LAKES ENTRANCE to PHILLIP ISLAND VICTORIA

From Eden we headed down to Lakes Entrance where we stayed a few nights

Lakes Entrance was lovely.....Where their lakes meet the Southern Ocean!

We stayed in the Silver Sands Caravan Park

which was right in the heart of the town & very close to clubs, shops & eateries!
It is a Top Tourist Park, which we were members of, but our membership had expired!
So i decided to join up again & enjoy the discounts! 

This caravan park is the tidiest & pretty park!

It was a tad bit tight though!

That is not a problem parking the van as the manager guides you in to your site!

Wow!! I wish he could come around oz with us!....He makes it look so easy! 

He is a character & has owned the park for 33 years!

They have the best amenities i have yet to see on our travels!

Air conditioned Stylish & oh so clean!

Dinner @ the local Bowlo was not great!!!!!

It is so hard to find good food anywhere, this we can't understand as every where

we go it is just ordinary & that is sad because we don't dine out that much

(for that reason)

so when we do we expect it to be

Yum!  

Home cooking is definitely the go!
Goodbye Lakes Entrance

Hello......Phillip Island

Weather Beautiful clear Sykes & a pleasant 22 degrees

We stopped @ Yarram a small town along the way at the Country Club
for some Lunch, Vino & a Beer

Then back on the road & it is straight for Phillip Island!

What a beautiful drive as we wind our way through Valleys 

along the edges of the bottom of Eastern Australia!

The roads though are not that good very bouncy most of the way....

Oh well you cant have everything!

Our original plan was to go to Wilson's Promontory, as this is the most
Southern Tip of Australia

We were going to camp down there, but a few weeks ago the caravan park got flooded out!

 It is now closed until they clean it up!

We pulled over @ a scenic lookout to view the spectacular scenery over
Wilson's Promontory

Flood waters every where around here!

We crossed the bridge @ San Remo & here we were on
Beautiful Phillip Island!

Wow i cannot wait to see the penguins!

We booked in to our park which was right on the beach, & also a top tourist  
the owner of the park asked where we had come from....
Lakes entrance i told him, oh which park did you stay at?
Silver Sands, he straight away said oh.... With Terry!
I went on to tell him how i had just renewed our membership with him back there!....
Well to our surprise he continued on to tell us that Terry was the founder of the Top Tourist Club! What a modest man Terry turned out to be, as he never mentioned a word of this to either mark or i on our numerous conversations we had with him!
Apparently he had got quite a few parks together & had it wrapped up from
Merimbula down to Lakes Entrance,
 but there was a void @ the other end of the coast,
 so he approached 
this Phillip Island caravan park
 to join in, they did & that was the begining of the
Top Tourist Club way back in the 80's
Fascinating stories & people you meet along the way!

Well this time 6 months ago we were sitting at
 The Top of Australia
on Punsand bay about a 100 mtrs from the beach!
Here we are now at the bottom of Australia on
Phillip Island about the same distance from the beach!

 As we sat & unwound after our long day travelling
I reflected on the absolute beauty of Victoria's Gippsland
So Beautiful is this part of Australia!
It absolutely leaves me marvelling @ how lucky we are to see nothing but
beauty around us so much of the time!
Most of the trip down, had the sun shining over the rolling hills
as they enveloped each other in layers, so lush & green, fence lines
determine the colours, all coming to life with.....
The most stunning back drop  
Bass Straight! 

Today we did some sight seeing around the Isle
First stop to check out the penguins & book our ticket for tonight's parade!
The sad part though is there are no cameras allowed as the flashes scare them!  
The cost of tickets started at $28.00 for general viewing & went up depending on what you wanted?
Some could view the penguins in your own little group of 10 sheltered in a viewing box, then there was another package where you had your own Eco tour guide & then there were the
 photo & dvd packages with the penguins one on one!

We decided on the cheapie one, along with the majority of people!
With the general viewing, you sit on like a grandstand in front of the beach or
you can sit directly on the beach!
 This gets packed the lady informed us so to get a good viewing spot you should
get there about 1/2 before, which will be about 5 pm as the sun starts to set!
Husband then asks the lady......So you can guarantee they come in every night?
Yep!... She says with great conviction!
They are creatures of habit, they have been out fishing all day in the water & come in to go to bed for the night in their little burrows which are all around the
 grass land areas of this park!
This will be soo good i can't wait!!!!
After that was all sorted we headed to
The Grand Prix Track!
This was very interesting!......Mark enjoyed it very much as he slowly made his way
 (well behind me) taking in all the memorabilia of 
past olden day cars, motor bikes & the history & beginnings of the race track!

Husbands Old Torana!

That was a fun way to spend a day!
We left there & did a bit more sight seeing @ Nobbies Rock & Seal Rock!
Seal rock has one of the largest Fur Seal Colonies in Australia!

Seal Rocks is to the left of me.....
We were not lucky enough to sight any even through the noccies!

The day was now drawing quickly to an end & it was home to grab a bite & get rugged up ready for the big finale......

The Penguins of Phillip Island!

We arrived early as the lady said, along with.....

 15 thousand five hundred & ninety five other people!

Lucky we had pre purchased our tickets & could dodge the queues!

We wound our way along the boardwalk

headed straight for the beach & the viewing platform! 

We were greeted by one of the parks staff who was there

to keep control of what could end up in disaster!

 Also it was school holidays, so you can imagine the people, many from all over of the world!

Mark counted bums along the rows & calculated that

each row was worth about ..........

A Thousand Bucks with excess of about 20 rows all up!

That did not include the ones sitting on the beach or the special ones!

We plopped ourselves down in a good spot & waited~~~~~

As the sun started to set, i spotted the first cluster through our binoculars, they were sitting

 about 200 metres off shore waiting on the waves til it gets dark & then they

waddle their way across the beach to their little burrows, for the night! 

They are scared of being taken by predators such as dogs & foxes!

I looked over & spotted two early birds, straighten themselves as they got out of the

water & off they waddled along!!.....So cute they are!

I was fixed on them, although sadly i had to share the binoculars with mark!

I patiently waited again till it was my turn ......My goodness, they were so funny to watch

as they made their dash up the beach, then out of the blue i lost one & the one i could see had turned back & was heading to the water????......

I think his mate had decided to return to the water, as it was too early to come in???

So i continued to watch this lone Penguin sit on the beach!

I was worried he was a sitting duck......Sorry, sitting penguin!

Before we knew it there was about 10 all riding the waves in to shore & out they came all following each other, probably eager to get this last leg of their day over!

They kept on coming out of the water, some groups bigger than others,

 all so fascinating to watch!

As the last of them waddled out of the water, we decided to walk down around the boardwalk, cause there you can see them clearly walking along the path ways, finding their beds for the night & meeting up with their people they may have lost throughout the day........

Now this was good, as they were now close enough for us to touch!

We didn't, as the guide informed us earlier, they are wild animals & will bite!

They are classics to watch & mesmerising!!

 All chittering & chattering amongst themselves as they walk along so

awkwardly, one stops they all stop!.....There was even a blue, this poor lone penguin

 stuck on the path trying to get up the hill to his home & these bullies would not let him in!!

Loudly they protested at him till after about 15 minutes of persevering,

 he some how got his way & snuck in!!!

Too funny!

Funny how they are use to people & are not one bit perturbed by us & all our

Oohs & Arrs!

These beautiful little creatures have not been trained or tamed

this is them in their natural environment!

How lucky we are to have been a part of this!