"Drive Much, Mate?" and "Foiled Again"

Day 57 - "Drive Much, Mate?" - Melbourne, Australia

We decided to go to the Healesville Sanctuary in hopes of giving Theresa an opportunity to hold a koala. Because there were six of us, we had to take two cars. It was time for me to step up and drive Aussie style; right side of the car, left side of the road. I will have to do a lot of driving anyways in New Zealand, so it would be good practice. Paul mapped out an easy route and all I had to do was follow him. It went smooth at first, but then I encountered two habits I could not break. The windshield wipers and the signal lights are on opposites sides compared to the US. Every time, I turned on the windshield wipers when I was trying to change lanes or make a turn. It was also tough to stay in the middle of the lane, often slightly veering towards the left side, driving on the shoulder of the road, and, of course, my first lieutenant, Theresa, had fallen asleep.

Before the Healesville Sanctuary, we made a little pit stop at the Yering Station Winery. We did a couple tastings. They even had chalk for Mattea and Jonah so they could draw on the ground. They know how to cater to families. We had a nice lunch overlooking the vineyards. Theresa had the Baby Snapper with Moreton Bay Bugs. It was our first time trying the "bugs" that Marianne kept talking about. They tasted like a cross between lobster and shrimp - not a bad combination. The lamb loin was nicely cooked, along with potatoes and a manchego salad. It was probably one of our favorite meals and settings in Australia so far.

After stuffing ourselves with a delicious lunch, we headed to the Healesville Sanctuary. Theresa's student ID came in handy once again and because we got there a little before an hour before closing, they gave us an additional discount. Despite all the positives, unfortunately, we found out that holding koalas is not allowed in Victoria. Boo. Nevertheless, we did get to see some animals that we had not seen yet like the wombat, echidna, platypus and reptiles and managed to see bigger tasmanian devils. We also got to see a laughing kookaburra. Theresa had an ephiphany and now realizes that the song "kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he, laugh...kookaburra...laugh..." was an Australian song about a real bird called a laughing kookaburra sitting in a eucalyptus tree. Her life is now complete. We stopped by the animal hospital and saw a surgery occurring on a duck that broke its leg. They were adding pins in it to straighten it out. The weather was nice, not too hot, not too cold and slightly breezy. We finished off with some ice cream and headed back to Surrey Hills.

We took a different way back, faster and a little more challenging. More city and highway driving, not as straightforward as on the way to the sanctuary. Paul really put me to the test. I think I passed! It was about 7pm when we got back to the house, so the kids ate first and then went to bed. We then ate some delicious homemade meatballs and ravioli (We want the recipe, Janita!) and what better way to top it off than with more ice cream and chocolate chips.


Day 58 - "Foiled Again" - Melbourne, Australia

Again, another lazy morning. Not only did we get to sleep in, we got homemade bacon, avocado, tomato, and cheese sandwiches. Janita and Paul were really spoiling us now!

Since our access to free internet going forward was going to be virtually nonexistent, we decided to take advantage of the internet access at the Gallagher-Riley household and plan part of our trip to New Zealand. As Janita noted, we were very studious in our planning. We planned the Northern Island part of our trip. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, we decided to take a break and head out to City Centre for some shopping and eating.

Our goal was to buy some presents for Mattea and Jonah. We ended up at Myers' toy department and found a few things. Any Dora item for Mattea we knew would be foolproof. We also picked up some other items (ice cream maker and lego set) that were probably more of a reflection of our own childish interests than the kids but we had to get them.

We then took a walk around town. We came across the Block Arcade that Eric had read was a really old historic heritage site. Beautiful architecture but nothing in it that we wanted or could afford.

Since we were close to Tasmania, I was still hoping to be able to get a piece of that Tasmanian King Crab. Janita had provided us with two probable options for getting the crab. The first was Flower Drum, a Michelin-rated Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown. As expected they DID have the crab available. Sadly, they DIDN'T have any openings for the rest of the evening :(. Oh well. In any event, the manager there warned us that there was no way the two of us could eat an entire Tasmanian crab between the two of us. Obviously, he's never seen us eat.

Our second option was to head over to the Crown Entertainment Complex in the South Bank area and hit Waterfront Fish Market. We didn't realize at first that it was in the Crown Entertainment Complex (which is a huge casino) and ended up walking up and down the Yarra river and around the complex for probably a good 40 minutes. The river walk was not pleasant. More flies than Kangaroo Island, if that is possible. Lucky for me, they all took a liking to Eric's shirt that he bought in Saigon. At any given moment, there were at least 6 flies hovering around or on him. Makes us a bit suspicious of what material was actually used in that $4 shirt. Perhaps we don't want to know.

Anyhow, we finally found the restaurant and they DID have the crab available, but we were foiled again. The crab was $85 per half kilo, and we were told each crab weighed about 5 kg. Um, yes, you did the math right. That was an $850 crab! Sadly, that was too rich for our blood, so we had to pass the opportunity up. At least this time, we had the option to not order it. Perhaps if we had a party of 10 maybe we'll get it next time.

Instead, we ordered a salt and pepper calamari dish - which seems to be an Aussie staple. It was very good. Then Eric had a seared scallop and roasted duck dish while I had the spaghetti with crabmeat. Eric said his was just OK, but mine was absolutely delicious. Perhaps one of my top 10 meals since I've been on this trip. It reminded me a lot of the bistro shrimp pasta at Cheesecake Factory that I love, but perhaps less creamy. I couldn't get enough of the dish. Good thing for me, it wasn't that big of a dish or else Eric would have had to roll me home.

We then took a walk through the casino. Lots of baccarrat and slots. There was only one craps table. There were some stupid games like War. Who gambles on War?! There's no skill involved. So silly! There was also a game that I'd never heard of called "Si Bo". It seemed like a roulette-type of game but with dice. Eric considered playing craps but the table was always full. We then remembered we still needed to pack for our 7am flight the next morning, so we headed back to Surrey Hill. A big thanks to Janita for ordering us a cab for our 5:15am departure!

We finally made it home after some detours on the city rail, and packed quickly before I fell asleep. Eric, on the other hand, stayed up a few hours longer.

For pictures of days 57 and 58, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=bigtandeze&target=ALBUM&id=5406112316776823281&authkey=Gv1sRgCITD0sXbsc3JhAE&feat=email