Last weekend we had the chance to see a bit more of this beautiful country, although it didn't start off in the most auspicious manner. The car was fully loaded, and we headed out to meet up with our American friends who were joining us. Five minutes later, they call us to inform us they've been locked out of their house. One of those lovely marital miscommunications. Their car is loaded and ready to go too, but unfortunately they're outside, and the car keys are locked inside. To make matters worse, it was just after 5 pm on a Friday, and no one answered at their rental agency. Tierney mentions that the cat door is open. I jokingly suggest they see if their 2 year old can fit through it. She did! With some parental coaxing, she goes through and is able to open their front door. Success! They're on their way.
While we're waiting for them at a nearby Bunnings (think Home Depot) parking lot, I decide to get out and get some hand lotion from the trunk. With amazing grace, I manage to trip over my purse strap while getting out of the car, and I tumble to the ground. Minor damage to my jeans, kneecap, and pride (only the family saw me, and thankfully the kids are at a stage where they were concerned instead of amused by my fall,) but major damage to my sunglasses, which were crushed. C'est la vie.
Minor annoyances out of the way, we met up with our friends and caravan-ed down to Phillip Island. A nice scenic view--several times the girls actually stopped playing on their iTouches to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. Two hours later, we checked into our lovely beach rental house, then headed out for some strange-tasting pizza.
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| Alanna's favorite room, can you guess why? |
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| Aliya's new friend |
Just kidding, there were lots of real koalas, and a great boardwalk that put viewers up close to eye level with them. I'll spare you the shot of koala droppings that Alanna took, and just show you one of the koalas. You can thank me later.
We spent about an hour here, but the highlight was watching an interaction between a youngster and the old-timer. Sorry the video is sideways, just turn your head! Actually, there's not much to see from this angle. It was mostly the vocals that we were interested in, never having "heard" koalas before!
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| Cool playground near the bridge to Phillip Island |
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The Nobbies |
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| Under the boardwalk..... |
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| ...are two cute little penguins |
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The expats |
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| Shark Attack! |
You'll be relived to know Andy rescued her, and the only damage was to our wallets. We set an A-team record, collecting three pinched penny souvenirs in one day. Back home, they cost $0.51 (two quarters plus a penny for pinching.) Here they cost $2, but you don't need to supply the penny. Which makes sense since they no longer make pennies.
We made a quick stop at the Chocolate Factory for our free sample (a penny-sized bit of chocolate) and also checked out the Amaze N Things, a large outdoor maze. We decided to save that activity for another trip, and instead bought some lollies (candy.)
After a quick dinner at a Tex Mex restaurant in Cowes, we headed off to our final activity: the Penguin Parade! There's a large colony of little penguins on the island. They spend their days in the water fishing, and at dusk they emerge and return to their burrows on land. We'd upgraded to the "Penguin Plus" tickets, which included seats in the prime viewing area, as well rental MP3 players with an informative audio tour. Best of all perhaps, Since it got quite chilly after dark, was the included hot drink. Skinny flat whites for the adults, and "yum" hot chocolates for the kids. Aliya commented it was the best hot chocolate she'd ever had, possibly because they used real milk and real chocolate, not the hot water/packet combo you usually get at home.
They don't allow photography, so I can't share any pics. They used to ban just flash photography, but some people just couldn't or wouldn't turn off their flash, so now no cameras are allowed. The official website
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| We did, but there weren't any |
Happy and tired, we headed back to the beach house. To be continued...
Great blog of a great trip... go figure, we never made it down there (Freddy did as a kid, but not me), so I was thrilled to read about your effort to get there.
ReplyDeleteYour YouTube is marked 'Private', so I cant see it, that said, I know exactly how they sound having heard them many times in the bush while hiking, camping and 4x4ing.
Taking a leaf out of your 'every break we want to make a little trip' book, we drove around the Salton Sea this weekend... will blog about it soon.
Thanks for the feedback Ben. I changed the video properties to unlisted, in case the non-Australians want to have a listen.
ReplyDeleteP.S. While camping this weekend, three other girls wanted to sleep in Alanna's tent because they loved her accent! Looking forward to reading about your adventures.
Remember when you were worried that your girls would be teased about their accents, and I said that they'd be popular?? I saw it happen when I was in High School.
ReplyDeleteMy experience of Phillip Island was good, although I was doing it as a single parent. I lost 3 year old Oscar in the maze at A'Maze'n things, which I have not recovered from. I spent a small fortune at the Penguin Parade (which used to be free and readily accessible when I was a kid). And my kids bickered every night which led me to feel bitter and unappreciated.