NDBT

We then stopped at Woolamai beach, which was lovely, if FREEZING COLD (I think it was 12 degrees yesterday without the sea wind). It had started raining by the time we reached the Nobbies and Seal rocks, which is one of the largest fur seal colonies in Oz. The problem was the seal rocks were pretty far offshore, so you could only see them if you paid to use their live web cam equipment (my binoculars were in my bag when it was stolen). The coastal scenery was still pretty gorgeous. Had tea and biscuits in the car park and then we drove towards the penguin parade.

On the drive, in addition to Wallabies, you could see little paths coming up the hills, about 40-50ft up and holes in the grass, which were penguin paths and burrows. There was a good visitor center set up at the parade, where you could see a few penguins in their burrows, and then stadium seating set up where the penguins come out every night at sunset. The penguins are little, or fairy, penguins and they are the smallest of all 17 penguin species.  Turns out the parade is the 2nd biggest visitor attraction in Oz, after Uluru. So, I got to the stadium seating early and scored a seat in the first row, which meant sitting in a giant puddle in the rain, but at least I had the best view for the penguins coming out. I felt a little sorry for them. They are FREAKED out when they come out, because its the time of day when they are most likely to be eaten (by eagles and whatnot). So they come ashore in groups of about 30, huddle at the edge of the surf, rush back into the water a couple of times, and then sprint en masse to cross the beach. Except sprinting is hard when your legs are really, really short. After I watched a few groups cross the beach, I walked along the boardwalk, which is like the one at Boulder’s Beach in South Africa. You could get much closer to the penguins there and watch as they trundled along to their respective burrows. Watching these tiny things charging up the hills was pretty impressive. They were quite cute and it was well worth being wet for the next few hours.

Today I slept in (aah, warmth) and I’ve been running errands. Got my bus to Sydney (the 2nd) and my flight to Cairns (the 12th) and only spent 300$Aus. Woohoo! Celebrated by exchanging my old murder mysteries for new ones. Stopped by the police to let them know my new cell number and that I was leaving. Still need to buy a cheap wallet for my new lovely shiny cards. I also ordered a replacement camera. Despite the fact the Panasonic DMC-FZ8K was slightly cheaper and had 1 MP more (and the same optical zoom, my criteria for cameras), I decided to go with my old canon model, the s3is, since I’m used to it already, and I think it works very well for my purposes. Much as I would love the new canon s5 model, it’s currently 500$. Not gonna happen, even with the tempting aquarium mode… I wonder if I should replace my mini binoculars. I still have my nice real binoculars at home, so maybe not. I need new lipsticks – both of mine were in my bag when it was stolen (as were my sunglasses, so I’ve been squinting lots, and my insect playing cards…) This whole robbery thing is just very inconvenient.

I’m undecided whether to go to Healesville Sanctuary tomorrow. It looks like a horror story on public transportation, but the nice girl in my room just raved about it and said you get to watch the vets doing surgery and stuff. Hmmm… I’ll see how I feel. It would also mean missing pancake Sunday, but I’m probably okay with that. Shoot – Sunday. Public trans would be even worse. Harumph – maybe not. I know there are lots of wildlife sanctuaries around. I could probably see one near Cairns. I’ll let you know how I feel tomorrow.
Wallabies are playing the All Blacks today, so lots of rugby colors everywhere. Listening to Kaiser Chiefs, Interpol and Amy Winehouse (I’m currently in love with “F me pumps”. Its about footballer wives.) Ooh – just heard “Bouncing off clouds” and “Teenage hustling” by Tori – really awesome. Check it out.
I just got a bunch of photos from Patrick of me in Madagascar. I’ve resized them and put them up on webshots here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/559685375EaxPtG

Please keep in mind that I’m not wearing make-up and I’m often quite shiny. So – I don’t look great, but at least I’m in these photos.

Oh – also, ew.com has a list of the top rodents in movies (the same site that recently gave the Secret of NIMH a mediocre review elsewhere, here calls it dazzling. Darn straight!) But they also have the Great Mouse Detective, which I had completely forgotten! Shouldn’t the Wind in the Willows be on the list for Ratty, though?
In other entertainment news, Isaiah Washington has claimed that race was a factor in his firing. From a show created by a black woman and still starring two other black people. uh huh.

There’s a Timothy Olyphant cs. Josh Duhamel article here:

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/06/choose-your-sid.html#more The author sides with team Olyphant. (although they could’ve found a better pic).

And the eastern promises (Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen, and Vincent Cassell) trailer is up: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809794102/video/