Melbourne Adventures

 We felt the need to acquire some prawns so the Footscray Market was indicated. I went hoping to find the Plumed Whistling Ducks that were briefly seen at Flemington (just across the River) but failed.  A helpful Council Ranger told me that another group had been looking for them, and dipping, earlier in the day.  Here is my list for the day https://ebird.org/checklist/S400417118,  I had assumed this was a sign directing people to the (Taoist) Temple of the Heavenly Dawn, but on putting this into Google Lens I got the following result: Key Details: Campaign: This is part of the grass-roots and council-backed "Racism Not Welcome" campaign, which the City of Maribyrnong adopted to raise awareness, reduce diversity-related prejudices, and encourage community members to call out racism. [ 1 , 2 ] Multilingual Signage: Following community consultation and strong resident support, Maribyrnong City Council translated and rolled out versions of these anti-racism sig...

 As the weather seemed likely to be pleasant and the school holiday crowds not there we decided a visit to the Zoo was in order.  My plan was to begin with a visit to seen the Quokka joey.  Unfortunately its Mum had it hidden away in a shelter box so we couldn't see it.  No biggie, on to the Hamadryas Baboons (by chance rather than a cunning plan. A somewhat colourful male was sitting in front of the viewing window. A more distant group.   Grooming time: I was amused that anything interesting found was eaten by the groomer. It was interesting that groups of Baboons paraded past the view-window to the delight of the line of  kids pressed against the outside.  The Baboons looked across at their viewers. leading us to conclude this was a deliberate route to satisfy the curiosity of the primates inside the glass.  After a while we moved on to a different view point, where Frances saw a younger Baboon carrying around what she thought was a sa...