Quick stats:
- 2 graphic novels / 1 book read
- 5 movies watched
- 1 comedy show (Maria Bamford was great!)
- found Nemo & Dory
- 1 epic day tour taken (540 km / 335 mi covered)
Had my last Mandarin class of Term 1! 我是电影会计师。(Translation: I am a movie accountant.) Okay, was. I can’t say much besides introducing myself, asking after your nationality and what your job is, but hey coming from absolute zero Mandarin knowledge, I’m going to count that as a win. I’m not signing up for Term 2 immediately as I think I’ll travel while I’ve got the time then I’ll sign up for more Mandarin later.
Kim came to visit! First use of her passport–I’m so proud. We got lots of sights in while she was here.. and so many animals! We hit up the Sea Life aquarium and the Melbourne Zoo. Animals galore!
We found a giant Ugg! 
Took her straight to Agathe for a croissant 
..and beef noodle soup
Tilly got to find Nemo and Dory and see sharks and *huge* manta rays. I loved that there were so many tunnels and bubble views in the tanks so kids could walk thru the tanks and see the fish up close. Most were too dark for Tilly but it’s an awesome feature.
Baby Joey’s always sporting his mohawk 
I’ve always wondered how thick the tank glass is. 
These tunnels in the tanks were so great! So kids could get close. 
We tried to get Tilly in but she was a bit scared. 
Found Dory! 
These penguins were super quick and speedy. 
This will go down as my favorite picture ever.
The Melbourne Zoo had gorgeous habitat-style areas and all the areas were thematic to natural habitats (seriously, the bamboo forest there was bigger than the one in Kyoto). They had a good Aussie animal area with bouncing kangaroos, a friendly emu and wombats (awake ones!). The platypus was smaller than we thought and so cute, swimming so fast.
Got right up close and friendly with this emu. 
This aviary was awesome.
Since I don’t have a car I was waiting for a visitor to check out the Great Ocean Road. It’s just west of Melbourne and we went on an epic day tour covering its entirety. It’s a lovely coastline stretch 243 km / 151 mi long that took 17 years to complete. The scenery was giving me strong Pacific Coast Highway vibes, but with a rocky coastline.
Our perfect sized tour bus. 
Yea, so I was glad someone else drove all these miles. 
Tassie (our guide) takes a good selfie. 
Rocky coastlines
The Twelve Apostles were stunning to see. Kinda sad to find out that there were never actually twelve, but only nine and now eight (last one fell over in 2009). It’s all about what sounds good, I guess.
Gibson’s steps 
Archways galore! 
It was stunning to see and just breathtaking.
Saw the Shipwreck Coast (over 200 wrecks!) and we went inland to see the Otway National Park and explore some of the rainforest. We saw a different species of eucalyptus (not the ones you see all over the country and the ones that koalas hang out in) that’s 2nd tallest in the world (after only coastal redwoods). It was massive!
Super tall mountain ash 
Carnivorous snails!
We didn’t find any in our hike but discovered that there’s a carnivorous species of snails (which of course are all black). They’re endangered so I guess it’s best that they’re not just hanging out too close to the trails.
It is Easter so there are hot cross buns everywhere! It’s not sweet really, as it’s more of a fruit bread. Folks generally eat them toasted and with butter. Yums! We had one of the best things ever, which was madeleines fresh to order (at Cumulus Inc.). Pretty sure that was my first time tasting one of those fresh.
Fresh madeleine in lemon curd 
Hot cross bun and coffee!
So much Hot Star and boba too. Hot Star’s a Taiwanese fried food spot and their fried mushrooms are divine. I eat it whenever I walk by, so I have to be careful which streets I walk down.
Tastiest fried mushrooms ever 
This chicken patty is larger than my face!
We got to take in another comedy show too, this time it was Maria Bamford. She was hilarious! I hadn’t seen much of her before this so I’m super glad we went to see her. (Solid rec, Annie!). The comedy festival is ending soon, so I doubt I’ll see any more shows this year but thankfully the Spanish Film Festival starts in a second so I’ll never be without a festival handy.
Such an excellent show. 
The Forum was a delightful venue.
Other fun Aussie things to share:
- Love how their mailboxes look like ! to me. The bottom slot is for newspapers, but it’s just such a fun look, so I just see exclamation points everywhere.
!!!! !!!!
!!!! !!!!
- I’ve never seen it before but the 7-11s here had single serve boxes of Krispy Kremes! Kinda neat.
- Never thought about this but you can buy kangaroo nuts as souvenirs. You know, for that perfect friend.
What Em's Eating Now 
Another great update!
You’ve seen more of Melbourne and surrounding areas than I have of the Bay. In just several months! So much good looking food too.
I wonder if kangaroo nuts go in the bottom slot of the mailbox. 🤔
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Let’s see, so roo nuts are smaller than your average set of truck nuts… so depending on your mailbox size.. Bet we could manhandle them in. Oh! Maybe that’s why Aussies have those exclamation point mailboxes!!
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Shipwreck coast hey? Never heard of it but sounds cool. U can actually see wrecks from the shore?
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No wrecks were seen by us but she pointed out some major sites along the drive. Water did seem rough at times. Yeah guess it wasn’t called Shipwreck coast then or maybe boats would’ve gotten the message…
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