The Johnsons' Journal

One of the first things we did when we arrived in Australia was going out to Phillip Island with our hosts Carl and Rachel. That time we only went out for the day and enjoyed the wildlife park.

When Courtney’s sister Amanda and her partner Nathan decided to come out to visit us we decided this would be a great activity to do with them. Instead of a day trip though, we decided to make a weekend of it.

We took Friday off work, hired a car and Courtney found a nice house for us to stay in while on the island.

On the way out to the Island, we stopped by the Australian Garden. This is part of the Royal Botanic Gardens “where visitors can immerse themselves in Australian flora, landscapes, art and architecture.” It was a good stop, but since they are currently constructing phase 2 of the Garden, some of the features were not open or functioning. It did give us an opportunity to play around with our new camera which Amanda and Nate brought over from the US.

Friday evening we went out to one of the other major attractions of Phillip Island, the penguins!

There is a colony of thousands of “Little Penguins” on the island and they have built some viewing platforms to watch the penguins on parade back to their nests from the sea. These penguins are found a few places around Australia and New Zealand. They’re only about a foot high and are pretty cute.

Every evening they make their way back up the rocky beach just past sunset. They come onshore in small groups at first since they are pretty cautious creatures, but once they get going, they don’t stop for hours. Hundreds pass the viewing platform on the march to their nests that are scattered all over the surrounding hills. They can even travel over a kilometer inland.

We got back to the house late that night. We did not eat before the Penguins, so we were famished. Luckily, we had picked up food to throw on the grill earlier in the day. We had chicken rissoles (an Aussie favorite that we hadn’t tried before), corn, salad and for Nathan and Amanda, kangaroo steaks. It sounds weird, but its really not that uncommon in Australia. The meat is similar to beef but leaner and a bit gamier.

Saturday, after having a Tex-Mex brekkie of migas tacos (fantastic, by the way) prepared by Amanda and Nathan. We headed out to the wildlife park to check out some of the other Aussie natives.

This park has a little bit of everything, from the cute and cuddly Koalas.

To the downright frightening Cassowary.

And even Ewoks sitting in a tree.

Of course they had Roo’s and wallabies which you were allowed to feed too. As it’s springtime, there were even some baby’s around.

Later in the day we went out to “The Nobbies” which is at the southern end of Phillip Island and is home to a few ship wrecks. The seas in the Bass Straight (between the southern mainland of Australia and Tasmania) are very tumultuous.

Sunday on the way back into Melbourne, we took a detour out to the Mornington Peninsula for some wine and cheese tasting.

And of course couldn’t go down there without stopping by Serrento to get the world famous Vanilla Slice.

To check out a few more photos of the trip, go here.