Wildlife, wine, and whales

February 13, 14, 15, 2015

Melbourne, 2/13 – Spent an interesting day touring, via bus, the lovely city of Melbourne followed by a visit to the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary where we saw – up close – all those animals one can only see in Australia. Emus, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils (infants), kangaroos (several varieties), wallabies, dingoes, a wide array of exotic birds, some endangered, and even a couple of platypus (platypi?) were all on display in a beautiful natural habitat. One koala actually became a bit active, unlike most of her colleagues who were snoozing away in the eucalyptus trees on a warm summer day. Seems it takes forever and most of a koala’s energy to digest their diet of eucalyptus leaves.

Dingoes

After the wildlife we moved on to two wineries in the Yarra Valley where the wines were decent and we picked up a couple of bottles to enjoy on the ship.

Here's John in the Dominique Fortet winery cellar:

Unfortunately we had only one day in Melbourne. I would have liked to explore the city a bit more. Here is a view of the river and the city from our bus as we returned to the ship:

Interesting tidbit, one of the passengers got stuck in traffic trying to return to the ship. So she called and the ship arranged to have her passport waiting with the port agent so she would be able to travel and, at her own expense, rejoin the ship at the next port – Adelaide.

We spent Valentine’s Day at sea. That’s where we sighted dolphins and whales! While the dolphins were cavorting close to the ship, the whales were further away and we only saw their sprays and a hint of their backs.

Yesterday we arrived in Adelaide, South Australia. We were greeted by a musical trio and a host of volunteer guides. It was the most fun welcome we have had to date. We spent the day in the Barossa Valley, Australia’s premier wine growing region. The area is beautiful! The first of 4 wineries we visited was the Barossa Chateau which, in addition to the wines we tasted and acres of vineyards, featured one of the world’s largest collections of Meissen porcelains plus 25 acres with 30,000 roses – most still in bloom in spite of the 95 degree heat and high winds. The vintner was concerned about fires – a not uncommon occurrence in this dry region on days like that one. So we retreated to the cellar and began tasting wine! ;-) By the end of the day, after four wineries, lots of tastes and lunch (with more wine), we were wined out! But it was a great day, the region was beautiful, and we met some other wine lovers from our cruise.

Today is the 16^th here and we are going to grab a train into Adelaide center and have lunch, do some shopping and just generally explore the city. The only downer about this stop is that the city center (CBD) is a 40-minute train ride from the port. You can be sure that we will leave in plenty of time to board the ship before 4:30 – the all aboard deadline.

Tomorrow and the next day (17^th & 18^th) we will be at sea on our way to our next port – Albany.