G'Day

I had a great time in Melbourne.. lots of really nice cafes, bars, restaurants, shops, etc. etc. A very cool and young city. Here are a couple of pictures:


The last picture does not even begin to describe how out of place that 7-11 looked. Transforming beautiful 19th century architecture into corporate convenience stores is certainly not helping Americans abroad.

ANYWAY, I'm in Western Australia now... I just spent two days on Rottness island, just of the the coast of Perth. Apparently the island was first colonized as an aboriginal prison (hooray for genocide!) and has since become a nice holiday spot for local Aussies. It's very dry there but all in all very nice. There was a surprising amount of wildlife there and some really nice snorkeling to be had as well. I saw a Manta ray. The thing was the size of the blanket on my bed. I've never swam so fast in my life. There are also these little animals called Quokkas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quokka) running around everywhere... 7,000 or so on the island. Here are some photos:


I will be here for a few more days and then off to Sydney!