Road Trip

Bravely, or perhaps foolishly, Helen lent us her car and John and I headed out West for a couple of days in the Dandenong ranges and on Philip Island. After a small, but necessary, detour for getting lost, we reached Fern Gully, where the impossibly helpful tourist information office gave us enough options for a week's stay.

I am going to have to find new ways to describe stunning countryside, as I've run out and we're going to keep encountering it. Lots of it. The Dandenong range is wooded, mountainous and affords spectacular views. Blah, blah, blah. It's just beautiful, OK.

We also visited the William Ricketts sanctuary. William was an artist, who was fascinated by Australia's indigenous peoples. Through perseverence, William developed a close bond with Aborigines-they'd been a bit suspicious of him initially.



He spoke a lot of sense about the environment and man's duty to conserve the planet, instead of treating it like a store of free natural resources. Sadly, he was a bit eccentric and no one listened. Had they, I might not have read in today's paper about the UN report that says global warming is fact that only the CEOs of car and oil multinationals can deny and it's 90% certain it's man's fault. Sounds conservative to me-unless it's only 90% certain George Bush and pals are human.

Another hour and a bit's drive and we were in Philip Island; having found somewhere to stay we headed to Cowes-the 'main' town. There wasn't much there apart from some great falafel, but it did allow John and I to complete our Cowes double-it's even twinned with the Isle of Wight one. There's a Rhyll too, which I think is also on the IOW.





More great beaches, more great views, walks and a Koala sanctuary all added to Philip Island's charm, but the real business there concerns little penguins.

This was the second time I'd found penguins in an unexpected place (Cape Point being the other); I've no preconceptions any more-if they turn up in the Northern hemisphere, i'll just shrug my shoulders. Firslty, they are really small-12 inches, but they looked smaller. They are the smallest of all penguins. Secondly, they won't let you take photos at the penguin parade, so you'll have to take my word for this. The penguin parade is the nightly return of the penguins from hunting in the sea; they go out at dawn and return at dusk. The first 2 emerged and looked concerned-they are at risk from birds of prey and like to come ashore in groups and be sure it's safe. They spent about five minutes going back into the shallows and nervously emerging again; due to their size, even the very end of an incoming wave can knock them over. Eventually, they had a quorum. The groups come waddling in and it looks bloody hard work as they're much better suited to the water. After a group congregates, a leader will show a turn of speed and they set off to the burrows. A few fat ones (or the best hunters) lag behind. It's a tough life, after a day at sea, I saw a number of penguins attacked by chicks: some of the older chicks are now venturing outside the burrow, and they actually look bigger than the parents (their feathers are still fluffy). Parents will only feed their own chicks, but this doesn't stop chicks trying to mug any passing penguin. I saw one set on by 4 chicks, trying to force their bills down his throat. It was brutal stuff. We left about half ten and headed the warning to check under our car for penguins. We didn't find one, but we did have to wait for one to pass across the road as we left the car park. On the way back, John did well to avoid the possum in the road. The penguins inspired us to buy Tim Tams the next days, these are basically like UK pengiuns, but they come in a pack of 12 or so. Result. None left now.

We saw a lot of Wicked Campers. We’re off to Tasmania on Saturday, after Tassie, that looks like the way to get to Adelaide down the great Ocean Road.

On the way back we came across some of the craziest golf you'll ever see.



OK, we actually read about it and deliberately headed for it. John has the best photos, but there were two mousetrap holes when the ball was fired over your head, ran down gutters and rooves and the like. I led by 4 at the turn, but John stormed home in 27 and beat me by 10 (it's Australia, we have to be competitive about these things). Swiss-I gotta be honest, it beat Gator golf.

After our success (and failure to crash), we borrowed the car again on Friday, having spent Thursday eating cake in St Kilda. I also saw the Killers in a sweatbox venue in the evening-they were top. We visited the wonderful Healsville animal sanctuary, where we spent happy hours watching and learning about Australia's unique and other worldly wildlife.



The marvellously named Toolangi was the setting for a very late lunch and then we spent last night celebrating the arrival of the real England cricket team, who crushed Australia. I still don't like Mahmood in the side.

Tasmanian Devilry
We've just got to Tassie and after the inevitable tedium and hidden charges of picking up our hire car, we're really enjoying it. I shall do a separate photo post in a few days, as again John has the photos, but we've just hiked round Cataract Gorge, which is just out of the town centre, but looks as remote and fobidding as anywhere I've seen. We've also had Tassie's best baked potato for dinner. It'll take some beating. I'm also excited to see many wine places offering cheese platters. Just as well we've been doing some walking!

Oh and the hostel bar, where I'm blogging, is now playing 'I would walk 500 miles'.

Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door.........