A Penguin Classic

I'm back!

Well, it's not like I've gone away. This is the Internet you know, you're always present whether you like it or not. (Way to bum people out in the first paragraph, Zach.)

Cook's cottage was nothing special. They actually had an entry fee for a house that was built in 18th century England before the settlement of Australia. Um, if I want to learn about 18th century England, I'll go to England, OK?

I walked out of Fitzroy Gardens in to the CBD and found a Flight Centre on Exhibition Street and bought my ticket to Hobart. And before I jumped on to a tram back to the hostel I ventured into an independent book store where I'd spent some time before September ended. As I usually do I checked out the humor and sports sections in search of non-fiction titles. What I found from the humor shelf was a complete surprise. "Whiter Shades of Pale" by "Things White People Like" writer and website creator Christian Lander. I hadn't even heard he had a second book. (It only came out in November and was announced on his website in September so that's not really a surprise. I wonder what else is happening in the world that I have no knowledge of...) In the sport section there was another surprise; "Countdown to Lockdown" by Mick Foley, a book that was published in October. It was the first copy I had seen of the book and it was a paperback. I picked it up and turned it around to see the pricetag. $35.00. The last time I had read a book that cost more than $30 was at Borders on Brisbane reading a Klosterman book without actually paying for it. I decided I'd try the same thing with good old Mick Foley. I had around an hour before I was going to leave for dinner at Maria's. So I started reading.

After 10 pages Mick had pulled out a limp white object out of his pants and was aiming it my metaphorical mouth. I tapped out knowing fully well that $35 was a lot to pay for a mere book. So I used $60 dollars and came away with both books. I also bought the season 3 DVD of Six Feet Under on the same shopping trip at JB-HiFi.

I took a train from Southern Cross towards Frankston to go have dinner at Maria's house. I brought with me my small backpack and some books and magazines. I quickly finished reading The Bro Code and I just couldn't resist the calling of the HCL -- Hardcore Legend -- Mick Foley. I wished the train trip could have lasted a little longer, that's how much I liked reading Foley's fourth memoir.

At Maria's I met her two daughters, Elouise and Wanda, and Wanda's husband Gavin. We had seafood for dinner and we just talked and had a good time over the dinner table. Maria's family reminded me a little of my own, the way that everything silly she said was always picked on by her children. Elouise baked some cookies and her mom was seemingly very proud of her little daughter. The cookies were very tasty and sweet. I and Wanda both received our own goodie bags to go home with. Wanda is pregnant and with her and Gavin I talked about my road trip plans for April. Gavin told me I was going to be too tired from all the driving to do anything else and Wanda wondered how much all the petrol would end up costing me. It put a little fear in my head if I was trying to bite a little too piece of the cake called Australia in one sitting.

The food was delicious as were the cookies. Wanda and Elouise agreed to join Maria and me on Saturday for the trip to the Dandenongs. Maria gave me a lift home and I headed straight to bed to have some ret before my big day at Phillip Island.

I overslept the free breakfast and had to sneak into the closed breakfast to have some of my own bread and yoghurt. After my lean breakfast I headed to the closest supermarket for some snacks for the trip. Then I was picked up at the hostel at 11:50 AM. I was the last passenger and we were off.

Our driver was Chris and gave us a run through of our schedule for the day. He estimated that we'd be back in Melbourne at around 11:30 PM.

After an hour on the highway we made our first stop in Koo Wee Rup where we had lunch. I had some delicious, if salty, Fish & Chips. Our second stop before the actual island was a winery with a very nice scenery. We had a tasting and I tasted some of the whites and actually learned something about the different kinds of wines I had been pouring all those weekends.

Once on the island we stopped at a Chocolate Factory/Store. They had an interactive walk through portion -- a great place for a class trip I think -- and a chocolate store. There were other groups in there too, a lot of Asians among them, and they were a noisy bunch. I don't think I'm a racist and Asians probably have the same ratio of annoying and not annoying people as any other race but there's a lot more Asians and they move in big groups. So there's possibly more annoying Asians than people of other colors and races. I'm sure anyone who's been barraged with an endless stream of suit salesmen or massage parlors ("helloo massaage!") can attest to that.

Anyway, I used the chocolate bar making machine to make myself a white chocolate bar with strawberry filling (I disregarded the cola, vegetate and wasabi options) and bought a $5 milk chocolate from the store. Both of which were very delicious.

After the chocolates we were treated to some koalas. This part of the trip was a little disappointing. It was a little rainy and most of the Koalas were sleeping. I did get to see some wild wallabies though. I also tried to learn more about the koalas and I'm definitely adding the male koala mating call to my own repertoire. Can't wait to try it on the chicks back in Finland. *groh groh*

Then we checked some sights, the racetrack and Pyramid Rock before heading for dinner in one of the townships. I had a Subway to balance out the salty lunch. I last visit before Penguin Parade was the knobbies a marine central concentrated on the seals living nearby. We found some penguins who weren't out swimming under the boardwalk before we had some tea. Then I checked out the information about sealife and the island plus the gift shop where I saw some of the cutest little penguin toys in the world. The facts about Great White Sharks made me feel sorry for them. You know, one of the most dangerous animals in the world. Well, the "man-eating" shark has averaged around 1 or 2 lethal attacks per year in the world since 1990. Basically every shark and croc attack makes the news while more people are killed by cars, bees, snakes and even vending machines every year.

We took the back road towards Penguin Parade and while the others were mesmerized by the wallabies jumping around I actually saw a rare penguin jump onto the road I'm front of our bus. I pointed it out Chris who instantly realized something was wrong with the poor fellow. He enclosed the penguin in his jacket and gave it to a lady sitting behind her so we could take it to the rangers at Penguin Parade.

The penguin was instantly hurried into a back room and we heard later that he/she was gong to be alright, thanks to us. I felt proud to have helped. Without me he might have been run over by a car. Plus I think I could have held that bird more safely than the silly Asian lady!

There was more than hour before the "big showcase" and I spent it by gaining more knowledge of penguins and checking out yet another souvenir shop. I kind of wish we could erase some of mankind's mistakes from the 19th and 20th centuries. I am not saying we're going to perish because of global warming, but the world could be a more magical and beautiful place had we humans not chopped down so many forests, hunted and fished so many animals and introduced foreign species of flora and fauna into new areas. Even on puny Phillip Island there used to be seven different places where penguins used to land from their fishing trips, while there now is only one. Some twenty years ago on one winter day only eight penguins made the fishing trip, a dark time that's fortunately behind us.

Things aren't as gloomy as they used to be but for some animals there's no going back to the glory days. Just think about how the populations of whales, sharks, crocodiles, tigers and lions have waned since man introduced such ingenious inventions as gunpowder and harpoons to the world.

Okay, back to the penguins. Basically the world's smallest penguins, the Small Penguins, live in the warmest areas of all the penguins. They can be found in South Africa, Chile, New Zealand and Australia. During the day the grownups are fishing one third of their body weight to consume and to regurgitate for their young ones back on shore in their little holes in the ground. In the water their disguised perfectly with their white tummies looking like the clouds or sun rays and their backs blending in with the blue seawater. But on the shore they're open to attacks by predators. So they wait until it's dusk before coming ashore in big groups. We weren't allowed to take photos of the little birds but we got to see the daily migration from up close.

I have to admit that it was a spectacular "show" and a wonder of nature. But I also wish I was good enough at drawing to illustrate what it would like if the roles were reversed. You know, a bunch of penguins sitting in raincoats watching a bunch of naked people come from a days work gathering the courage to walk back home to their families. On one had we're paying big money to see these animals in their natural environment and helping ensure their survival. But on the other hand we're infringing on their natural environment, exploiting them for entertainment and trying to reverse what we've done before, butting our noses in their business. I don't know if two wrongs make a right.

All in all it was a spectacular day and on the way back to Melbourne I thought a little about this blog post and a lot about improving a penguin themed game back at summer camp. But what I most thought about was how I realized that I love Australia. I know I just professed my love to Finland a few posts ago and this blog is becoming very deep but bear with me. Or don't, I'm not forcing you to read on.

I like to use a relationship or girlfriend analogy with countries (works with cities too). See, you can only be with one girlfriend at a time. Just as you can only be in one place at a time be it a country, a city or a bar. You can love several at the same time but you can really only be with(in) one at a time.

(When I moved to Turku I used the ex-girlfriend metaphor when talking about Helsinki and the girl who I was dating thought I was literally meeting an ex-girlfriend in Helsinki. That relationship lasted less than a month. Not the metaphorical one with Turku but the actual one with the girl.)

Normal vacations are like dates with women who you'd like to imagine yourself with but wouldn't actually want a relationship with. But a year abroad is more than that. It's a short term marriage. So when I left Finland back in August I felt I'd made a mistake in leaving behind good old safe Finland. But what I didn't realize in Hong Kong or Queensland was that it wasn't them that I didn't like. I wasn't the person I thought I was and the only way to see that was to get away from Finland for an extended non-vacation period of time. I remember a conversation with my cousin 'Tu 'Omo where I speculated that I wasn't the kind of person to really get homesick anymore. That I really wouldn't miss most people back home except for maybe my niece and gf. Boy was I wrong and my fling with Hong Kong showed me that much.

But now I'm starting to feel good about myself and optimistic about the rest of my time in Australia. Pictures of Hong Kong or Brisbane make me feel glad that I've actually been there. I'm starting to appreciate the moment and even though I still will be glad when I get home, I won't leave Australia before making as many memories and bringing back as many of them and as much of Australia as I can. Sweden might be the girl next door, America is Pamela Anderson and Australia is the freewheeling, fun-loving, wild, exotic, tattooed, funny and beautiful women you like to imagine yourself ending up with. But it can't happen. There's just too much in common with good old Finland. No one knows you like she does and nobody respects you the way shed does. And by you I mean me.

(If a country was my soulmate it would be a combination of Sweden, Finland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. So I'm very happy with growing "up" and old in Finland. As a city I've heard that Seattle would be the place for me. I have to go there some day...)

I was the first one dropped off and I headed straight to bed. I barely made it to breakfast on time. I took it easy before heading to Maria's for a trip to the mountains. She and her family used to live for seven years in the mountains before moving to the beach. The beach is a beautiful place to live, I believe, but the mountains are breathtaking. Filled with rainforesty green the mountains represent one of the most beautiful parts of all of Australia. And to think that I had been living less than 20 K's away for over two months.

First we drove up to Wanda's house where Elouise was too. The girls jumped in the back seat and we headed out for lunch on the other side of the mountains first. The place was filled with retro stuff and they even sold old phones, the kind with the round dial before digital buttons. The menus were in old kid's books. I had some delicious poached eggs but I could've probably eaten four instead of just two.

Next we stopped at a nice lookout at the edge of one of the townships where Maria insisted I have my picture taken with my camera.

Our third destination was Sky High, the observatory on top of the ridge of the mountain. The city was visible but my pictures don't show it. I also posed in the giant's chair (no, actually I just lost a lot of weight. And height) for another picture.

We had one lookout left hidden in some very thick forest. This one was more secluded and overlooking Yarra Valley. This was actually the area where the balloons that end up at Rochford fly every morning. It was also the place where Gavin proposed to Wanda.

As we headed out we decided to go for coffee before calling it a day and parting ways. The coffee place was a very nice little shop with fair trade coffee and delicious cheesecake. I had a very chocolatey hot chocolate and a bog piece of blueberry cheesecake.

Then we returned Wanda to her house and Elouise to her car. Maria invited me for dinner and even though I was tired I knew that free dinner was hard to say no to. So we drove back to Bonbeach stopping at Woolworth's on the way to buy some ingredients.

While Maria did the cooking I did the manly thing and watched Back To The Future Part II on TV. I was just too tired to do anything else. Besides, when's the next time I get to whatever I want on actual broadcast TV?  I don't know either.

Dinner wasn't as great as the fish had been two days earlier but I easily filled myself up. I met Maria's son, Ben, too as he joined us for dinner. The conversation turned into Facebook and Ben told us that he's friends status had been updated automatically, and correctly, to "is currently in [suburb]". Scary, huh? I'm going to close my account when I get back to Finland.

Maria gave me a ride home -- sorry, home is where my suitcase is -- and we talked about my job prospects in Tasmania on the way. All in all Saturday was a nice day and I felt like a welcomed guest in the family. My favorite part of the day was when Wanda and Elouise tried to guess my age. They both landed on 22 even. If I didn't have a beard they'd have gone even lower. Flattering.

Today was Sunday and I took it fairly easily. I lay in bed for a couple of hours before taking advantage of the cheaper tram ticket prices and heading to IKEA in Richmond. My goal was to buy a gingerbread house for Christmas to have something Finnish. I read the Foley book on the tram and yet again wished the trip could've lasted longer. Before going to IKEA I was sidetracked by the mall. I had some Macca's (McDonald's), I checked out the bookstore, the DVD store, the electronics store and the cinema before going into IKEA.

Now the mall was pretty busy but IKEA was truly busy. I thought I'd spend some time going around and trying how the couches felt. But I could barely move in there. So I headed straight to the Swedish food market. I took a long way to get there and once I did there were no gingerbread houses. I did get some smaller gingerbread cookies though. The clerk asked me if I was Swedish. The cookies had a decorative "God Helg!" on them and she just wanted to know what it meant. I told her it was close to Happy Holidays. The Internet told me it was closer to Season's Greetings.

I took the tram back and got of at the casino so I could go to Borders at South Wharf for the first time after being fired. I didn't find any of the books I'm looking for so I got out. It was raining and I felt a head ache comings I decided to find a coke and stay at the mall for a while. I must've spent more than half an hour at JB-HiFi but I wasn't close to buying anything. The newest season of HIMYM had dropped to $25 dollars but I'm watching a season plus of Futurama, HIMYM and Arrested Development, each, before I'm "scheduled" to start watching that one. Maybe I can find it for $20 by then...

I finally retreated back to the hostel and spent the rest if the night reading, watching DVDs and blogging. It was raining so I had my second Big Mac meal of the day for dinner since getting to McDonald's across the street didn't make me wet.

Now it's late as heck and I'm skipping the eyes into the near future part. I'll update you at least once before Christmas Eve.

Have a nice Sunday and thanks for reading!