Sarah's Visit: Part 1

Sarah has now come and gone, and I don't even know how to recap everything that we did. We had an exhausting couple of days, but we also had so much fun.

She flew in on Wednesday, and neither Becca nor I were working, so we took a shuttle bus down to the airport to pick her up. She was surprised and happy to see us, I think! After taking the bus back to downtown Melbourne, we just hopped on the train back home. By the time we had dinner it was too late, and we were too tired, to go out and do anything. So we hung out and chatted for a bit before heading to bed. Becca and I had to work on Thursday, so we still had to be in bed at a decent time, and Sarah was tired from travelling.

Thursday wasn't too exciting. Becca and I worked at the same school, and we ended up staying really late (like an extra hour) because I had to do some marking for the class I was in. Sarah had a good day touring around the city on her own, and although she went for a nap when we got home, she made us dinner.

Friday was our first big day. We didn't get any work, so we took the opportunity to show Sarah around and do some touristy things. While Sarah was out on Thursday, she took a picture of the decorated Mali elephant statue outside the Queen Victoria Market. We made it our goal for the day to photograph as many as we could find (there are 50 throughout Melbourne in celebration of the Zoo's 150th year). We started at the QVM and basically walked all around downtown. We visited the hostel where Becca and I stayed then walked over to the State Library of Victoria, although it was closed. We headed down to Federation Square, then walked along the Yarra River to the Melbourne Aquarium, and spent some time in there. And we did this all before lunchtime!

Even though it wasn't the nicest or warmest day, our afternoon was full of beaches. We started further south at Brighton Beach, where Becca and I visited last weekend. It was a lot less busy, considering it was during the day and not as nice out. But we walked in the sand in our bare feet, collected some shells, and took lots of pictures in front of the beach huts. Next, we hopped back on the train and then on the tram and made our way down to St. Kilda Beach. We got some beverages and walked out on the pier. And you will never guess what we found out there......

FAIRY PENGUINS!

You can bet your blue bonnet that Becca just about had a conniption fit. We could hear them in the bushes along the rocks and Becca and I just stopped. We were like dogs listening to a high pitched sound, both standing there with our heads cocked. Then our eyes widened then she said: "I KNOW THAT SOUND." There were already people taking some pictures, so we hopped right in. It was so exciting to see them when we weren't expecting it. And to have the opportunity to take pictures was amazing! Especially since we can't take pictures of them at Phillip Island.

Needless to say, it was an extra special way to end a very long, but fun, day of touring Melbourne.