Wednesday...2 March 2011

Yesterday we were taken on a magical mystery tour of Phillip Island and surrounding areas by our very good friend Bob.
We started with a visit to Churchill Island to see their Highland cattle but the cows must have been in a back paddock of the property as we could not find them, however we did see lots and lots of Cape Barren geese and some black and white sheep which we think were Suffolks. They had white wool but their bodies were black, talk about identity crisis!!! There was also a group of schoolchildren riding bicycles with their teachers on some very rough tracks in the drizzling rain, what a fun day for them......
Next stop was Inverloch, we did not get out of the car as the wind was blowing a gale that went through rather than around you. We settled for parking on the shore front and watching the waves rolling in off Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean.
From there we travelled to Wonthaggi via Cape Paterson along the ocean road. Very windy but wonderful views of a raging ocean thundering against the little beaches and cliffs of the mainland.
We tried to visit the State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi but it was closed to the public until April 8. Bother!
We had lunch and went for a look at one of the big talking points of Victorian politics, the Desalination plant just a few kms out of Wonthaggi. The lads found this an interesting site, and we passed a windfarm to get to it. I do not know much about wind farms. I know they say they are noisy and apparently it is even said the noise can send a sane man ga ga, but the big windmill things look so graceful as they slowly turn in the breeze, I quite like seeing them on our travels.
From Wonthaggi we returned to Phillip Island and went to Woolamai Beach, which is a lovely surfing beach facing the open ocean, but once again we struck out as it was so windy the paint on the car was being sandblasted by the "stiff breeze" that was blowing the sand into the carpark and no one was surfing!
Onward we went and showed Keith the Phillip Island Motor Racing Circuit. We got lucky as it was Rider Day and there were heaps of motorbikes whizzing around the track and while they were not the professionals it gave a bit of authenticity to our visit. We were able to access the public viewing platform which gives a perfect view of the entire track at one glance. Another to do box ticked...

The track

From there we went to The Nobbies which are a collection of interesting rocks in the ocean known for their seal populations. No seals that day,  but another bonus was finding groups of the Island's famous Fairy Penguins nesting under the boardwalk used to view the seal colony. The groups we found were moulting which takes about three weeks during which time they do not eat. Once they have their new coats they return to the sea to fish again.
From there we went to the area of the Island where you can actually watch the Fairy Penguins returning at dusk to their burrows in the sand dunes. Having already seen some penguins up close and personnal we did not stay to watch the Pengiun Parade. Another one of those attractions that is overpriced and overcrowded and why pay good money to see something we have already seen for free???

Fairy Penguins under boardwalk

From there we went back to our camp with plans to eat out only to find the park resturant was closed so Bob the wonderful cooked a superb slap up meal of roast lamb in his BBQ with all the trimmings ably assisted by his lovely wife Deb on her retun from her trip to the city. Lovely meal. Another perfect day.What wonderful hosts.
Today they took us down to San Remo to watch the Pelican feeding, just us and several hundred school children on excursion!!! Bus load after bus load of the little darlings. There was at least three different schools represented. I feel  there was more but when some are out of uniform it is difficult to allocate the blame for their disgraceful behaviour.  The little pets decided to throw rocks at the waiting pelicans and of course not one teacher claimed to be in charge of the transgressors!!!!!!
Several of us 'grandies' , all waiting for the pelican feeing session, made our displeasure of their behaviour clear to them.....their comment was "stop ruining our fun"!

Pelican at San Remo

Lunch was fish and chips eaten from paper packages whilst parked facing the beach watching waves and clouds skudding along the horizon. How beach/island/perfect was that????
To round out the day we said fond farewells to our marvellously wonderful hosts and set off for Horsham, just a hop, skip and five hours drive away.......
Guess who is a tired little traveller??????
Tomorrow is the Wimmera Field Days.
Thank heavens we are retired and moving through life at a snails pace, any more speed and I would be in meltdown............