On to Melbourne

The ship left the dock at Sydney, about 6:30 p.m., just as we were enjoying sitting down to a fabulous 4 course meal...and oh, man, was it delicious.  As it turned out...every meal was delicious!  We were introduced to our waiters, Ryan and NaPaul.  They were great.  After the first couple nights, they knew what we liked to drink with our meal and with our dessert.  We got spoiled!

Anyway, we sailed away from Sydney, and the next morning we arrived early in Melbourne.  I only booked two excursions (one in Australia and one in New Zealand), although there were a variety of excursions at every port.  In Melbourne, I opted for an excursion that lasted most of the day, which took us by coach to a large reserved where we could see kangaroo and koala bears in the wild. 

When we arrived, our guide instructed us to follow close behind him, not to talk, and to keep in a fairly tight group so that the kangaroos would think we were just another group of animals.  If we were to spread out, it would make them nervous and run away. 

So, we headed out, walking behind our guide in tall grass.  Our guide would stop on occasion, search the landscape with his binoculars, and then continue on until he finally spotted them.  We stayed quite, and got some rather nice views of these unique animals.

Next, we drove to an area where it was possible to see koala bears.  They were very high in the trees, but with binoculars, we were able to see them.  Although, I must say it was pretty difficult to see too much of them since they were rather well hidden by branches and leaves.  One had to be very patient.
I couldn't come up with any good pictures.  On our way back out of the reserve, we did see a wallaby, some black swans and signets, several emus, and two different mobs of kangaroos with about 30 in each mob.  These were pretty exciting sightings for us tourists!

Then it was back to the ship...for dinner...and entertainment.  In the theater there is a live show EVERY night with world-class entertainers.  LOVED IT.