Melbourne, conferences and other animals

Yes, we're here safe. Did you know our friends in Melbourne stayed in an obscurely named street... and Melbourne has two. Well, neither did we. The GPS did. We've had quite a tour, and ended up in a back alley with a high wall and barbed wire in a light industrial area... in the wrong suburb. Viva la map-book! Anyway Mel and Eric were very kind to us when got here, tired and city-shocked, to their far from light-industial home with the most important thing of any good house, lots of books and coffee. Oh and wooden floors I really envy. They are beautiful.

So far the con has been entertaining. We've met a fair numbber of people who said 'oh, we read your blog!' Hi guys. Sharryn, get a gmail addy, so Granny can visit and make grannistic comments.:-) There are also a number of tender young minds bruised by the fact that the con did not explicitly forbid me to talk about holocephalidae and their reproductive strategies in the Alien Zoo panel. Huh. They should be grateful. I spared them the slipper limpet, Crepidula fornicata.

We have pine nuts, a drill, vice grips and a larger abalone tenderiser and some more wool and a large olive oil and are now trying how to fit this into our weight allowance flying back. Interesting times!

The foraging arround here seems very protected by local landowners who want money before you harvest the roadkill in these hot metal trays. This 'restaurant' idea will never catch on, I tell you.

Anyway, we're alive and in one piece, and missing our dogs, cats and Island already.