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We saw a solitary sign for World Super Bikes close to Philip Island…..so we went there for a long weekend, bonus, in the process making new friends, Phil and Kent, his son, (very apt as that is where we are from), and Richard and his absent new wife, (he was on honeymoon), she is not into bikes.
We stayed with Richard and his new wife in Cowes before we left Philip Island.
We watched the famous Penguin Parade….cute little things, and they walk such a long way inland (often up steep hills) to their burrows (or deluxe handmade boxes, still don’t know how they do that, small ‘beak held’ tools I guess). They hang around by the water till there’s a good size gang, and its dark enough not to get scoffed by predators, and then make their way across the rocks and sand. There’s a bit of a delay at top of the beach where the sand ends and grass begins as they decide which one is brave enough to go first. Once they get going again they chat to each other along the way, funny little squeakings and gruntings. The youngsters come out to greet their parents (noisily,
they‘re hungry) as they‘ve been left alone in the burrows for days while mum and dad go fishing.. The little Blue Penguins appear not in the least bothered by the hoards of people on the boardwalks inches from their heads as they stop for a little rest, feather preening or chat. There are limited spaces available for this every day, so you will need to book. A very worthwhile visit, and we saw our first Wallabies on the way home.
The wildlife park on the Island was a great day out. We could hand feed most of the animals…..Wallabies, Kangaroos, Cassowaries, Emus, Geese. We kept our distance from the Tasmanian Devils, Dingoes and Quolls.
We travelled through Gippsland and up the Princes Highway towards Sydney.
As soon as we left Victoria…. Instant green, not unlike Wales funnily enough… New South Wales was lush…..
Next stop was Eden where we visited the Killer Whale Museum and learnt about the corroboration of men and a pod of killer whales (particularly Tom) to hunt down baleen whales in the 1920s…. Hmmm. An interesting visit.
Another place we stopped at, before Sydney, was Mogo zoo. The collection of animals here is very
good, and as we walked around they had feeding times and talks on many of the animals here. The merecats are funny and some of the monkies were very vocal. A good time to go, as we did, is first thing in the morning as it is cooler and the animals are out and about.
Sydney.
Stayed on the south side of the city for a few days and travelled in by bus and train. Toured the harbour, walked the bridge and climbed the tower.
Was disappointed to see that the opera house was just clad in ordinary ceramic tiles not some sort of groovy high tech metal plates or scales as I’d imagined. Botanical gardens were very nice.
We went and had a ‘sticky beak’ in the zoo and aquarium in Darling harbour, and we had time to see 2 films being shown at the IMAX, with the largest screen in the world, (was a bit like looking at all the joins on an old leather football)
Met up with Dilshon, (from the America Parks Tour) for an afternoon and stayed a couple of nights with Andrew (Central America Gap Tour , Mexico to Costa Rica) and his
uninvited houseguest… a noisy late night party animal of a possum, lodging in the roof space and wall cavities. Andy cooked us a lovely Kangeroo roast with home grown veggies!!!! Yummy. Many thanks Andy. Pesky Possum next time?
Am now a convert to kangaroo…. Low fat, high protein, high iron and doesn’t get stuck in yr teeth like steak. Tastes like a cross between lamb, steak and liver.
We then went inland to the Jenolan Caves. You see no clues in the landscape, then round a bend and straight through the rock face. The cave systems were beautiful. The hotel shown in the photo’s has been flooded on a few occasions. This is not a destination for larger vehicles or caravans, very steep winding roads. Then on to the Blue Mountains, and more stunning scenery. We took a cable car ride across a gorge to get the best views of a waterfall and rode the steepest funicular down to the bottom. Walked round the informative boardwalk past an old mine and native trees. Then took another cable car back to the top.
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