March continued

Sunday 8th March
Today we headed off to Phillips Island stopping for a quick coffee en route. Alas we had not been able to book accommodation prior to arriving at the tourist information. They were very helpful and fixed us up with a “ quiet cottage” This was run by a kindly man. It was basic but only one night so nothing lost. It had a kitchen, shower. living room with corner double bed and single room. The loo was outside with a bath, with shower over. It reminded Lin of chalets visited back in the 60s. Having viewed it we set off to look around Cowes. This was a pretty seaside town with a quaint pier. For Janine this was something of a walk down memory lane, although it was clearly more touristy than she remembered. Linda was pleased to find a cheap jacket to supplement her wardrobe! Janine told us of many of her lovely childhood memories of happy family times on the island. We visited the house her father built in Silverleaves which was in a quiet wooded lane very close to the beach. She soon got chatting to a lady who had lived there for many years and promised to get her mother in touch with her next time they visited the area. The lady looked very pleased to have this contact. It was great to see that the house hadn't really changed and to walk up the lane to the local beach. Janine was horrified to see a huge machine, which we decided was a dredger, but which really spoiled the otherwise idyllic views. We could imagine Janine as a girl sailing with her father and meeting other young people in the evenings.. sounded fabulous!

As it was getting later we headed to Penguin Parade where we could view penguins coming up the beach. We had been warned earlier that there would be in the region of 3000 people watching them so we arrived early. We sat down in a small amphi-theatre facing the beach. The sun was setting and at first it was pleasant to be there. As the sun set it got colder and colder with the wind coming off the beach. Fortunately Janine had thought to bring a blanket which kept us all warmer. At about the time we had been told, the penguins began to arrive on the beach in little clusters of 5 or 6. They seemed disturbed by the floodlights or the gulls facing them, retreating occasionally back into the surf before plucking up courage to venture out again. It was all very sweet but seemed a little contrived for tourists. The little penguins moved into the dunes to go and feed their young while being surrounded by tourists on boardwalks. Left us with a mixture of emotions about conservation and exploitation. We returned back to the cottage, grabbed a snack and slept.

Monday 9th March.
Today we saw Koala Bears for the first time. Their reserve was in a eucalyptus grove and had a set of boardwalks where we could view the sleeping marsupials. We found about twenty scattered through the reserve all precariously perched in some of the outermost branches. Linda and Janine were lucky enough to see one on the ground moving between trees. The reserve had been managed to ensure that the trees were not stripped bare by the koalas. Many of them had plastic collars on the prevent them being climbed ( the trees not the bears ). The experience was far more encouraging in terms of the treatment of the animals than the previous evenings.

We had promised ourselves fish and chips the day before but had arrived too late. We headed off to catch the take away early. The sun was out and we dined on beer and delicious “ flake “ and chips on the rooftop overlooking the island bridge.
The journey back was going to be difficult as everyone would be heading back after their long weekend. Janine had to be back for the next day and we were very grateful that she could drive us back. We arrived home tired but contented at having spent a relaxing time together.

Tuesday 10th March
Drove into Richmond with Janine ( where she worked ). We said our last goodbyes before going to pick up our hire car. It had been fantastic to meet up with her and meet her mum, sons Lincoln and James and daughter Rhiannon and be able to share her home and get a feel for Melbourne. We really appreciated the cosiness of her home and the welcome we had been given after our time on the road. Thank you so much Janine. Hopefully it won't be long before we meet up again in England. We would love to return your hospitality.

We picked up the car in Melbourne and drove back to East Malvern to pick up our things. All went well after some initial navigation hick ups. Back at Janine's place we managed to change our next flights: this took longer than expected but gave us the chance to say proper goodbyes to Linc and Rhiannon, and take their photos, which was good. We eventually headed down to the Mornington Peninsula an area of stunning coastal views and equally stunning properties. We spotted foreshore campsites as we approached Sorrento, but decided we'd prefer a site with more facilities... this proved impossible: the only site we found didn't accept tents!! So we ended up camping on the foreshore. The site was pretty basic, but as we'd arrived late and left early, we didn't pay anything... which was a bonus!

Wednesday 11th March
Got up early and went into Sorento for a coffee, before getting the ferry over to Queenscliff, where we stopped for quite a while: we thought this town was very pretty with some lovely Victorian buildings. We moved on along the beautiful coast and set up camp in Torquay, the surf capital of Australia, where the Ripcurl company was established. Whilst cooking in the camp kitchen we got to know a lovely French Canadian couple, who have been travelling for a while.

Thursday 12th March
Had breakfast with our Canadian 'friends' – Lea and Guillaume. He was feeling nervous about a surf lesson booked for 10am and we had a good chat. We later went down to the surf beach, but couldn't spot him amongst the others in the surf school. It did look a lot of fun though and we were a bit tempted to have a go....oh to be younger!! We continued along the road to Lorne, another pretty town. The tourist information here was excellent and a very nice lady recommended various campsites to us, including Kennett river campsite, where we decided to stay – tempted by the promise of seeing more koalas as well as free wifi! As we travelled along we kept bumping into the same people – a lady travelling alone who was having a break from her family and Lea and Guillaume, who must have been sick of the sight of us when we turned up at the same campsite! We were delighted to spot koalas even before we'd put the tent up and spent a really enjoyable evening sitting out watching them and some lovely birds: a red and blue parrot and another very tame kukkaburra amongst them. As it got dark we spotted a koala coming down it's tree.. we followed it as it sought an alternative tree to feed from: many of the trees had been protected from the bears to conserve their leaves, but it eventually found a suitable perch... fabulous to watch!

Friday 13th March
Woke up to a glorious morning and managed to get on skype to Alec, which was great. Unfortunately as we were chatting a sea fret came down and didn't disappear all day!! We decided not to go far in the hope of better weather. We ended up in Apollo Bay, where we had a lazy day. The campsite we found (Pisces) had a fabulous inside kitchen with a wide screen TV so we really enjoyed the luxury!