shore just after sunset after fishing all day. They then waddle back to their burrows (or whatever you call their home). They came ashore in groups of 4 to 20. We got to see them up close. They were really cute and hardworking. We got back to the hotel at about 10 pm. Here’s a photo of the “little penguins” at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. There are two of them swimming in the tank. 
On Wednesday morning we went to the Ian Potter Center at the National Gallery of Victoria. We had an excellent overview of Australian art by Dr. Ruth Pullin. She teaches art history and compares Australian art to European and American art of similar periods. She also gave us an overview of Aboriginal art and its importance to the Aboriginal culture. 
After leaving the art center, we got some photos of the local area. First, here’s a photo of St. Paul’s church. It’s interesting to note that the spires were added after the church was built. The difference in stone color is obvious in person; don’t know if it comes out well in the photo. 
This is the bath house which was originally used by the local population for actually taking baths. Today it’s a state of the art gym facility with indoor pool, so there’s still the water connection. 
Next is a photo of Young and Jackson’s Pub. This was a favorite “watering hole” of American (and Australian) troops during World War II. They went there to “pay homage” to the nude painting of the French Chloe. 
Finally, here’s a photo of the Findley Central Train Station. 
We left the shrine and visited Fitzroy Gardens where we saw Cooks Cottage (actually his parents’) which was moved from Great Britain and also the spring floral display in the conservatory. From here we went to our hotel to check in and have a surprisingly good buffet lunch. After an orientation lecture on Melbourne and Australia, we headed out on the bus to the second tallest building in Melbourne. From here we got a panoramic view of the entire city. Here’s just one picture showing the neat architecture of the city. It’s a great blend of old and new. The folks who flew in from LAX were ready to crash. They did a great job of staying awake!Tuesday morning we had two lectures. The first was an introduction to Australia and its people. This was an excellent overview of the founding and development of Australian culture. Next, we had a brief overview of opals, the national gemstone of Australia. The cultural overview was great; the opal overview was miss-able since we weren’t interested in buying any gems while in Australia.
After the morning session, we headed over to the Victoria Market for a little sightseeing. There were outstanding fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish as well as many open air stalls. We used our “lunch money” to purchase German Brats with sauerkraut—delicious!
After lunch we left the hotel for a trip to Phillip Island to see the Little Penguins (or formerly known as “Fairy” – which today isn’t PC). On the way to Phillip Island we stopped at an Australian animal park. We got to see several additional indigenous animals – the Tasmanian devil, the kookaburra, and the wombat. We also had a chance to get up close to some gray kangaroos. At the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island, we were not allowed to use cameras – couldn’t even bring them into the area. The penguins start coming on shore just after sunset after fishing all day. They then waddle back to their burrows (or whatever you call their home). They came ashore in groups of 4 to 20. We got to see them up close. They were really cute and hardworking. We got back to the hotel at about 10 pm. Here’s a photo of the “little penguins” at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. There are two of them swimming in the tank. On Wednesday morning we went to the Ian Potter Center at the National Gallery of Victoria. We had an excellent overview of Australian art by Dr. Ruth Pullin. She teaches art history and compares Australian art to European and American art of similar periods. She also gave us an overview of Aboriginal art and its importance to the Aboriginal culture. After leaving the art center, we got some photos of the local area. First, here’s a photo of St. Paul’s church. It’s interesting to note that the spires were added after the church was built. The difference in stone color is obvious in person; don’t know if it comes out well in the photo. This is the bath house which was originally used by the local population for actually taking baths. Today it’s a state of the art gym facility with indoor pool, so there’s still the water connection. Next is a photo of Young and Jackson’s Pub. This was a favorite “watering hole” of American (and Australian) troops during World War II. They went there to “pay homage” to the nude painting of the French Chloe. Finally, here’s a photo of the Findley Central Train Station. 
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