while we were looking for kangaroos. Isn't Kangaroo Ground a great name for a village suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, AU? We had a really delightful laid back day on our first full day in Melbourne. We started the day having coffee on the veranda feeding the magpies. Then, as if on cue, a red fox came bounding across the yard being chased by the neighbor's sheepdog.  The dog was protecting his horses from the fox. Once the fox reached our yard, the magpies took over and swooped in on the fox to drive him out of our yard so that the magpie babies would be safe.  It was all very exciting - and all before 0900!

 

The Kirby's have provided us with top-notch accommodations in their remodeled stables - we slept like babies and awoke at the crack of dawn to a beautiful blue sky to the sound of singing magpies.  Once we had our morning coffee and toast, Jan took us on a tour of Warrandyte in Yarra Valley and the surrounding area. You may recognize Yarra Valley as a location of many fine Australian wines. Unfortunately, most winery's are closed on Mondays so no tasting along the way today. Given the hilly winding roads of the area - that's probably a good thing! We walked along the Yarra River and stopped at a neighborhood bakery where we had our first taste of snack rolls - vegetable or meat rolled in a puff pastry. I had spinach and feta. Bob had sausage. Both were quite tasty.  Back on the road, we were focused on finding wild kangaroos - the drive was quite beautiful but unfortunately no kangaroos were out and about at this time of day. 

 

We had our first Australian pizza at Prosciutto Bros  close to the Kirby's home. In addition to the great company of the Kirby family, the pizza reminded us of Italy and there were 20 craft tap beers to choose from along with a variety of Australian wines.

 

To top off the day we were greeted by a very large reindeer as we approached home after dinner. All in all we had another fabulous day in Australia!