The Great Ocean Road

   Today is Wednesday and as of tomorrow, we will have been here for 3 weeks already. Amazing.

Hills west of Apollo Bay

   (John here: Early this AM, while Cheri was resting her cold, I went on a short hike at Mait's Rest, just west of Apollo Bay. Trees were even bigger than at the Otway Fly.Very Jurassic Park!)

On Mait's Rest hike

   Firstly, in answer to Ken's question about seeing kangaroos all over the place in the Grampians. . .  no. But we did see an inordinate number of dead ones along the side of the road! Then we saw one wallaby but it scooted off into the woods before Jay could get a pic. I think you had a distinct advantage by camping because you were then in the areas where all the roos were active at night. Since we're not supposed to drive after dark -- they don't insure the rental cars for accidents from sunset to sunrise -- we are not out and about in the dark. Plus, with us both having colds now, we get into the place we'll be spending the night and just collapse. That doesn't mean we don't head out to find a good place for dinner. It just means we're not walking around when the nocturnal critters are active.
   This morning, as we drove along the Great Ocean Road, we did pull into Grey River Rd. in Kennett River to look for koalas. When we pulled up, there was a family standing by the road with maybe 50 birds of all kinds all around them. They had bird seed, so birds flew in from everywhere. The parrots were sitting on their heads, shoulders, and arms and were eating out of their hands. We walked up and a green parrot flew onto my shoulder but left when it discovered I didn't have anything to feed it! Cockatoos flew in by groups screeching all the way and driving many of the other birds away from the seed. I had no idea that cockatoos were so prolific in Australia.

Friendly cockatoo

   As we walked further up the road, we saw 5 koalas in different trees along the road. A couple of them were pretty active considering it was time for their nap. Two of them we found because of the noise they made: they sounded like pigs or hogs grunting. It was pretty loud and we both looked and looked until we saw them. I think the one was disgruntled because the other one was too close. It left and found another branch from which to sleep!

Koala and friend

   We had another great meal at an ocean-side fish place in Geelong. we had battered "flattie" (flathead - description sounds like monkfish); it was very tender and had a very mild flavor. Also had prawn spring rolls (actually battered prawns with a spring-roll like filling around it) - also delicious. We are now in our room in Melbourne and will stay here for 3 nights. I'm hoping to throw off this cold by tomorrow but we're both coughing pretty consistently so that may not happen.  Jay mentioned that the kleenex here is scented with aloe, eucalytus, and peppermint so that was fun. Great idea too even though you can't smell anything when you are solidly into the runny nose part.
   Off to explore Melbourne tomorrow.. . .  we have a full schedule so keep your fingers crossed we don't poop out!
   Will add photos later if the wireless connection cooperates - it's been taking hours to upload a few photos to the Google blogspot.