Had a while to hang around at the airport before our flight, I got caught up on a bit of work while Leanne read some magazines. The flight was uneventful and we ended our trip by catching the train home to Artarmon.

A very enjoyable trip overall – especially managing to visit four different zoos (or sanctuaries / aquariums) while we were there.

I eventually headed into town myself – this time walking down Acland Street to catch a different tram which didn’t go down St. Kilda road – I wanted to go via a route I hadn’t taken before. After wandering around a bit I met up with Leanne for lunch and we did some shopping before heading back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon nap.

I must confess that we did stop in at some of the cake shops on Acland street and bought a few things to take back to the hotel for dessert – yummy.

Luna Park - St. Kilda

Yarra River, Southbank

One place I have been intending to visit for quite some time is the Melbourne Aquarium. We did visit quite a while back on one of our first trips to Melbourne, but never found the time to go again – even though I typically stayed in hotels an easy walking distance from the aquarium while staying in Melbourne for work all those years.

Melbourne Aquarium

I must say I was a little disappointed with the aquarium – for the price you pay to get in, I’m really not sure it’s worth while. It’s certainly not as good as some aquarium’s I’ve seen elsewhere. It was also very busy and noisy the day we visited, and it’s never easy to take photos inside an aquarium, which also tends to frustrate me somewhat. You get that.

Melbourne Aquarium

After the aquarium, we stopped for some lunch and a little bit of shopping before heading back down to the Crown complex and saw a movie at the cinema there.

There are a couple more photos in the Melbourne Aquarium gallery on ZooChat.

It has been a while since we visited the zoo, when I first started traveling to Melbourne regularly for work we visited the zoo more often, but the trips gradually became shorter and busier – and Leanne was not able to come with me so often.

We were impressed with some of the new facilities they have built since our last visit.

Orangutans

The Orangutan enclosure and interpretative centre is excellent – allowing you to get a great view of these amazing animals. I loved the enrichment games that you could try as well – although the Orangutans are generally much better at it!

Butterfly

I’m not sure if the butterfly house was there for our last visit – but I don’t remember ever going in there before, so this was great to see something for the first time (even if it isn’t actually new).

Water fountain

Major Mitchell Cockatoo

I quite enjoyed the Great Flight Aviary – a large collection of Australian native birds in a huge aviary – plenty tall and long enough for them to have a decent flight, and a large body of water for the water birds.

Lions

I’ve always quite liked their raised viewing platform for the Lions – gives you a great view of them.

As usual, I have uploaded more photos from our visit to the Melbourne Zoo Photo Gallery on ZooChat

One thing that surprised us was the new Australian Wildlife Health Centre, which I expected to be just another boring “interpretive display”, but this is actually a real working animal hospital – and is chock full of fascinating information about how they treat sick and injured animals, including viewing areas for their surgery rooms and other parts of the facility.

Orange-bellied Parrot

A real highlight of the day was the Platypussary – an outdoor viewing area for the platypus, and given we arrived there just as one of the bird shows was starting, it was quiet and the platypus were actually out playing. We were captivated for nearly half an hour by two platypuses swimming around their pools in broad daylight – something you rarely get to see!

Platypussary

Platypus

The Birds of Prey and Parrots in Flight shows were both excellent. We were also impressed with the diverse collection of birds they keep at the sanctuary.

Superb Fairy-wren

I did find it a bit ironic that one of my best photos of the day was of a bird not in an aviary – but wild. This gorgeous little Superb Fairy-wren hopped around my feet grabbing bugs, quite unperturbed by me snapping away on my camera. These guys have always been amongst my favourite birds.

Dingo

Overall a very enjoyable day – we were impressed with all of the work they have done to the sanctuary since our last visit in 2002 – it is an excellent facility now and well worth the effort to get to.

I’ve uploaded more photos to the Healesville Sanctuary Gallery on ZooChat .

Tweets from today

off to Healesville Sanctuary

26th September, 2008 9:50 AM from web

trying to decide where to go today – Melbourne Zoo or Healesville Sanctuary

26th September, 2008 8:36 AM from web

We jumped in our car and drove out to Werribee Open Range Zoo for the day – about 45 minutes drive from our hotel in St. Kilda.

It was a nice day, and school holidays, so we expected the zoo to be crowded – and it was, we had to line up for about 15 minutes to get in (they really need a fast-access lane for membership holders!). We started off with a walk along the Volcanic Plains Walk while we waited for our bus tour to begin.

Zebra - Werribee Open Range Zoo

The bus tour is in purpose-built safari buses, which load from the side (the whole side of the bus opens up and forms steps so that all rows can board at once).

Werribee Open Range Zoo

It was interesting to see the new developments at the zoo – since we were last here in 2003, they have added a new Hippo enclosure, new Lion viewing area and were constructing an enclosure for African Wild Dogs, which will be great to see.

Watersmart Garden - Werribee Open Range Zoo

After the bus tour we stopped for some lunch and then did the Pula Reserve Walk – which allows you to see the Vervet Monkeys, Lions, Meerkats, Hippos, Cheetahs and Zebras at your own pace. This was one of my criticisms of Werribee when we last visited – you simply couldn’t see much on your own, and the bus tour is never long enough, nor convenient for photography.

Wetlands Wirribi Yaluk Walk - Werribee Open Range Zoo

We finished up with a walk through the Watersmart Garden and Wiribi Yaluk Walk down to the Werribee River.

GPS Track from St. Kilda to Werribee Open Range Zoo

All up, it was a very pleasant day – we got back to the hotel worn out and had a nap.

I’ve uploaded more photos to the Werribee Open Range Zoo gallery on ZooChat .

Tweets from today

enjoying some cake from one of the shops on Acland Street, St Kilda (about 2 min walk from where we are staying – dangerous!)

25th September, 2008 8:06 PM from web

just back from Werribee Open Range Zoo – great day, fantastic weather. Pity about the crowds.

25th September, 2008 5:13 PM from web

off to Werribee Open Range Zoo just outside Melbourne

25th September, 2008 10:17 AM from web

Leanne finished up work early and I picked her up so she could come home and get ready. We then caught a train to the airport – cheaper than catching a taxi. It costs around $45 for two return tickets from Artarmon to the domestic airport, while a taxi costs over $50 one way. You just have to plan ahead a bit more and allow plenty of time to get there … and hope that the trains don’t break down!

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, checked in and headed to the Qantas club lounge. This trip will be the last time I will be able to get into the lounge, my Gold status expires at the end of the month and I haven’t done enough flying to requalify for anything. Fortunately I now have lifetime Silver status, so I don’t lose all my status, but Silver isn’t that useful, and it won’t get us into the lounge.

Had a bit of a scare after passing through security, I was hoisting my backpack onto my shoulder which had all my camera gear and my laptop in it – when one of the clips that hold the straps in place snapped and the bag fell from my back to the floor. I was a bit worried about my gear, but after checking through it all once we got to the lounge, everything seemed to be okay.

The flight was non-eventful (the best kind), and we arrived in Melbourne just after 9:30pm. After collecting our bags, we headed across to Hertz and picked up a car and then set off to our hotel.

When we had been planning our weekend away, I used wotif.com to find accomodation – but I noted that most hotels around the city seemed to have quite expensive rates for the weekend, and many of them had no last minute deals at all. It took me a while to figure out why – but eventually I realised that it was AFL Grand Final weekend! We did consider changing our plans – but we were pretty keen to spend some time in Melbourne, so I persisted with my search.

Eventually I found a decent price at a hotel in St.Kilda – the Cosmopolitan, which seemed strangely familiar when I was booking. When we arrived I knew why – we had stayed here before, but it was being renovated at the time, so they only had a few rooms available and they were on special. Located on Carlisle Street, just off the end of Acland Street, it really is in a great location – close to all the restaurants and cafes, short walk to the beach, and easy access to trams.

We checked in and got settled and spent some time planning our next few days.

Tweets from today

at the airport heading to Melbourne for a few days with my wife

24th September, 2008 7:21 PM from web