Keep me cockatoo cool, Curl, or what does Eden, the fox and chickens, and black swans have in common?

A quick and easy drive from Narooma to Tilba this morning where we found a lovely bakery to have a breakfast of scones, fruit tarts, and coffee. Tilba Central is a small historic village (next to Tilba Tilba) just off the Princes Road. While checking out the General Store, some locals were mulling over the local news about a fox that killed 10 chickens last night. Well, perhaps only nine, as one was still alive, but not in very good shape.

The Tilba Teapot Café and General Store/Post Office

South of Tilba is Eden, our next stop for lunch in a park overlooking the sea where, in the right season (through November), you can do some whale watching. There's actually a place called the Garden of Eden in Eden. At the local sandwich shop, I asked the girl behind the counter if she had any friends named Eve, and sure enough, she had a cousin and a friend named Eve. I didn't ask about Adam. Oh, and if you order a standard hamburger, it comes with the usual lettuce and tomatoes, AND beets.

Again, we drove through miles and miles of eucalyptus forests, but much of our route took us on small roads closer to the ocean...we stopped a few times to admire the long sandy beaches, like the one at Tathra and the 90 mile beach. The water is cooler than normal; only 16 degrees C, but normal is around 20 C. Our approach to the 90 mile beach was at the northern end at Lake's Entrance, where dozens of Black Swans were feeding.

Wei and Yi, David and Yi on 90 mile beach; a black swan

A short drive on the Princes Road took us to tonight's destination: Bairnsdale. There are some interesting 1890s brick buildings like the Courthouse and the Church. And our hotel, the Riversleigh, is an historic inn with a wrought iron veranda and a beautiful jacaranda tree in full bloom adorning the front of the inn. The veranda is just in front of our room, affording a view of a valley, eucalyptus trees, and mountains in the distance. 

As we were dining on Chinese noodle take-away and a bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand) tHe first act of the evening's performance began. The first birds we saw were chimney swifts, and I assumed they were out for meals of mosquitoes. There were no mossies on our balcony, so we didn't pay them much attention. Then we saw several cockatoos in the distance...flying from tree to tree. Then one came to the fountain just below our balcony. They are beautiful birds. The next wave of flying animals were bats...hundreds of them! Holy Batman! We soon found out why they were flying just above us...in the hundreds. The mosquitoes were out by the thousands.

The Riversleigh Inn and a special visitor...a cockatoo

We'll be in Melbourne by tomorrow evening. So one more day visiting Victoria, then Christmas activities begin. Ciao, David