Sometimes you cannot do it all! I chose to visit the Shrine of Remembrance, Rod Laver Arena and to spend time in various gardens: Queen Victoria, Kings Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens. More new birds were discovered and photographed so it was a wonderful day!

Here are some of the birds:

I enjoyed a Nepali lunch in the late afternoon before heading back to my hotel room to identify and process the bird photos. I was disappointed to not be able to have a tour of the Rod Laver Arena. As I joked with the workers, “I guess I have to attend the Australian Open!” Right!

Other people enjoyed the optional Great Ocean Road National Park tour. It’s a park that winds 150 miles along Australia’s eastern coast. I appreciated having an option for me to be on my own looking and photographing birds.

As a group, we did travel south of Melbourne to Mornington Peninsula and visit Moonlit Sanctuary, a wildlife sanctuary. Koalas and kangaroos are native wildlife, so it was fun to see them here. The koalas sleep 20 of 24 hours. A chew on the eucalyptus leaves and then they are back to sleep; obviously not many nutrients in those leaves. I thought the dingoes were good-looking. I did discover 5 new birds here that were not in cages, thus I could include them in my eBird count. They had a nice show of a couple of animals. I loved seeing the tawny frogmouth, especially as the bird blends with the tree bark.

We stopped for lunch at Heronswood Gardens. Here they also have a nursery providing heirloom seeds. There heirloom garden surrounds a Gothic manor and is with beautiful flowers and trees. Extra bonus: saw 2 more new birds! Tomorrow we fly to Alice Springs. Finally to enjoy some warmer temperature!

For lots of money you could own a beach shack; cannot stay overnight in it, only for storage.