Posted February 17 at 5:50pm local time.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted last, but I just haven’t had that much time to write and ready photos for uploading. Internet prices have also risen steeply since we left Sydney. I know a lot of you will probably skim this entry looking for photos, so to make it easier for you I’ve started an Australia Gallery.

Tuesday we went to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, which is a science and design museum. It is located on the spot of the original Sydney power plant, and uses the old building along with newer additions. It was an incredible museum and we spent the whole day there, venturing out only to grab lunch at a nearby food court. I especially enjoyed the exhibits showcasing high school design projects and the 2007 Australian Design Awards, as well as the playground outside where there was a teeter-totter – a standard piece of playground equipment in an era gone by which now seems extinct. We headed back early in order to pack up and get a good night’s rest and had dinner at a Thai restaurant up the street from the guest house. Also, only in Sydney would you see a woman in a business outfit toting a rolling black suitcase with swim flippers strapped on top. :)

Wednesday morning Catharine was awakened to “Happy Birthday” sung quietly by the rest of the family in order not to wake the people in the rooms next to us. We took two cabs to the airport – since one normal cab wouldn’t fit us all – to catch our flight to Melbourne. The cab I was in with my parents proved to be the better of two rides because our driver was hilarious! He was originally from Lebanon but said he had been in Australia for 19 years and had 19 children. It wasn’t until after we expressed amazement at the number of offspring he had produced did he confess the number was only five. When he learned we were from Texas, he asked if we had brought our guns. He made gun gestures and said he had seen many cowboy movies. Sometime during the conversation he told us that he once picked up a drunken man who told him “take my anywhere.” After driving around for a while the man told him to take him home, but couldn’t tell the taxi driver where home was. Another time he had three passengers who kept telling him conflicting ways to turn at intersections, with one of the three always saying, “go up!” When we arrived at the airport my dad asked him if he took credit cards, which he did, then told us that one time a passenger asked him if he would accept bread as payment. He told the passenger he didn’t accept bread, only lollies (lollipops).

We landed in Melbourne and were on the road to Phillips Island by early afternoon. Getting used to seeing other people drive on the left-hand side of the road is different from getting used to it yourself, but we managed to safely make our way to Phillip Island on the southern coast of Australia to visit a koala conservation park, see the beautiful coastline, and watch the penguins parade on shore at night. There was a whole setup to watch the penguin parade – bleachers and all. We paid a little more and got better seats just a foot or two away from where they walked past to go to their homes. I was pretty bummed when I learned that there was strictly no photography or filming allowed, but I realized that it was for the protection of the penguins who would be barraged with camera flashes and lights by the majority of photographers who have no idea how to turn off their flashes. The penguins didn’t start coming in until dusk, but when they did it was amazing to see a wave from the ocean hit the beach and out pop a group of these little penguins. They are well camouflaged from the top because of their blue backs and well camouflaged from the bottom because of their white stomachs. A large group would congregate on the edge of the ocean before they would rush across the beach where they felt vulnerable. Their waddle was really cute, especially when a straggler was hurrying to catch up to the main group. You can check out a picture I did snap earlier that day of a little penguin here. After the penguin parade we made the long drive to Geelong to spend the night in a Comfort Inn – our first actual hotel this trip – before starting on the Great Ocean Road.

On Thursday morning my mom woke my little brother, John, up and asked him if he would be her valentine, to which he replied, “No, I have a date with sleep.” :) After loading up we stopped briefly at a grocery and bakery to gather food supplies for the day before hitting the Great Ocean Road. Every grocery store I’ve been to here so far has grocery carts (referred to locally as trolleys) that all have four independently rotating wheels. Say goodbye to fixed back wheels and hello to highly maneuverable, omni-directional shopping carts! Needless to say, it’s entertained me during our grocery excursions.

The scenery the whole drive was absolutely gorgeous. We drove winding coastal road with a number of stops. We stopped at a lighthouse, Erskine Falls, the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge, the Grotto, and a plethora of other stunning places. We were pretty tired when we pulled into Warnambool to the Warnambool Beach Backpackers hostel. It was a great Valentine’s Day spent together as a family.

Friday we headed north through farm and pasture land to Grampians National Park where we spent the day driving to a couple spots and hiking trails to scenic overlooks commanding impressive views of that area of Australia. My dad and I both ate kangaroo for dinner, with the rest of the crew sampling from our plates. It gets very tough when cooked too long, so it is served rare to medium rare to keep it tender. It had a slightly sweet taste to it, but I didn’t think it was any better than a normal steak. That night we stayed in the Eco-Lodge YHA in Halls Gap, a hostel that Lonely Planet lists as one of the best hostels in Australia. It was a really neat place, built obviously in an eco-friendly, conservationist way with a modern, minimalist sort of style. They had solar-heated water, big windows and screens, and stickers on every light switch reminding patrons to turn them off when they leave the room.

Saturday we left at 5 am to get to the Melbourne airport in time for our flight to Cairns. We saw a couple kangaroos along one portion of the road while it was still pitch black outside, but thankfully none on the road. When we checked in at the Qantas ticket counter, my name again appeared as “Member of Parliament William Clayton” like it did for our trans-pacific flight and previous domestic flight to Melbourne. I think it is pretty funny, and maybe next flight I’ll approach them and see if I can get bumped to business class because of my obviously prestigious status.

Some of the family crashed and took a nap once we arrived at the Cairns Central YHA, but a couple of us explored the town a little and bought supplies (such as towels to avoid being charged for them at the hostel). We ate kebabs for dinner in the food court in the mall across the street and then waited for a lull in the rain to head back to the hostel. Hopefully the weather will clear up for when we head out to the reef to go diving and snorkeling on Monday.