Possums, Black Swans, and Penguins

The possums in the park near our house are very cute and cuddly. They are also very friendly, as tons of people feed them. There was even one guy (crazy in my opinion) who let the possums sit on his arms and shoulders while he walked around the park and fed them. Needless to say, they do not run away to hide or prepare for battle, as possums in the States do. Instead, they'll wander up to you with idle curiosity, looking for food. Now, while these possums may be cute, and cuddly, and even friendly, this in no way means that they aren't dirty and full of diseases that I don't want to get. Walking through the park one night after dinner, our friend Tony decided to see how truly friendly the possums were. While he tried to bribe them off the tree trunks they hang out on with a $5 bill and Eric snapped photos, Gina (Tony's wife) and I stayed squarely on the path through the park in the hopes of avoiding any rodent diseases. Because Eric and especially Tony were so friendly, however, the possums starting approaching Gina and I. Being no fan of disease-spreading, wild animals (cute or not), Gina and I opted to walk on and leave Tony and Eric to play with the possums. The possums, thankfully, were not interested in Tony's $5, as they soon realized it was not eatible. Thus, the possums when on their way and Tony and Eric followed not to far behind Gina and I.

Which leads me directly in to an observation I've had about the swans here. First of all, the swans here are black with pinkish-red bills. They are quite pretty. This, however, in no way makes me want to feed them. On more than one instance, Eric and I have seen people feeding the swans and the swans have proven themselves quite ballsy. They will hound the feeder by getting out of the water to get closer as well as by following and squawking at the feeder. Now, don't get me wrong, the swans are cute and they have adorable babies that live on their backs (under their wings), whom pop their little fuzzball heads out from time to time, but they are mean, sometimes vicious, and unrelenting when it comes to free food.

There are also apparently penguins at the pier near our house. The sign at the pier says that if you come out at sunset, you should be able to see them amongst the rocks. We've only attempted to see them once, but were clearly too late by the time we got there. But, I was very surprised to find out they had penguins here. After all, Melbourne is on the same latitude south as San Francisco is north, where I don't know there to be penguins, but hey, what the hell do I know?! So, if we do ever get a chance to see the penguins, I'll be sure to take some pictures and post them.