Philip Island

Now, I know it's been far too long since the last update and being its Christmas time it's probably even worse.  But The good new is, we're still having an amazing time and still making our way further and further each day along what's becoming a more familiar world. 

  We've  been moving north east from Melbourne since the 13th of December and now just days before Christmas we found a place to sleep just north west of Sydney.  That's what we've been doing every night, finding a place to stay along the way. It's another trick  we learned from some savvy travelers and it's been saving us money and getting us off the tourist track every day since. We don't book ahead anymore, we just drive until we feel like stopping. Then find a safe and level place, usually away from noise and call it home for the night.  Most of the time we find other travelers doing the same but occasionally its just us, alone for miles and nothing but the oceans rhythm to sing us to sleep.  My favorite nights by far. 

Our little green and purple home  on wheels however hideous it looks has been great to us.  We can stop and eat, sleep or read whenever we wish and most of the time wherever.  It's small enough to waddle around in cities and though Juicy rental company should never know this it's been off road just a littler for a good camping spot or two. 

From Melbourne we took the the A420 south until it runs into the Bass Strait, over a small bridge  on the B420 to the end of Phillip Island!  It's not a very big island so we explored it and found a spot overlooking a surf beach to read, have lunch, take a nap and just do nothing before heading to the watch the Penguin Parade.  Ever night just after sunset little patches of penguins waddle up to their colonies after being out at sea fishing for weeks at a time.  For hours emerging from the break in little groups, finding the way to the certain main paths they all take one group at a time then branching off one by one. The babies waiting patiently in their little nests amongst the colony of other waiting penguinos, literally come charging down at the adults begging to be fed.  The adults only feed their own babes and no one else's so unfortunately if one of them doesn't make it back, the babe has to learn to swim and fish quickly, or die.  

This specific colony holds only 6,000 of the 70,000 Little Penguins found all over Philip Island, and that number is low compared to the masses that occupied the island before locals and tourists started trampling the nests to get to beaches and penguin watch.  Over the years more conservation works been put in place and now you can watch all the action from boardwalks at this specific spot. 

We get there after dark and the stadium seating down to the beach was packed so we started up on the board walk above what looked like one the the main paths.  Turns out it was one right under our feet, so when they started ascending up and passed the people in the front/beach section they turned and came up right under the boardwalk where we were standing. Incredible.  There was a little fella charging down at every single group coming up, squawking for food and almost tackling them! He definitely provided sufficient entertainment to make up for the over priced ticket.  It only got better. 

Once the people cleared from the stands and beach up to the board walk, made our way down, all the way to the beach. With no one around we crouched down and waited for the group coming up ahead to pass by us.  Before long they were literally heading straight for us so as still as we could watched them waddle curiously within a foot of us on either side.  Surrounded by Little Penguins, the smallest of the penguin species found in Australia and New Zealand.  The park ranger watching from behind said they rarely do that even with them.  They were closing up or I would have stayed and tried my luck for another close encounter.  Though it was a pricey ticket it was well worth it with experiences like that!

We slept that night at a beach access in a small town on the west side of the island with another van and station wagon camper. With the beach just behind us we fell asleep and woke to the sound of waves again.  That morning I met a Dutch couple with the van on my way down to the beach.  On their way down from Cairns to Melbourne in three months, also only on the island for one night. They provided great tips on must sees and don't bothers along the way and even offered a place to stay in the Netherlands.  They live south of Amsterdam a few hrs where he's a chef too in what they described to be  a very laid back city compared to Amsterdam.   They had also had a green Juicy van through New Zealand so had tricks and tips for improving the not so wonderful features of the thing.  

Philip Island has two wineries so we dropped into one for a tasting on our way out, a quick stop at the chocolate factory and a look at the seals from The Nobbies and then back over the bridge and on to the next spot...