Blogs from Philip Island, Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 3

Hey everyone! Made it to Phillips Island today. It was about a 150 km ride, and was pretty nice besides the brief rain stop I took. After I got going again it was perfectly dry the rest of the way and turned into a really nice day! The bike is running like a champ and quite comfortable. Now let's see how the 450 km days go! Oi! Of course, the main reason I am here is for the Little Penguins and the first night of camping. Penguins were so cool! They come to the beach in "rafts", or groups of a few dozen or more that at first look like little waves that just slowly keep coming. Then, as they get closer they relax and rest for a bit, then just shimmy up the beach to ... read more

Unser heutiges Ziel ist Phillip Island. Auf der Landkarte steht, man kann dort Pinguine sehen. Also nichts wie hin. Dieser Plan bedeutet wieder eine Menge Kilometer für heute. Am Nachmittag kommen wir dann in San Remo an. Hier gehen wir an den Strand, um uns die Füße zu vertreten nach der langen Fahrt. Danach geht es weiter nach Phillip Island. Hier kommen wir unter anderem an einer Rennstrecke vorbei, wo wir uns fragen, ob es die Formel 1 Rennstrecke ist. Das Formel 1 Wochenende steht ja kurz bevor. Wir fahren noch bis zum westlichen Ende der Insel, wo der Nationalpark für die Pinguine ist. Hier stehen wir vor einem Gebäude wo jede Menge Geld für die Pinguinparade verlangt wird. Da wir zum einen für eine Stunde keine 40$ ausgeben wollen und zum anderen heute Abend noch ... read more

(There should be 6 PHOTOS and - eventually when uploaded successfully - a video for this posting, so SCROLL DOWN to see them if they do not appear within this text frame.) We had a lie-in this morning. Sleeping is moreish; the more you get the more you want! Once we got going we decided to walk through Fitzroy Gardens. Amongst other things the park is home to Captain Cook's house, the oldest building in Australia. It is also home to beautiful gardens. We crossed the park and decided to follow the Golden Mile Heritage trail, passing old buildings of architectural significance housed among the high rise buildings of modern Melbourne. Among them was the Scots Church, the burial place of Dame Nellie Melba, a renowned soprano in Europe and particularly Britain (19th C). All along ... read more

(Cough. Cough. Splutter) Where am I? What day is it? Who are you? (Splutter. Splutter. Cough.) Wednesday !?! Honest ?!? Crikey – better crack on. What’s the difference between a wallaby and a kangaroo? (Here we go, go on then). No really, I’m asking you, we don’t know. They say size - kangaroos can grow up to 1.8m, wallabies can grow up to about 1m - but, for medium sized animals, how do you know whether you’re looking at a small kangaroo, or a large wallaby?!? (Does it really matter?) (Pause) Last day in Melbourne and it’s time to pick up the car. Plan is to drive up the coast to Sydney over the next five days. Bit of argy-bargy in the car rental while we upgrade (we’ve got none left - but I rang and ... read more

We decided that since we didn’t yet have anywhere to live in Melbourne, that we would turn this to our advantage and hire a camper van to live in for a few days. We checked out of the hotel and left the luggage that we didn’t need for a few days at the hotel, to give us some more space in the van, and we then caught the tram over to St Kilda where we were picking up our Jucy wagon. After signing some paperwork and a quick run through of how to convert the wagon into a bed for the nights, we were on our way to Ramsay St! It was only a 40minute drive from St Kilda to Ramsay St. It’s just an ordinary street in a suburb in Melbourne really, apart from the ... read more