New Zealand and Australia were definitely part of my Bucket List, and This is True readers were a big part of making Melbourne special.
Tip as you read: in Australia, Melbourne is pronounced “Melbin.”
For operational reasons we had to miss Bluff, a port in New Zealand, which sucked for me because we were going to see a friend there — Jacob is one of the guys from my First Responder team who left Colorado a year or so after we did. (He is part of the “brain drain” I wrote about in my blog last year: I was thinking specifically about him as I wrote that entry, which may surprise him as he reads this.) He is also a several-year Premium subscriber.
Jacob then suggested he fly over to meet us in Melbourne, as we’re now spending several weeks in Australia, and besides, he wanted to drive out and see something in particular near Melbourne.
Saturday: Healesville Sanctuary
Saturday we were scheduled to meet with longtime readers Stewart and Natalie, who suggested a visit to the Healesville Sanctuary, one of the properties of Zoos Victoria, which has a lot of examples of native animals. It’s about an hour’s drive from where we docked.
We asked Stewart and Nat, who will make an appearance in an upcoming blog post, if it was OK to bring Jacob along. “Absolutely,” Stewart replied within seconds. “Any friend of yours must be [warm smiley face].”
Their suggestion was perfect: I saw my first live kangaroos, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and more. One of our favorite parts was an open air arena where we were introduced to quite a few of their rehabilitated birds, including a gorgeous Australian boobook owl that flew by my head, just inches away, and I felt the whoosh of air from its wings even though I was wearing a hat.
I used cGPT to identify the owl species from this photo since I was trying to absorb the experience, not take notes. Once that was accomplished I told it “I’m writing about it because it flew by my head, within inches. That alone was worth the cost of admission. A spectacular memory.”
Its response surprised me, as it went on for several paragraphs in response to that rather minor “prompt” — it takes a turn to “talk” at every opportunity, taking its cue from humans, I guess!
“That tracks,” Chatty-G said. “When an owl passes that close, you suddenly understand just how different they are from other birds. What makes that moment so striking isn’t just proximity, it’s that your brain expects something to make noise, and nothing does.”
Odd phrasing, but OK…. It continued:
“Owls, especially species like the Southern Boobook, are engineered to break that expectation: Serrated leading edge of the wing splits airflow into tiny streams instead of one noisy turbulence front; Velvety upper surface dampens sound rather than reflecting it; Fringed trailing edge diffuses the remaining turbulence into near silence.
“Put together, the usual ‘whoosh’ of a bird passing close simply… isn’t there. That mismatch between expectation and reality is what makes it stick. It’s not just a good wildlife moment, it’s one of those rare sensory experiences that recalibrates your intuition a bit. Once you’ve had it happen that close, every other bird suddenly sounds… clumsy.”
Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far myself, especially considering the audio file that’s below, but it’s a spectacular memory for sure.
Sunday: Great Ocean Road
On Sunday, Stewart and Nat had plans, so Jacob rented a car and drove us up the coast to see that “something in particular” I mentioned above: the Great Ocean Road along the southeast coast of Victoria. We couldn’t drive it all and get Jacob back to the airport in time, but it was a gorgeous trip that reminded me of my old stomping grounds, California’s North Coast: winding roads through thick forests, except here the trees were eucalyptus (yummy koala food) rather than redwoods.
Kit had a Portuguese tart (one of her faves) and a Cruffin; I had a Chocolatine (not pictured, but essentially a squarish chocolate-filled croissant) and a Kouign Amann. Jacob had a meat pie and maybe something else. I wasn’t checking, I just paid for it all since he was driving!
Tipping is not expected in Australia because they pay service workers proper wages, but there was something added that I’ve seen often in Australia: a 10% surcharge for being open on Sunday. (Some include surcharges all weekend, and/or declared holidays.)
Another thing that’s common: a surcharge if you use a credit card to pay, usually 1–1.5%.
The view from the lighthouse (without even paying the $12.50 to climb up to the top) was spectacular:
Hitchcock’s Delight
We then hit the road again, stopping in one place for a canyon hike to a waterfall, which I didn’t attempt thanks to a flareup of a knee problem, thanks to many years of emergency service work. So I waited at the bottom of the stairs in the canyon to absorb the atmosphere.
What I noticed: a massive variety of unseen birds calling, with a background of the surf from hundreds of meters away. The resulting phone recording isn’t spectacular, but you’ll get the idea:
At the Healesville Sanctuary we had run into a few of what we all affectionately call “ship people,” so when Jacob and Kit got back I asked her, “Did you see any ship people up there?” Nope! We were far enough afield that we never did on this trip.
Jacob dropped us off near the ship and headed to the airport, and the ship threw off the lines and headed off to sea, to lazily make our way to our next stop while I finished writing my stories for the next issue of This is True. Plus, of course, this entry for you!
The takeaway: you don’t actually have to stay right close to the ship when it comes into port. While you might not have a “reader in every port,” and I don’t have time to meet everyone even if I do, it really can add a cool dimension to our travel.
OK, now it’s your turn to talk! As in, Comments are open below.
Originally Published March 23, 2026 — Last Updated March 23, 2026- About the Author
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Wait until you get to Papua New Guinea and listen to the birds there.
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We’ve been there. 🙂 -rc
Melbourne was our favorite city in Australia when we visited years ago. We flew from there to Sydney and several days later left on a 17 day cruise through the South Pacific ending in Hawaii. Had stops in New Zealand, Tahiti, Moreau & Bora Bora. Great trip and wonderful people. Love reading about your “adventures”!
I’m a birder and really enjoyed your recording! I often find that if I let the others on any excursion walk ahead, the birds will start singing more and also be more visible.
Does the ship arrange visas for everyone?
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Yes, being still really opens things up. One other thing I noticed: a broken-off stick. What was interesting? Ants. Very tiny, unbelievably fast, and lots of them, dashing to the end and back. No idea why: there was no food there! Maybe just some scout went there, so now everybody now has to follow the trail!
Visas depend on the country. If it’s “free visa on arrival” then they take care of it. Some countries (including Oz and NZ) require advance registration and payment through an app; we have to do those, and pay the fee. -rc
You don’t always get off the ship at our ports of call, but when you do … wow. We were some of the ship people you saw at the sanctuary, but we missed that owl experience. I loved chatGPT’s description of the silent flight.
Thanks for the glimpse of the Great Ocean Road we keep hearing about.
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You were definitely one of the Ship People we ran into! 🙂 -rc
Randy, your writing is always so descriptive that I always find myself wondering, “Hmmm, maybe we ought to do that.” Fortunately, as much as I think Judi and I would enjoy getting to meet you and Kit, each time sanity returns and I just satisfy myself vicariously through your stories. Thanks from Kansas.
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We do understand that this isn’t for “everybody,” Tom. We also don’t have grandkids tugging at our hearts to come back. (Some do, but are wealthy enough to fly them to wherever to come visit now and then! There are cabins set aside for that.) -rc
Melbourne is my favorite city in the world. I visited Australia around 30 years ago and learned that female kangaroos are always pregnant and why at Healesville Sanctuary. Also saw the duckbill platypus there and learned they are vicious little things. Driving there was an adventure when needing to make a right turn. Great zoo with a jazz concert Wednesday nights. Old world charm, great museum with the best Dreaming of a man’s life finished by his son. Didn’t know it at the time but saw Hugh Jackman as Gaston. Also drove The Great Ocean Road and was able to get a bit farther than you but I had all day. Great vineyards in the area as well. Had a bit over a week there and wish it could have been longer.
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You put your finger on how much there is to do here! And probably only just scratched the surface. My big surprise about the duckbill platypus: I thought it was much bigger, always picturing it as around 2-3 ft. long. Nope: they average 50 cm (20 in.), and the one we saw was smaller than that. -rc
Great picture of the Taz Devil! …but it’s not a “Portuguese Tart”, it’s a PASTEL DE NATA! 😉
Thought you learned that when you were here in Lisbon! Guess you need to come back for a refresher!
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We will be back for a refresher! Yet even in this French bakery where all the French pastries were French-named, the label indeed showed what most places use outside Portugal: “Portuguese Tart”, and have the picture to prove it. 🙂 The interesting variation: theirs was square! -rc
My wife and I are recently back from a cruise from Santiago Chile to Buenos Aires through the Chilean fjords. I never realized Chile had fjords until reading about your trip through them. That reading inspired our trip, and it was wonderful. Thank you. We also got to stop in the Falkland Islands on the calmest, clearest, warmest day of the summer season (so they told us) and see the penguins.
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You’re welcome! I probably should have written more about them (I added a photo to the One Year In page). Absolutely amazing, and we’re going again, I think next year. We couldn’t get to the Falklands because of weather, but they have scheduled us for 2-3 attempts after the return to the Fjords to increase our chances. -rc
G’day Randy, Kit,
We did the Great Ocean Road about this time last year in our 30′ fifth wheel — it truly is fabulous! Sadly, we reckon the best bits are further west from where you managed to get to. [And being from “out of state”, we would say “Melbun” rather than Melbin — but definitely *never* Mel-born!]
Been enjoying following along with your journey, as we reached a very similar life-point at about the same time, but chose to buy the fifth wheel and truck and travel within Oz rather than worldwide.
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G’day, mate. I have heard “Melbun” too, but “Melbin” seems more predominate to my ear. We did consider RVing (aka Caravaning), but thought it would be better in the long run to let someone else drive. 🙂 -rc
Ohhh Kit, Judi and I would have loved to catch up with you.
Xxx
Safe travels.
Ah bugger… didn’t know you were in town. We live just outside Geelong, would have come down the coast for a chat up.
Maybe next time.
Safe travels.
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We had lunch in Geelong, too. Ah well: the schedule filled quickly. -rc
As a Melburnian my whole life, I’m very happy that you got to try out some of our baked goods. We have bakeries and hot bread shops pretty much everywhere, many of them independent (though we do also have some big chains like Baker’s Delight), and I have never had a bad experience buying something from a bakery.
And Jacob had a meat pie. Yes. Excellent choice. Obviously not everyone will want to take that option, but for those who have no objection to eating meat inside pastry, they are *amazing*.
Hope you have as great a time in your next stops!
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I’ve indeed had meat pies myself, but didn’t want something that heavy that early. I’ll be sure to have one while I’m down under. -rc
Saw your mention of hearing birds but not seeing them or knowing what they were. I have a fabulous app, it’s Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Labs. Works great, it listens and uses the region you are in and identifies the species and characteristics of the bird. I love it. Sent just in case you are interested! 😊
Randy, the recording of the birds talking with the surf sound in the background: splendid! Thank you!
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I made the recording for me, but as I was writing I realized it would be easy to share. Glad it’s going over well. -rc