Marc's Public Blog - Trips to other locations


All | Aquariums | Arduino | Btrfs | Cars | Cats | Clubbing | Computers | Dining | Diving | Electronics | Exercising | Festivals | Flying | Halloween | Hiking | Linux | Linuxha | Monuments | Museums | Outings | Public | Rc | Sciencemuseums | Solar | Tfsf | Trips

This is a collection of my blog entries related to short or long trips I went on.
I have some master pages for some specific locations/trips:

paris over many years | UK over many years | Belgium over many years | Holland over many years | Vegas over many years | Australia over many years | Canada over many years | Japan over multiple trips | Italy in 2011 | France in 2013 | Indonesia in 2013 | Japan in 2013 | Japan in 2014 | Taiwan in 2014 | Indonesia in 2014 | New Zealand in 2015 | Japan in 2015 | Costa Rica in 2015 | Singapore in 2016 | South Korea in 2016 | Japan in 2016 | Germany in 2016 | Tasmania 2017 | Japan in winter 2017 | Great Britain in 2017 | Australia Flying Safari 2017 | Philippines 2018 | Spain in 2018 | Alaska in 2019 | England in 2021 | UAE in 2021 | Poland in 2023 | Portugal in 2023 | Thailand in 2023 | Japan Snow 2024 |

>>> Back to post index <<<

2016/01/29 Visiting Melbourne Area, Geelong, Great Ocean Road, Phillip Island
π 2016-01-29 01:01 in Australia, Ntrips, Trips

We took a nice flight to Melbourne via Auckland, nice flight as always and very nice lounge in Auckland:



Once we arrived in Melbourne, we got a rental car and first drove to the Royal Australia Air Force Museum, the oldest continuous air force base in the world (click the link for more pictures):


Next, we went to Serendip Sanctuary, which was no frills, but ok to spend 90mn at before it closed:





this bird is beautiful
this bird is beautiful

happy colorful birds
happy colorful birds



this pigeon looks like it's on drugs with bloodshot eyes :)
this pigeon looks like it's on drugs with bloodshot eyes :)






birds, goofing off
birds, goofing off

After sleeping in Geelong saturday night, I got up early on sunday to drive to Queenscliff and do 3 dives (follow the link) while Jennifer took a snorkling/marine mammal watching tour. After our respective tours, we drove around Queenscliff and the coast a bit;


magpie bird
magpie bird



Geelong, the town where I had my LCA 2016 linux conference, didn't have much to see, but there were still a few things like the wool museum:






jacquard programmable loom
jacquard programmable loom






After the conference was over, on saturday morning, we had a private tour to the great ocean road with François, a nice english speaking French guide:


semi wild kangaroos in a golf course
semi wild kangaroos in a golf course






I love cockatoos
I love cockatoos






wild koala
wild koala





Eventually, we got to the 12 apostles, very scenic even you don't get a helicopter ride (huge line for that):








On the way back, our guide found a nice flock of birds, but they were not interested in my bird seeds :)






After driving back to Melbourne, we dropped our luggage in the hotel and went to St Kilda Pier to see the few wild penguins that come nest after sunset (sadly it was only 2 or 3 penguins that came from the water after a 90mn wait, but it was still nice to see them:




We found a few penguins nesting in the rocks, they were pretty good at jumping between rocks:



one penguin coming out of the water
one penguin coming out of the water

nesting
nesting

The next day, we went to see some museums:




We started with the Sealife Aquarium (on its own page):


Next we went to the 2 NGVs (national gallery of victoria): local and international:















some silverware my dad doesn't even have :)
some silverware my dad doesn't even have :)


We then finished the day at the Melbourne Museum, about aboriginals and more recent history of Melbourne:





there were _many_ aboriginal tribes
there were _many_ aboriginal tribes




















By 17:00, all the museums are closed, so we headed towards a nice French restaurant and then went out to see the Chinese New Year celebrations and get pictures from Eureka Skydeck 88 around sunset:





The view from skydeck 88 wasn't bad, but the reflections from the windows were pretty bad, hard to take pictures: [rigimg:1024:647*|skydeck had a "ride" over the void]





confederation square
confederation square








It was also Chinese New Year:










Our last day, we first took a tram to Queen Elizabeth's gardens to visit before our tour to Phillip Island:

Melbourne does a very good job with public transportation
Melbourne does a very good job with public transportation







that's the cactus we have in our yard, gets big when left unchecked :)
that's the cactus we have in our yard, gets big when left unchecked :)

this one too I guess
this one too I guess


my bird seeds came in handy :)
my bird seeds came in handy :)


On the way out of the park, we hit the Shrine of Remembrance:










At 11:00, we had a small bus wildlife tour to penguin island tour with the little penguin bus:










I even found a wild echidna roaming around
I even found a wild echidna roaming around

don't shake the koalas off the trees :)
don't shake the koalas off the trees :)

While at the Koala center, I could hear a racetrack, sure enough there was a nice racetrack nearby, I was able to get a few shots:


But there were wild Wallabies everywhere on our way to the penguin viewing:




happily eating something :)
happily eating something :)










did I mention wild wallabies? :)
did I mention wild wallabies? :)


Then, we got the noobies, where you can see penguins nesting, and rabbits:









And eventually we arrived to the penguin viewing location:



we had premium viewing tickets in this location
we had premium viewing tickets in this location


the penguins come from the ocean and walk up this path
the penguins come from the ocean and walk up this path

general viewing area
general viewing area

So they have a no pictures policy after sunset, it's because they cannot trust people to take pictures without flash (I don't blame them) and besides most cameras and all cell phones would be unable to take any worthwhile shots. As a result, since I did have a camera capable of taking shots in full darkness, and without flash, I took a few shots when I could and without others seeing me so that they wouldn't get bad ideas. The penguins arrived in waves (they travel in numbers for safety), and walk up the path, sometimes up to 2H to the respective nests.





they had a penguin arrival counter :)
they had a penguin arrival counter :)

And this was the end of our trip to Melbourne, the next morning, we flew home.


More pages: December 2023 June 2023 April 2023 December 2022 December 2021 February 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 June 2018 May 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 October 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 September 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 October 2012 September 2012 June 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 June 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 May 2010 January 2010 September 2009 August 2009 June 2009 January 2009 December 2008 August 2008 February 2008 January 2008 October 2007 July 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 August 2006 July 2006 April 2006 March 2006 January 2006 December 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 April 2005 December 2004 October 2004 July 2004 June 2004 January 2004 January 2003 January 2001 August 1997

>>> Back to post index <<<

Contact Email