Unfortunately the last blog I wrote a few days ago did not save as a draft when my internet went down, thus losing all I had written to accompany the album 'These Sandals Are Made For Walking'. Along with this I have been so busy that I have not had a chance to write a blog for the events that have taken place this week. So now I will summarise each of the last few days before I forget everything that has happened completely.

Tuesday 19th March:

On Tuesday I visited a museum of contemporary art called Heide, affectionately named after the nearby town of Heidelberg. It was the home of the Reed family for the most part of the 20th century and as their love of contemporary art increased, their use of their home as a gallery for the work they collected also increased; they even built a second property on their land as a 'gallery they could live in'.

After the death of the Reed's, the house was left to be used as a full time gallery for the public. Exhibitions come and go from various artists both connected and unconnected with the house. The exhibitions I went to were not for me, although this may be becasue I am much more of a lover of fine art then modern. I toured the grounds myself, including the sculpture gardens, and then went on a literary tour where I learnt about the links between Heide, the Reeds, the artists that lived there, and the many books written about or based on the history of Heide. The lives of the Reeds became terribly incestuous when the tempations of the young artist Sydney Nolan became too much for Sunday Reed. Delving even further, the Reeds adopted son, Sweeney, was the lovechild of two other artists that lived with the Reeds.

After my time at Heide, I walked part of the Yarra River and also walked the 5.5km to Watsonia. The peacefulness of the suburbs and parks here is so wonderful and makes me appreciate Australia's nature even more.

Wednesday 20th March:

I had already booked my ticket on the '1 day Phillip Island Penguin Parade tour' with Wildlife tours for Wednesday earlier in the week. This meant I was up and on the train to the city on Wednesday morning for my pick-up. Annoyingly, they were late picking us up due to the heavy Melbourne traffic and almost made me think I had been done! Eventually they turned up half an hour late and were soon off on aour adventure. we were a group of 24 including people from Germany, Italy, Mexico, Japan and the UK. First stop the Brighton Beach Huts, yes they are in Australia too! This was my first glimpse of an Australian beach since I arrived, and it was a gorgeous day for it. We weren't there long though and after a quick cuppa we were off to Tooradin for lunch. Tooradin is a small fishing village where we sat and ate lunch overlooking a lake. Then we visted Maru Koala and and Animal Park in Grantville. Here, we could feed the kangaroos by going into their enclosure. There were all kinds of native Australian wildlife there; I could now tick the 'visit wildlife sanctuary' off my holidaymaker list.

We were now nearing Phillip Island, and island joined by a bridge to the mainland. It is crammed with things to do and see; we stopped briefly at the choclate factory and then headed off to Cape Woolamai to dip our toes in the sea and view the magnificent coastline. We then drove the south coast of the island to The Nobbies, a centre on the furthest tip of Phillip Island for the conservation of sea birds. A boardwalk was built along the headland to enjoy the stunning views across the ocean to Seal rocks, where Australia's largest Fur Seal colony lives. Unfortunately they can only be seen with binoculars and many of the penguins that breed there were not there either. It was a magnificent walk though as the sun was setting in the warmth of the afternoon. After a half hour to wander as we pleased we then all piled back in to the minibus and headed off to the capital, Cowes, for some pizza! We picked up our takeaway order from The Fat Seagull and sat, eating our dinner, overlooking the sunset across the bay. It was so relaxed and peaceful just listening to the tide come in and out and feel the warm sand beneath my toes.

After all of this, we were off to our final destination, and the reason for the excursion in the first place: the Penguin Parade. For those that don't know, this is when the world's smallest penguins arrive home during twilight to their burrows just inland of Summerland Beach. Between a dozen and several hundred can return in one evening after a long day out. Many people come everyday to watch this beautiful scene and the other night it was just the same, huge numbers of people all walked down to the viewing areas. After we had all taken our seats and the announcements had been made, we all sat impatiently waiting for the tiny creatures to come flying in off the waves. Slowly and surely in small groups and large groups they all fought their way in against the crashing of the waves and the pulling of the tide to waddle up across the sand dunes. The looked so vulnerable and I felt so amazed by the way they had to do this feat everyday and what a struggle it must be. No-one is allowed to photograph the penguins as the flash can damage their eyes, but everyone is so entranced by watching them, you forget about that anyway. After half an hour, everyone made their way along the boardwalk, following the penguins back to their homes, and into the centre. After a look round the souvenirs it was time to head home.

It is a 2 hour drive back to the city and longer with all the drop offs but I met my Godmother's son at 11:40ish as prearranged and we caught the quarter past 12 train back home.

Thursday 21st March:

No rest for me on Thursday as I was going, with my Godmother, her son and her mother, into the city to watch a children's shortened taster of Don Quixote by the Australian Ballet. Heaps of little girls in cute frocks excitedly made their way to their seats with their parents to watch the dancers. It was a short but sweet performance and so beautifully done.

It was also World Down Syndrome day on Thursday and as my Godmother's son suffers from Down Syndrome, after the ballet, we headed into Federation Square to see what celebrations were taking place. My Godmother's son attends a dance class run for children with Down's, called e.motion 21 (as the condition is so named after the extra third copy of the 21st chromosome), which helps the children move and connect on a much deeper level. The celebrations in Fed Square were centred around this organisation and what a wonderful time it was. Some of the dancers perfomed on stage for us, which almost brough tears to my eyes; they were so full of passion and energy that they could show how society has given them the wrong label and really they are more amazing then you or I.

They showed a documentary made about one e.motion 21 dance group that went to the World Down Sydrome Congress in South Africa last year. It was amazing to see so many people with Down's stand up for what they wanted and how they could bring hope to families who have a child with Down's. Afterwards Vanessa Amorosi partied and sang on stage with the dancers; the number of people who came and showed their support was just incredible.