Sea life Aquarium

After a bit of sleep-in this morning, Harry & his bears were on the lookout for trams again.

To fill in time before the Sea Life Aquarium opened we took some time to explore the other side of the Yarra River. We started with a short walk around the King's Domain gardens.

The Boathouse next to the Domain was busy with rowers going about their morning training.

South Bank is a bustling restaurant and shopping district during the evenings but during the early part of the day there is next to nobody around.

We were some the first visitors for the day to the Sea Life Aquarium so we had some time to see the exhibits before the crowds invaded.

There were small tanks with small sharks & rays.

Small tanks with small colourful fish.

Spiky Lion fish.

Very Large fish in very large tanks....

Full of big sharks,

schools of big fast fish,

and rays,

Sawfish,

and guitarfish.

There was also a small tank with a camouflaged wobbygong.

There were other animals including a crocodile (a real one & the fiberglass one in the photo above), frogs, jellyfish, and, in a separate area, a specialized type of bird that swims.

The Gentoo Penguins from Antarctica are pretty busy normally but once the keepers came to feed them they went crazy in the pool.

The Larger King Penguins are a lot more relaxed. It was great to see them up close so we could get a feel for their large size & individual personalities.

Melbourne - Arrival

Today, after years without any travel of interest, we set off on an adventure to Melbourne & Tasmania. An early morning flight had us awake at 4am. Harry was especially excited about going on a plane and for the adventure ahead.

Even the double-decker Skybus took us from Melbourne airport into Southern Cross in the city was a new adventure.

We had a bit of a look around Southern Cross station which is a busy regional train & bus terminal. Needless to say, Harry was very impressed.

Our apartment for 3 nights is in one of the tallest buildings in the city and we are on the 27th floor.

We have great views overlooking the city and Harry's bed is a great lookout for watching trams run along Collins st below.

The rail yards are also visible from our balcony. Harry is in his happy place here.

We spent the afternoon getting settled and had a bit of a walk around town.

The walk included a shopping trip to Southern Cross much to Harry's delight. We were exhausted after the long day and went to bed early.

West Cape Howe & Wind Farm

Today we had the whole day to explore. The clouds were hanging around which made us a bit unsure where to go. Eventually we decided to go west to West Cape Howe National Park about half an hour's drive from Albany. There isn't much out there unless you have a 4x4, a fishing rod and a solid pair of hiking boots. There's a sheltered bay with a powdery white beach (Coombes Beach) just before you enter the national park. It was all a bit overcast, cold and windy when we arrived, so we didn't stop for long. We did go into the national park as far as Shelly Beach (below).

The dirt road was decent up to the lookout point but any further into the national park was an entirely different prospect. The smart option is to have your 4x4 recovery gear and preferably a second vehicle. We had neither so Shelly BEach is was. What we could see from the lookout was the Torndirrup Peninsular to the East (see top photo). Over that way Harry, see? (photo below). Oddly, the National Park was bathed in sunshine, but back toward Albany was still very much dominated by cloud cover. All Harry could see was the Wind turbines on the peninsular and kept getting excited and pointing them out to us.

We stopped on the way back at a grove when the Bibbulmun Track crosses the road. It seems to criss-cross all over the South West.

It was here that Harry took a bit of a fall, loosing some bark of various body parts and was miserable.

We stopped at sheltered Coombes Beach (above) for a bit of a look with the clearing cloud and cuddles for little boys.

We then made tracks for the peninsular which was in bright sun by the time we arrived. The promise of checking out the wind turbines was enough to snap Harry out of his misery. We started with lunch outside Whale World (below). We did a bit of reconnaissance and decided that Harry was a bit young for it all and decided to put it off until another time.

We did a short stop at nearby Goode Beach which had the same silky white sandy beaches that most seem to have around the Albany area. The water was crystal clear.

With Harry back on track, it was off to Stoney Hill, the high point of the peninsular. It was a relatively short walk up and around the loop track to the summit.

 Why would they call it Stoney Hill you say? No idea....

The view from the summit of Albany and everything to the horizon was brilliant. We could see the national park where we'd been that morning to the west, the Stirling Ranges to the north, and Two Peoples Bay Reserve to the East.

Unfortunately Natural Bridge was off limits due to maintenance works so we continued back toward Albany.

Then it was time to make good on our promise to Harry & go and have a look at the wind turbines. After taking a turn off with a fairly innocuous sign, we found to our surprise, a full tourist set up with pathways, lookouts, information boards and a kiosk. It all allows you to get up close and personal with these electrical giants.

I'm not completely sure about Harry's fascination with wind turbines, but he was ecstatic. What I hadn't counted on was their shear size and the speed of the blades at the tip.

Harry got to hug one but soon after also realized that he didn't like the fast, big and quite noisy blades quite so close to him and that admiring them from a distance was a much better option. He may well have been onto something because they're really intimidating.

The cliffs just near the wind farm are also a popular spot for paragliding.

The peninsular in the background of the photo below is Cape Howe where we'd been this morning.

So that was enough excitement for the day so we went back to our hotel at Middleton Beach. Harry and I spent the remainder of the afternoon at the beach while Kerri went for a walk and bought a few things from the supermarket.

 We did have to make one run to the shopping strip in Albany's main street. Our bad parenting of the previous day meant that we needed to find Harry a spare bear. This is the one he picked out. Meet, Jenny. He was very happy to have a new friend to keep him company at night and when things get a bit much during the day.