May 14 – Healesville Sanctuary
We were up early this morning to say
good bye to Monique and Ingo. We are sad to say so long but happy to
get moving. We spent the morning get all packed up and organized.
We popped out for gas, groceries and cash, we need to leave some rent
money. Then we had to say goodbye to our four legged friends. I'm
going to miss Snowy and Juneau but not their hair. Having them
around did make me want a dog when we go back home so I'll have to
work on Beau for that :P We set off for Healesville Sanctuary which
is a native Australian animal zoo. We'd been meaning to go awhile
back but didn't get around to it. It rained pretty heavily along the
way but had mostly stopped by the time we arrived. We got to the
sanctuary in time to catch the “Spirits of the Sky” show which
showcases some of Australia's bird of prey which included Sulfur
Crested Cockatoos, Black Cockatoos, buzzards, owls, Fantail Hawks as
well as other raptor birds. Prior to the show though we had time to
stop into the koala enclosure. We caught one of the koalas during
his 4 hours window of active time, they sleep 20hrs a day. He was
jumping between two trees in his pen. It was cool to see him so
close but I'm glad I saw koalas in the wild too. We also had time to
poke our heads into the reptile house where they had 10 deadly snakes
on display including the most venomous snake in the world. After we
saw the bird show we went into the Land of the Parrots and saw loads
of colourful birds. We then had to find a little shelter from the
rain before it eased up enough for us to go on a wetlands walk. We
saw a couple types of Ibis as well as a bunch of other birds. Next
we reached the dingoes and got really lucky as we arrived just in time
for Meet the Keeper. We got to learn a bit about dingoes and asks
some questions too. The one in the enclosure were quite tame and the
keeper was in with them giving them treats while talking to us.
After we went on to the kangaroos. You can pay for “extras” at
the sanctuary which can including petting a kangaroo, this was going
on when we arrived. I'm not sure whether it was the kangaroo breed
or else they were fairly young as the roo's were smaller than the
ones we'd seen walking the dogs. It started to rain pretty hard again
so we ducked into the Vet Clinic. At different times of the day you
can observe them performing procedures. We arrived in time for a
bird autopsy which I wasn't too interested in watching. The rain let
up again and we made our way to the platypus enclosure. Since
platypuses are nocturnal it was very low lighting. One platypus was
chilling underwater; they can hold their breath for about 11min! The
other was swimming laps around his pool. They are very funny looking
creatures! After leaving the platys we saw Emus as well as some more
native birds. Then we saw Animals of the Night which was mainly
nocturnal rodents including a bilby. (family-remember the tv show we
saw in Christchurch!) Next came the Tasmanian Devils and Wombats.
Both are sort of small bear-like creatures. The devils were fairly
active but wombats are nocturnal so they were sleeping. It was about
5pm already and the sanctuary was closing down. Back at the van we
plotted our route to a free campsite at Kurth Kiln Regional Park. We
arrived at the site just as it got dark and were the only people
there. We made soup for dinner and played crib. It was chilly and
damp but we stayed warmer than the back of the truck at Big White!
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| Mr Koala Bear |
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| Female Black Cockatoo |
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| Dingoes |
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| Emu |
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| Tasmanian Devil (not happy with my pictures) |
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| Womabat |
May 15 – Phillip Island
It was still drizzling a little this
morning and the trees kept making good plonking noises on the roof.
Beau and I stayed toasty in our bed last night even though it was a
little chilly out. This made getting up quite difficult.
Fortunately the weather was clearing a little so that prompted us to
get moving. We had cereal for breakfast and a nice hot cup of tea.
We set off on our way down towards Phillip Island. We stopped for a
couple more groceries and some gas. It seems we have VERY poor gas
mileage. It hurts me a little. Once we reached the island we went
into the visitors center and asked about what we should see while
there. I had been really interested in seeing the little penguins
but it's about $25/person to see the “Penguin Parade” which is
the little penguins coming back from the ocean to their burrows at
dusk. So we opted to not which is a little disappointing since that
was the main reason for coming down here but they have just been
turned into a crazy tourist attraction. We did go down to the
“Nobbies” and have a walk along the board walk. The Nobbies are
some rocky formations off the coast. There was also Seal Island just
beyond them where the Australian Fur Seals live. It was very wind
but had some lovely ocean scenes. After our windswept walk we went
into the visitors center and read about the local sea life in the
Bass Sea. There were also some large tv screens on which you could
view Seal Island using remote video cameras. Kind of cool but again
you had to pay $5 for 4 min of video. We then popped the top and
made lunch in the parking lot. We headed into the main town of
Phillip Island called Cowes. We took a little walk along the
waterfront and out onto the jetty. We also took advantage of the
fact we have a cell phone and made a few calls for campsite prices.
The best we could do is a non-powered site for $24. We figured
non-powered would be fine since we have the second battery system
now. Once at the campsite Beau decided to check on the second
battery to see how it had charge throughout the day. Turns out it
wasn't really charging properly. Obviously this worries us since we
spent money on a electric cooler and proper battery for it. We
aren't sure what the problem is but hopefully we can get it figured
out. The van lights are a lot dimmer since the battery is low. I'm
sure clever Beau will get it figured out though :S
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| The Nobbies with seal island in the background |
May 16 – Phillip Island
After breakfast we headed down to a
peninsula on Phillip Island to go for a hike. The lady at the
information center had recommended this one to us yesterday. We
parked the van and set off along the beach, before we went though we
decided to switch to sandals since there was beach walking. It was a
beautiful day out. The first part of our walk was a little windy and
chilly and I was happy to have my jacket on. As soon as we left the
beach though the wind died off and layers had to be shed. We reached
some pink granite rock formations known as “the Pinnacles” and
enjoy the view with a granola bar. We continued on the the highest
point on Phillip Island at 112m. We were on the trail back to the
car park when there was another trail that lead to an old quarry. We
followed the path down to the beach on the other side of the
peninsula to where there had once been a pink granite quarry. Stones
had been mined here for use in Melbourne until the Depression. We
walked back along the beach till we found the path back to the car
park. We headed out from the car park to find ourselves a toilet and
a lunch spot where we enjoyed some PB&J. This concluded our
little visit to Phillip Island and we headed off towards our free
campsite for the night. We drove to Cape Liptrap Coastal Park where
there was a free campsite called Bear Gully Reserve. It was quite a
picturesque spot right on the ocean and even had little fire pits
available. Unfortunately there was no firewood around and even if
there was it would have been too wet to use. We did get to see some
Wombats though they definitely look like furry pigs. The battery
seemed okay this evening, I guess it got charged up okay but we are
still going to monitor it.
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| The Pinnacles behind us |
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| Old Quarry and jetty |
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| At Bear Gully reserve |
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