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Big4 Phillip Island Caravan Park, Newhaven, Phillip Island, Australia.  260km

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Yesterday, a gray and rainy day, we started our second phase of Australia with a new motorhome. We plan to tour the provinces of Victoria and South Australia for the next 4 weeks and I hope the weather will improve.

To get the motorhome yesterday, I took an early morning train from Melbourne to a suburb 45km away called Berwick where the rental company has its office. After the paperwork and vehicle examination, I drove back into the city and we loaded the kids and the bags, a task that took about 45 minutes with all the crap we have, and the “naglot” I had to make from the hotel room to the driveway.

This RV is the same make as the one we had in Queensland, but it is a newer 2007 model with less than 40 thousand km. Although it smells new, we miss the old RV. The human interface and design errors made on the newer model compared to the 2004 model we had are quite irritating. For starters there is barely any storage room in the undercarriage. Which means that to put the double stroller in I need to take apart the 3 wheels each time. For some strange reason the rear bed can be disassembled in order to place a second table in the RV. Which means that Paola and I have to sleep on a bed composed of 4 connecting cushions instead of a normal mattress. The showerhead does not have a shutoff valve which is very convenient when you are trying to conserve water. And a few more annoying things that we won’t get into right now.

At least it’s new and everything works we said to ourselves. Ha. This morning I discovered that the grey water tank drainage pipe is cracked and all the water is leaking out. To the rental company’s credit, they did get us a plumber who fixed the problem fast and good.

Now back to our voyage. We left Melbourne yesterday before noon and stopped after 45 minutes in another suburb to stock up on some food and have lunch. It was raining so hard that only I ran into the supermarket. After lunch we drove for another hour and a half south east to Phillip Island. This island is 26km long and connected to the mainland by a 100m bridge. Much of the island is a natural reserve though there are town here.

The biggest draw is the “Penguin Parade” a nightly viewing of hundreds of penguins climbing to shore from the sea and walking to their nests.

After getting settled in our campground yesterday afternoon (which included a much needed session on the jumping pillows and the playground), we drove to the western end of the island, near the penguin area, to a spot called “The Nobbies”. It has hundreds of seagulls nesting in the grass area, beautiful cliffs and waves smashing in, and further offshore we are told there is a huge colony of furry sea lions.

Unfortunately Paola was feeling sick, and the wind and drizzle precluded her participation in a boardwalk tour of the site. I took the kids but Orr cried mommy, so she went into the visitors’ center with Paola. Shir and Ron joined me for a brisk walk until the drizzle got a little more serious and we ran to the visitor center as well. A great bonus we found was a little playground inside the building. The children never tire of them.

We decided to skip the penguins and head back to the campground. A good choice, as we were all tired from the long day, Paola was sick, and Shir and Orr had runny noses too.

Last night was rough, Orr woke up several times screaming for no apparent reason. Shir and Ron also slept uneasy. First night in a new place, colder weather, runny noses, or a combination of all, who knows. This morning they were up at 7am, but luckily our ingoring them caused the kids to fall asleep again and we all woke up a bit more revived at 9am.

Paola was sick all day today, with a sore throat, fever and runny nose. So we did less than I originally wanted. At 11:30am we went to see a pelican feeding “show” at the jetty near the campground. Those birds are big, bigger than Ron. It was quite impressive to see them gulp down fillets of tuna(?) that a volunteer tossed to them.

We then drove back to the Nobbies hoping the weather would be more amicable today. It was less windy and no rain, but the kids wanted the indoor playground, not the broadwalk. So we played a bit and then returned to the RV for lunch. The plumber came and fixed the pipes while we were eating. When the kids took their nap, I grabbed my camera and went out for a quick tour of the area. By the time I got back they had woken up.

In the early evening we went to the penguin parade, leaving Paola to rest in the RV. I took a warm blanket to cover the kids because the viewing area is right on the windy beach. Happily there was not much wind tonight. As soon as it got dark, we started seeing the Penguins march out of the water, form small groups and walk together over the sandy beach to their nesting area in the bushes. These are smallish penguins about 30cm tall, but it was very impressive. The kids loved it. Let’s hope they’ll have sweet penguin dreams and sleep quietly through the night.

Good night,

-Hemi

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 6:13 am and is filed under Australia, Big Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.