Up early for coffee, then, we all walked Tanya to the gangway to say good bye... Karin walked off with her... Our cabin steward Dede carried her luggage to the taxi... (Tanya arrived home to Detroit Thursday, saw her Dr. Friday, and is OK)
T & I had breakfast, then walked off in search of our group... We were joining a private van tour arraigned by one of the Cruise Critic people... The van was a bit late (traffic), and the group a bit disorganized... But we found each other just off the pier, beyond a wonderful Queen Anne head house, in sight of the 109 tram...
Ten of us shared the van... It took us into town (downtown Melbourne is a bit inland... ) Through downtown, a quite vibrant downtown, with trams everywhere... past their sport complex, and on to their veteran's' memorial... The Shrine of Remembrance. The memorial was somber, and very moving...
Back aboard our little green bus, and into the Dandenong Range, the hills surrounding Melbourne, into Gum tree and fern forests, surprisingly lush... (but also subject to fire... Close 150 people lost their lives in a wild fire here 2 years ago) There were signs warning about kangaroos which might be (but today were not) on the road...
Lunch at a spot in the national forest, with a bird feeding area, carefully defined... Nearby, in the trees, we could see cockatiels... Then, rosellas... (smaller parrot like red and blue birds)... You entered the carefully defined feeding area with a small bowl of food... The the birds come, land on arms and head... First the rosellas, but eventually the cockatiels... The cockatiels, while not intentionally aggressive had large claws, and could do damage...
We had lunch, then back through the city to the ship... I would have liked to have spent a few days exploring the city...
Back aboard, we found Karin, who stepped off the ship, but didn't explore much, cleaned up, then found seats in the Crow's Nest, along with beer and wine and sat and watched as the ship transited Port St Phillip Bay, The mouth nearly 40 miles from where we docked... back at sea, we cleaned up, and went to dinner, and eventually to bed...
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