Blogs from Philip Island, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

Our final morning in New Zealand started very early thanks to a 6am flight to Melbourne. We were up at 2:30am, out the door by 3:15am and checked in and waiting for security to open at 3:50am! We were called over by the person opening the tape as she spotted us waiting and wanted to encourage the rest of the people to start going through – which means we were the first 2 people through security at the international departures this morning! We got to the business class lounge about 5mins before it was due to open, conveniently, our departure gate was directly opposite the lounge doors so we waited there. Once again we were the first 2 people in, so had our pick of seats although it was still very empty in there even when ... read more

My first full day at Phillip Island. Lots to do. First stop was The Nobbies - two large rocks at the eastern end of the island - Big Nobbie and Little Nobbie. There is a very nice boardwalk which takes you around the area to a number of observation points. The coastal views were of course quite nice. Both Nobbies stand out. There is also a Blowhole in the area as well as Seal Rocks, home to thousands of Australian seals. Saw a few beaches before visiting Red Rocks. I was underwhelmed here. Litterally, a few few rocks in the sand. The site had nothing on PEI. Ya wanna see red rocks, that's the place to go. Early afternoon, I visited Oswin Roberts Reserve for a quick stroll through the area. Was feeling lazy so I ... read more

It's after midnight here, but I hate falling behind on blogs, so I have Rafael Nasal playing in the background as I type this after another very long day tour where we arrived back at our hotel around midnight. We were able to sleep in today, as the tour didn't start until midday. We were both so exhausted from yesterday's tour that we welcomed the 9 o'clock start. After we got ready we went to the shopping centre next door to buy ourselves some new shoes. Walking shoes, so we were able to spend the hours walking around. We both knew what we wanted so it was only a matter of trying them on before we purchased them. Then, back to the hotel to get our things ready for our day trip to Phillip Island. Phillip ... read more

Day 36 We got up at a leisurely pace and went for brunch in the shopping centre about 11! We had a little wander around a few streets before coming back to the hotel lounge! At 1 o'clock we were picked up by Brett to start our penguin parade and koala trip! We made our way over to Phillip island and stopped for afternoon tea at the Churchill island farm shop! I had An almond muffin and the boy had tea and a raspberry muffin! We then looked around the farm a bit and saw all the animals including 2 gorgeous peacocks! We then got into the bus again to go see the koalas in their semi natural habitat! Their were 10 of the 35 in the area within the public area and we saw all ... read more

ext stop was Phillip Island. We'd seen a programme before we left about this place being home to the Little Penguins, the worlds smallest penguins, so obviously we had to go! We spent the first day driving back along the Great Ocean Road, slowing down the traffic once again to take even more photographs! The drive really is fantastic! We made it to Phillip Island where we encountered our first possum. Its fair to say he startled Kev the first time he jumped out to say hello! We spent the next morning at a Kuala sanctuary trying to spot Kualas sleeping in the trees which is much more difficult than you might think! We also saw a lot of Lorikeet's (they look just like parrots), but later realised they are a very common bird in Australia ... read more