Yesterday, Nana, Gina n i went to Victoria Market where fruits n veggies, souvenirs n a lot of other stuff r sold. kak sham told us that we should try the famous donuts. we did...it's freshly fried strawberry jam filled donut sort of ur oblong version of dunkin donut. i saw lots of things that jamie n nigella use in their cooking shows such as rhubarb, artichoke, fennel...n i could smell fresh basil. oh wat heavenly smell! plump ripe fragrant peaches n shiny dark red cherries n happy red strawberries.... i bought some peaches, strawberries n raspberries. we thought of bringing some back to m'sia next week.
then we rented a car n went to phillip island. the agenda of the day was to meet australia's icons - koalas, kangaroos as well as penguins n sheep. on the way to the island, we went to a cattle farm. sadly tho, we missed the cow milking tour. but we did see some docile fat wooly sheep, n this 1 woman gave a demo on how to shear their fleece. then she taught us how to crack a whip, used for herding the cattle. sorta indiana jones kinda style. then i fed a kangaroo. very tame indeed. it fed right out of my hand. very very ticklish n i was giggling uncontrollably. then 1 sheep saw that i had food in my palm n was harrassing me! it was following me wherever i went that nana told me to feed it. n it still wanted it more! we saw wombat, then 1 albino peacock (all white). after that we had continental tea - tea with scones n jam n cream. simply divine, darling...simply divine *grin*. after taking more pics in the english garden where there were huge roses of every colour n pansies n english n shasta daisies, we continued our way to phillip island.
phillip island is linked to the mainland by a bridge. its main attraction is the wildlife. we went to see some koalas first. sure enough, we could see koalas sleeping on trees. they looked so cute, hugging the trees. saw some babies too. there were also kookabarra birds, a native species. after the tour, we went to a seashore where penguin nestling ground could be found. on the way, shops were already closed. unlike us who take the advantage of making more money n spending them at shops well into the nite (10pm), the australians believe that all work n (n all buy) makes jack a dull boy. shops close at 6pm here. except for cafes n restaurants.
anyway, at the seashore, the only thing we found was sea gulls...n more sea gulls with their young uns. n it was so windy... it's not like in m'sia where we have warm breeze. we're talking abt cold wind! there were some seals on the rocks but this we couldnt see through our naked eyes n had to use a telescope. only after that did we go to see the penguins. wat makes this an interesting events is that u dont see the penguins in display like at the zoo. here, u see penguins in their natural habita. n wat we see is part of their daily routine - the penguins return to the shore after a day of catching fish in the water. they only return to the shore at dusk n bcoz it's summertime, this happens around 8.30pm. the spectators cannot go near but had to sit at the stand n watch them fr afar. cameras arent allowed. n absolutely no touching them. last nite the first penguins rose to shore at 8.30. it was really windy, n very very cold...despite our sweaters, we huddled together covered with nana's blankie. some even covered their whole body with blankies n towels. but it was awesome to see these cute creatures rising fr the sea n waddling to the shore. these r called fairy penguins n r quite small if compared to their other counterparts. after buying souvenirs, we went home n reached melbourne at midnight.
it was very tiring, but i enjoyed every single minute of it.
