Sydney and Melbourne

The 10th Unlock the Past Cruise sails into Adelaide, Australia, today — which is Sunday, February 28th, here in Australia (that’s when this was written, no matter when it gets posted!). We spent yesterday at sea in a non-stop set of genealogical learning opportunities with topics ranging from DNA testing to home front records of World War I.

It’s great fun, but the schedule is busy, and it means The Legal Genealogist has already been in both Sydney and Melbourne without a chance to post photos.

We can’t have that, now, can we? So let’s rectify that right now.

First, the Sydney highlights, starting with the iconic view of the harbor bridge and opera house:

The city itself is gorgeous from the harbor:

Just spending time at and near the harbor is amazing:

In Melbourne, a city that is just as gorgeous in its own way, the highlight has to be getting time with my very own personal real live Tasmanian devil… my nephew Rudi, born there when his father my brother was studying there years ago:

Rudi and his lovely wife Liv came over from Tasmania to join me in Melbourne and we spent a delightful day together:

Our itinerary for the day was the Melbourne Zoo, the downtown and port areas and the trams. We got to see so many things at the zoo that the rest of the schedule kind of got put aside. That included an otter:

This and many other meerkats:

A gorilla family including this adult:

An Australian blue-billed duck:

A monkey that wrapped its tail around its head like a scarf:

Tons of butterflies like this amazing specimen:

And, of course, the obligatory and totally essential koala:

Sure was sorry to see the kids head off at the end of the day… we don’t see each other nearly often enough…

But now it’s on to Adelaide, and a day of sightseeing!