Philip Island, Newhaven
Trip Start
Jul 12, 2006
1
127
230
Trip End
Jun 18, 2007
Two days to go, what a scary thought. It makes me fizzy dizzy everytime I think about it. At least it doesn't actually feel like my birthday so maybe I can pretend to be 29 for a while. The smoke caught up with us today, it was really hazy and the smell of burning was back in the air. It's a real shame because it spoils the photos, everything looks dull and grey plus the stench gets to you, sticking to your clothes and the inside of your nostrils. Apparently the wind had changed so Philip Island was getting the smoke today. We headed into town for a look around and to get some breakfast. Lee bought me a really nice top that I fell in love with in a shop as an early birthday present, although he had already bought me a new watch in Chicago, plus a gorj skirt as an early Christmas present. Once our impromptu shopping trip was done we found a little café on the waterfront for breakfast. Two full cooked brekkies, coffees and freshly squeezed OJ. Delicious! When finished we headed down to the little jetty to have a nosey around the fishermen. There was no other reason to go because you couldn't see a thing, not to the other side or anything. It was too smoky. From there we drove up to the Nobbies. A set of rocky outcrops at the very Eastern end of the island. We walked as far as we could down the boardwalk route but most of it was shut due to birds nesting. We spotted the seals on seal island and a fair few other birds as well as a couple of seal watching boats, bouncing about on the waves. The sun was hidden behind an orange haze all day, desperately trying to break thought. I think it might have been a nice day had the smoke not reached us. I raided the shop for all their penguin stuff to send home to my Sis, the worlds biggest penguin fan. I managed to pick up a penguin lock which I think will be a first for her, madly enough. We drove from the Nobbies back towards the centre of the island and then off a little road to the South taking us to one of the surfing beachs and a beach walk to the Colonnades, a set of basalt colums that have been worn away by the sea and the weather. The walk took about 30 minutes as we were leisurely strolling, watching the birds and the crazy surf dude swimming out into a monstrous sea. Rather him than me to be honest, it looked far too rough. The Colonnades were worth the walk though, very interesting. By the time we walked back it was nearly 5pm. I couldn't believe where the day had gone to be honest, I think this is the start of time getting quicker as you get old. I really wanted to go to the Koala Conservation centre and we just made the dash back across the island to get in for last orders. It was so worth it. The centre has made a tree top boardwalk around a big open piece of land so that you can see koalas up close. They are so CUTE. Unbelieveably cute and cuddly. I just wanted to swipe one of the little fur balls and take him back to the van but Lee said they might notice. I reckon I could have got away with it if I'd stuck one on my head and pretended it was a hat. We saw 16 in total, well worth the $9.20 entrance fee. We saw little ones, big ones, the oldest one in the park, ones with baby joeys. We also saw wallabies running about. But the best was seeing the koala jump right onto the rail and walk around, probably wondering what all those daft things were looking at him. We did a nature walk and a woodland walk as well as, spotting a koala making a dash across the woodland away from the hoards of people chasing it trying to get a photo. I think Koalas are officially my favourite Oz animal. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to touch them which is a shame because Lee said they're really soft. On the way home we paid a very short trip to Rhyll on the Western side of the island (as you can guess it's a pretty small island) but it was all closed up so we headed to Newhaven where the Big 4 camp site is that we're staying at tonight. The camp site is right on the beach, as most of them are over here, but we managed to bag a site at the back near the wetlands covered in grass, which makes a really nice change because normally we're camped next to a brown, sandy ants nest.
