Rothsaye on Lovers Walk Cowes

... visit the wineries, they have Grand Prix motorcyle racing, loads of biking and hiking trails, surf fishing, surfing and charters for offshore fishing. We will go back in the summer and spend more time really exploring this place. But this was a good start.

Spring and warmer weather will be here soon, and we think one of our next trips will be to see the Twelve Apostles, beaches and towns along the great ocean road west of Melbourne!

... nutzen, wie wir uns das hier erhofft hatten. Aber nichts destotrotz haben wir viel unternommen und gesehen. Wir haben viele Strandspaziergänge gemacht und waren einmal so richtig am Strand aber an sich ist Philipp Island vor allem für seine Natur und seine Tiere, besonders Pinguine, berühmt. Wir hatten an einem Abend die Gelegenheit, die Pinguine zu beobachten, wie sie von ihrem Tagesausflug in die Welt der Meere zu ihren Nistplätzen zurück gekommen sind. Es war wirklich ein ...

Woke at around 7am, to find it cloudy and overcast, and it had rained during the night. The weather got worse the further down the coast we went, but has cleared quite a bit as we now sail around Phillip Island - this is good, because half the boat is getting off to go to see The Penguin Parade tonight.   Alan and I had open seating breakfast in the Restaurant this morning, leaving Kate to sleep in once more. We sat with a group from Canada, Sydney and the UK. You ...

... s smallest). Every night when the sun sets they form groups, or 'rafts', out to sea then slowly waddle their way up the beach for a well earned rest. They spend 75% of their day in the water catching fish. We weren't allowed to take any photos of them (sorry guys, no photos in this entry) but they were very cute - we watched them cluster into groups, huddle ...

... cause) to go into the koala park, where raised boardwalks and handy moveable signs make it very easy to get close to what has to be Australia's most loveable animal. As it was in the 30s the dropbears weren't doing a lot - they aren't very active at the best of times - but seemed happy to pose for some great snoozy photos. Well worth the long hot walk back.

Apart from that we made the most of the hot spell on the beach - today ...

... down the board walks there was a little penguin awake and outside! IT was all fluffy with it's baby feathers! I think it's Nov-March when the chicks hatch and get fed by their parents so all the chicks were still at home waiting for their parent penguins to arrive back from the sea that night. Later when the adults started to arrive back the chicks would come out waiting to get their food. When they are adults ...

... time to kill each one- I figure I'm ridding the gene pool of the more annoying ones. So I literally ran back up the beach and stopped in the shade to get the sand out of my shoes.. and by the time I had removed one sandal and started shaking I could see 6 mosquitoes (or mossies as they are known here) land and start biting. Aaarrrrggghhhh!!!! See the picture from the Prom below to get an idea what I'm talking about. I'm not ...

... and caught my bus to Cowes. There was a thunderstrom this night. That made things fun when I got off the bus. Its pitch black, i thought the power to the island had gone out or something, and its really windy and rainy. Had no idea where hostel was. It was late, nowhere was open to ask for directions. Walked around forever and finally found it not 200 ft from ...

... wouldn't get as only 5 people on his whole tour have ever guessed correctly but low and beholdf I got it! Got the chance to go to a free sports science seminar at the local uni given by a physiologist who works with Western Bulldogs AFL, relating to agility. Very well spoken, very interesting and made me realise how much I miss being in academia and working in sport science....had a bit of a panic wanting to go home and get a proper job (which only lasted ...

... 3. They really like to eat and 4. They appreciate beauty (especially in women!!) This has got to be by far the most amusing. When we are walking, Fillippo will see a pretty woman, blatantly turn his head while checking her out, and THEN actually turns around to watch the back side of her walk off... lol.. finally he ends the session in his italian accent by saying 'Beautiful!!'.. Ha- Italian men... Seeing that we've spent the last 3 days hanging out and it's ...