Casey and I went to Healesville Sanctuary today, about 65 km northwest of Melbourne. We drove by many vineyards on the way (part of the Yarra Valley) - that will be a future stop for me! Animals pictured above are as follows: kangaroo, wallaby, emu, echidna, koala, wombat, pelicans, and dingoes. We also saw platypus, flying fox, spectacularly colored birds, and tasmanian devils (sleeping only) among others. They actually have possoms at the sanctuary as well. Who would be excited to see one?! The sanctuary was a little unique in that you could pass through many of the animals' habitats. I pet the wombat (Florence), wallaby, and dingo (Opal - doesn't she look a lot like Jack?). I only included the picture of the "killer" pelicans because we couldn't get past them and it became quite humorous. I was determined to overcome their territorial squawking until two pelicans blocked the pathway and started opening and snapping their huge beaks at me. I jumped back and we decided to wait for other people to distract them before passing. (Allison, does this bring back memories at Disney World?) I tried to capture the platypus (most expensive animal to house at the sanctuary), but just imagine a big black square and that would be what all 15 of my pictures look like. I especially enjoyed the "Meet the Keeper" sessions. We raced the rental car back to the city, arriving 5 minutes after they closed for the day. Fortunately Casey had foresight to call ahead and do a little schmoozing. It worked, thankfully!
The last animals featured above are "The Tough Brothers"! I work with Toughy at URS, and he had a gig with his brother tonight at Palookaville in Fitzroy. They were both sporting their newly purchased cowboy boots from Allen's Boots on South Congress in Austin, picked up along their recent long holiday in the U.S. They also played a gig in San Francisco during their massive tour. I'm pretty sure they saw more of the U.S. than most Americans do in a lifetime and Austin was the highlight of the trip! Toughy plays acoustic guitar, harmonica, and sings and his brother plays piano and sings back up. I'd describe their music as singer-songwriter alternative country/bluegrass. I walked in about half way through their first set, and was greeted by "Hey Jen, how you going?" from the stage. It's so fun to know the people playing. They were followed by a series of comedians, so a group of us stuck around for a few of them.
