People here look at you like you have 2 heads when you tell them you’re going to walk somewhere that takes longer than 10 minutes.

Me: “If I walk back from St. Kilda alone at night am I gonna get jumped?”

Guy at reception: “Maybe. It’s quite a long walk though. It takes about an hr.”

Me: “Yea, it’s only like 3 miles.”

I prefer to walk places. I’m not going to see much from a tram. So I walked to St. Kilda. There was almost nothing to see. I broke down and spent the $12 to take a tram back. It’s cheaper than getting mugged, I guess.

St. Kilda is a suburb of Melbourne that somewhat resembles Coney Island. I described it that way the other day to someone because it has a boardwalk, a pier, and an amusement park. What I didn’t know at the time is that the amusement park is Luna Park, which is the same amusement park as Coney Island. The Coney Island park was built in 1902 and in 1912 St. Kilda got their Luna Park. Visitors to Luna Park are greeted by Mr. Moon, who is pretty creepy.

Other than the park, St. Kilda is pretty much just a board walk, pier and beach. Not a whole lot to see.

That is, not a whole lot to see except for the stars of the show.

St. Kilda Breakwater, at the end of the pier, is home to a colony of Little Penguins. Little penguins are the smallest species of penguin in the world. Every night after sunset, especially summer nights, they come out of the rocks of the breakwater to nest and feed. The breakwater is also home to Rakali, which are native water rats, but kinda look just small otters. At the very least, they sound more adorable when described that way. Flash photography is not allowed, so the pictures aren’t the greatest, but…….real life, not in the zoo, flippin penguins!!!!

 

I’m off to Tasmania!!