Ahhhh, Melbourne. We've had a wonderful week here. Melbourne is noted as one of the worlds most livable cities and it's easy to see why! The city has both river and ocean with lots of public spaces along them for all to enjoy. It's a very clean city that is easy to navigate with it's trams, buses and trains. It's also known as a food lovers Mecca and any of the restaurants we visited were outstanding. Even the meals we cooked benefited from the abundant fresh fruits and vegetables. I think we are getting addicted to mangos as they are so sweet and good. The only drawback of Melbourne is that it is known for having four seasons in a day. While they don't quite compare with Calgary, before and after a Chinook arrives, one certainly can feel the difference when a "southerly" blows in and the temperatures drop.

We also took a couple of tours into the neighboring country side. On Saturday day we rented a car and drove a portion of the Great Ocean Road. It was an infrastructure project following the First World War. It's a winding road that hugs the rugged coastline of Southern Australia. There are gorgeous sites at every turn! There are also many places to stop and surf, sit on the beach, hike, eat -- whatever you like. Most impressive!

The following Monday we took a tour to Phillip Island. Phillip Island is known for having the last colony of the Little Penguin. They are darling little creatures - about 30cm high and are actually blue and white (yes, not black). They head out into the ocean to fish and then after a day or two they return to land at dusk to feed their young. After reaching the shore many of them have to waddle over a kilometer to their burrows. There are viewing platforms build by the beach at the start of their onshore trek so one can get quite close to them without bothering them. The sites and sounds were amazing. We aren't certain how many came on shore the night we were there but the previous night the count was 725. It certainly will go down as one of the hi-lights of Australia.

Another hi-light for Rob was taking in a practice round of the Australian Masters at the Victoria Club. He watched Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Greg Chalmers, John Senden and too many others to name. He says to passed along some tips to Luke and Ian and they were very grateful. Watch and see how they do on the weekend. Honestly, I expect Rob picked up more tips than he gave.

Having been in Australia a month now we are feeling quite comfortable here. If it weren't so far away it would be a great place to have a winter home. The people are very friendly and helpful. We've even learned some of the local "lingo". The trick is to shorten words and add an "ie" a "y" at the end of the word. For example: "we are going to visit the relies for Chrissy" - is "we are going to the relatives for Christmas". We haven't braved Vegemite yet, but who knows what the weeks ahead will bring. Stay tuned!