Melbourne has two major tours within easy driving distance. The first is the Phillip Island Penguin Parade. Hundreds of little blue penguins call Philip Island home and arrive in droves once the sun sets. Having already seen numerous little blues while I was over in New Zealand, I instead opted for the other option, which also worked to my advantage of taking me to my next major destination (Adelaide). I was going to explore the Great Ocean Road.

I was with Bunyip Tours once again, the same company that took me to Wilsons Prom. So I knew I was in good hands.

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My days in Melbourne were coming to an end and the weather had turned rather sour. With that in mind I spent two of my final days indoors, exploring the dual National Galleries of Victoria (NGV).

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Melbourne and Victoria’s history is steeped in Gold. In 1851, gold was discovered in the surrounding areas and Melbourne was the nearest major city. In 3 years, the population of Melbourne went from 29,000 to over 120,000 people. It was absolute boom time, and the city prospered greatly. For this reason, they decided to build a new Treasury to hold all their lovely gold until it could be shipped off to England.

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I had one final walk in Melbourne I wanted to do before I left the city. This one encompassed the crown jewel of Melbourne’s Parks, the Royal Botanic Gardens.

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Within the downtown area of Melbourne lie not only numerous parks, but several European-styled Cathedrals. Todays walk encompassed several of both types:

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Alternate Titles Include: My Day at the Prom, and Kangaroos, Wombats and Emus, Oh My!

Wilsons Promontory is a large National Park located about 3 hours from Melbourne. As it is the offseason for tourism in Melbourne, a few of the local operators are running fairly good deals. Bunyip was one such operator, offering this tour for FREE when I took their 3-day Great Ocean Road tour to Adelaide. Since I was already planning to do the Great Ocean Road, this was far and away the best deal I saw. A day in a national park seeing wildlife and hiking? Sounds perfect to me!

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Australia has a couple of major sports. It all depends on which region you are in. Rugby reigns supreme out on the East Coast, with huge support in centers likes Sydney and Brisbane. In Melbourne though, they play a different game completely – Australian Rules Football.

While it shares some similarities to Rugby, there are quite a few differences as well. If I were to say both Aussie Rules and Rugby were a combination of Soccer and American Football for comparison, I’d put Aussie Rules more towards Soccer and Rugby more towards American Football. That is NOT to say that Aussie Rules is any less tough or physical than Rugby – it’s just a different type.

Rugby is a very grinding physical game, often won by inch upon grueling inch. Aussie Rules is much more fluid, flowing, open running game. Players are much more often in constant motion, hitting happens less frequently and points are more readily scored.

The game itself is blissfully easy to follow for the uninitiated. There are two general rules for Aussie Rules, as far as I could figure:

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