Out of Launceton Into the Wild Tasmania

 Our flight from Melbourne to Launceton, Tasmania took about 1 hour on JetStar Airline.  We rented a new Kia and headed west on a secondary highway.

We entered Cradle Mountain National Park where we stayed in this new "cabin".  It was a huge National Park and many sites were taken by tent campers.

Our cabin was modern, as you can see, and it was warm and comfortable even though the night temperature was rather cold and it was spitting snow in the morning.  Luckily, the snow did not stick and we moved on as planned Wednesday morning.

We drove a few miles into Cradle Mountain National Park and boarded a bus.  The bus drove us about 15 miles into the park (kind of like Denali in Alaska) and dropped us off at a visitor center.  Behind the center was Dove Lake.  After our tour we got back into our warm Kia and headed deeper into west Tasmania.

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Melbourne Boat Ride

 On Monday April 22 we took a boat tour in Melbourne on the Yarra River.

                It was a warm and pleasant day.  Dave and Marilyn had done the tour before so they stayed in the city.

It did not take long before we started seeing some interesting architecture.  Does the building on the left have a back problem?

These two towers seemed to have a huge belt holding them together.

These structures are designed to load the huge ocean-going ships.

Just like Chicago and other big cities on the water in the USA.  Melbourne had its own large yachts in port.

This skyscraper seemed to be wearing a pair of goggles. On each side.

We passed this accounting firm with an interesting name - don't you think?

Here is what the city of Melbourne looked like from our tour boat.  We had a great ride on the water in a beautiful Australian city.

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On Tuesday morning we were moving early to catch a plane to our next destination down under. 

Come back to check it out.

Melbourne Part Two

 After our tour of the prison Francis and Bill decided to visit the Melbourne Museum near downtown Melbourne.

It was very large and had plenty to see.  This dinosaur was perfectly done.

There was a movie featuring dinosaurs  that we think we had seen in the large Chicago Museum of Natural History?

These two boas with a boa skeleton between them was interesting.  (if you like big snakes)

We thought this doll house was worth a picture with all its detail.

This is Australia's most famous racehorse, Phar Lap.  Stuffed of course.  He won 37 of the famous 51 starts in which he raced in the 1930's.  Move over Secretariat!

In the museum one visitor could stand at a TV screen in one room, while another posed in the famous painting in another room.  Above Francis is trying to look like the king of Frederic! 

The Melbourne Museum was excellent.

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Melbourne Australia

 We arrived in Melbourne by car with Dave at the wheel and Marilyn flew in to meet us.  We stayed at a beautiful three-bedroom high-rise apartment down town.

When we took our first walk in the city we came across this loud gathering of people protesting what Israel is doing now in the Meddle East in its war in Gaza with Hamas.

We visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail) or prison near downtown.  We have toured a few other old prisons in our travels, and this one was hard to beat.  We could roam almost anywhere freely, and there was plenty of information in each cell telling about famous prisoners.

We were surprised to read that the old prison held women as well as men.  It said that often homeless children were sent there because they had no other place to go.  Above are our wonderful hosts: Dave and Marilyn. 

The prison was a place to avoid back in the day!

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Australia - The Americans Have Been Here Ahead of Us

 As we spend time in Australia we are seeing more and more American businesses that we recognize.

Here are a couple that we think you know.  (besides McDonald's)

The Colonel is all over Australia.  (Must be a lot of chickens here)

And we bet you can guess this one from the States.  Go Whopper!

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A Two-Day Drive Along the Sea

 On Friday morning we left Adelaide with Dave at the wheel and headed south and east along the Australian Sea toward Melbourne.  Marilyn stayed home to clean house.  She would fly in later to meet us in Melbourne.

It was a beautiful drive along the coast; a bit like California's Pacific Coast Highway.

The views were numerous like this as we drove along the sea.   These middle rock formations are the "two sisters.

       Here is a hitch-hiker we picked up.  We stayed overnight in a small local motel in the tiny village of Lavers.  The road was full of many ocean scenes like this along the southern Australia coast.  Note the cave in the rock.

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An Actual Football Game Australian Style

 On Saturday April 13, 2024 we drove into Adelaide to see a real game of football the way they play it down here.

The teams playing were Adelaide v Fremantle.  We had excellent seats behind one goal.

Football down here is played without much padding and the players are paid professionals.  Touchdowns are kicked not ran.  It gets rough and tackling sometimes is allowed.

The Adelaide Oval holds about 60,000 and it was almost full of cheering fans.  Adelaide won the game by a last minute score.  The game was very fun to watch,

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