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On our second day in Melbourne we had also opted for an excursion outside the city as we had spent the two days in Sydney and wanted to see some other part of the Australian landscape. We also wanted to see more wildlife. This was another longish day, scheduled for 7 hours and starting about 8:45am.

We met our guide, Roger, from the Echidna Walkabout Agency at the coach. We noticed that he was more dressed for the bush and his badge referred to him as a “wildlife guide” not a “tour guide.” Echidna Walkabout has been in business for 20 years and is intimately involved in programs to save the natural wildlife. A part of our excursion fee goes to each of the two programs we saw on this day trip. The coach took us to the Serandip Open Range Sanctuary on the Wester Plains about one hour outside Melbourne. The Sanctuary was established in the 1950s to help preserve and breed endangered species. It was originally part of a ranch/farm, but is now a government sponsored park, with volunteers and financial assistance from people like us. Once they established the Sanctuary which includes 1000s of acres of natural grasslands, about 750 kangaroos appeared and settled in. They also have breeding programs for various birds and reptiles, but all in a very natural setting, without pens and cages except for some fences to keep people in and out of certain areas. Apparently there isn't a fence there that a kangaroo cannot jump, but the emus cannot move from area to area. We first drove around the park and then walked through some “wetlands” to view the migratory birds. In Australia they do not migrate to escape weather changes, but rather to search out water sources. Roger is very passionate about the various animals and birds and very knowledgeable. He can identify every bird that flies by, imitate their calls and discuss them at length. He also told us about the “bull ants” we encountered on our short walk. They are one inch long and very aggressive biters, so he had us walk around their nest and he herded them with a stick. Closed toe shoes were a plus during this whole day.

After this portion of the tour, we got off the coach and walked for 45 minutes through grasslands and tree areas where we saw a number of kangaroos, mostly females (some with babies in their pouches) and a younger male. You need to be relatively quiet and not approach them or they are off in a flash and they move very fast. Roger has been working with Sernadip for so long that he knows where the “mob” of kangaroos is and can spot them under the trees, etc. We also found the skeleton of a recently deceased young male and he showed us the leg and length of the foot and the strong toes, the size of the skull, the two movable jaws, and the spine.

We then had a BBQ lunch, with burgers, sausages, chicken kebabs and lots of salads. After the food, we met Norm Stanley, an aboriginal person. We expected something hokey, but Norm is a guy in his mid-30s with a pony-tail and full beard wearing a shirt and hat emblematic of the program he works for in the Department of Justice in the State of Victoria. He told us how difficult it was growing up as an Aboriginal person in his childhood, with much of the prejudice we saw in our country against blacks, but with a more intense program to wipe out the Aboriginal culture, which has been in place in Australia for 60,000 years. He worked as a professor teaching cultural issues after he overcame his own anger as a young man and now works for the Justice Department to aid disenfranchised youth and adults in living in the current world but still keeping their own faith and culture in place. He is a very moving speaker and told us about his father who was a very large man and a kangaroo hunter and tracker in Western Australia and came from one “country” and group. His mother is tiny and a member of the Wada Wunguru, but was not actively raised in the culture. He learned the old ways from his father's side and showed us all the older cultural weapons and food gathering items. He explained that there are some men's cultural issues and some women's which are considered equally strong and not to be explained to one by the other. His finale was to show us various “didgeridoos” and how they are used and then to “play” a tune/piece accompanied by Roger on wooden sticks. Roger is very proud to number Norm and other Aboriginal persons among his friends and very respectful of their culture, to the point that he will not tell us their most sacred or highly cultural stories.

After Norm's discussion, we re-boarded the coach and headed to the You Yang Mountains and a national park where koala researchers are monitoring a large group of koalas in the wild. One of the researchers had identified two for us to see, Anzac, a large and dominant male, and Pat, a female who remains in the same area and has probably born 3 sons, one or more of whom may be Anzac's. We saw them resting in trees at a reasonable distance. Anzac turned his head once but was relatively uninterested in us, resting after a large meal. Pat, who was some distance on foot away, was more curious and moved around in her tree more so we could see her face and arms and legs move, etc. She has become more used to humans observing her. Roger knows these koalas well and can talk about their mothers and grandmothers and their history separately and together. He explained the mating and birth cycles of both kangaroos and koalas, which are marsupials or mammals with pouches. We knew some of the basics, but learned a lot more. For instance, female kangaroos gestate for a month, then the tiny roo is born, crawls into the pouch and latches onto one of four nipples which grows longer as the baby stays in the pouch for up to 8 months. We had some knowledge of this, but did not know that if climate conditions are such that the mother knows there is not enough water for her to find feed enough for both herself and the baby for the full 8 months, she can keep the embryo inside her womb for up to 2 years and maintain her own life, then when conditions are better can give birth and the kangaroo population can survive, even if the male population has been greatly reduced by the drought. As we said, Roger is passionate about what he does and eager to help us be passionate about it as well.

Our final stop was the Big Rock Aboriginal Cultural Site which is not far from the koala area and on one side of the You Yang Mountains. There are three mountains – the Womens', the Elders' and the Mens'. The Big Rock is what it sounds like, a large rock area overlooking much of the Western Plains and above the tree line. The Aboriginal Persons had made fire pits and water holes in the rock, by setting fires which cracked the rock's surface and made natural indentations. Both Big Rock and one water hole are on the Australian national registry of historical places. Roger also told us that Aboriginal women still come with midwives to give birth at the base of the Womens' mountain and then bring the baby back so that the spiritual “rain' from the Elders' mountain can fall on the baby and bring it spiritual health.

On that note, we headed back to the pier, boarded the ship and watched another load of sports cars and motorcycles loading onto the Tasmania overnight before departing in that direction ourselves. Obviously, we are moving at a much more leisurely pace as we will not be in Hobart overnight, but in 2 nights and a day.

Dinner was at Polo Grill with Alex and Gilbert, steak and lobster. Off to bed with knowledge of a day at sea coming to catch up on reading and writing this journal. Dinner for the day at sea is with Damien LaCroix, the General Manager, and we assume a table full of regulars like ourselves. Should be an adventure.