November 4, Melbourne

November 4, Melbourne Australia

It seems kind of weird to say that as we head south, the temperatures are getting cooler. While we were in Sydney, we had mid 70’s to mid 80’s during the day. Today in Melbourne it was around 56 this morning and only got up to 63 during the day.

We had originally planned on doing our own thing here, but really wanted to see the Healesville Animal Sanctuary but there really wasn’t an easy way to get there. Our cruise critic friends had a tour set up that included a stop there, and they still had two openings so we decided to join them.

We left the dock at 8am and headed out to the mountains and the Sanctuary. Upon arriving there our tour guides set up a table with champagne, coffee, tea, and munchies. We then did a tour of the sanctuary finishing up with a free flight raptor show. That was really something to see. The birds would fly up over the stands where everyone was seated sometimes only inches above our heads.

From there we went to a local winery where we had a tasting of their wines, and then lunch. We had an excellent meal there and did buy a three bottle package of their wines to drink onboard.

Then it was off to the Puffing Billy steam engine train ride. A narrow gauge railway that has been in existence since 1900 and fully restored in 1998, it had the original passenger cars as well. While the ride was short it was fun riding in the old wooden passenger cars and watching the scenery slowly go by.

We returned to the ship just after 5pm very tired but very happy that we decided to go on the tour. For something a bit different while you are in Melbourne, we can highly recommend A Tour with a Difference (atwad.com). They are very knowledgeable folks and fun.

While at the sanctuary they had a free flight raptor show, and I decided that I would show you some pictures from that for something different today.

Tomorrow is a sea day (YEA!) so we can rest before arriving in Hobart, Tasmania.