I needed another reminder of what a beautiful country I live in and as it is school holidays Jenna and I decided it was time for a road trip and just an hour away is Phillip Island.
Phillip Island is a popular holiday spot with plenty of beaches, bush walks, the Penguin Parade and home of the Australian leg of the motorcycle grand-prix, and although I have been a few times, I have to confess that I really hadn't explored it the way I did today (and after today I realise there is still a lot more to see.)
First stop was Cape Woolamai, which is the highest point on Phillip Island. The Cape is home to a faunal reserve and the walking trails are pretty well defined to protect the shearwater rookery that is here.
There is an amazing surf beach at the start of the walking trail, and the pounding of the waves was amazingly loud and totally awesome. About a km from the carpark, along the beach, are the stairs that lead up to the trail, and once you get to the top you already have the most amazing view of the whole island (and you're not even at the highest point yet-the photo above is one of many great views from here).
The walk to the Pinnacles
is about 4kms round trip and Jenna and I were lucky that the weather held out (there had been a fair bit of rain earlier in the day and thankfully it held off until we got back into the car). It was certainly worth the aching knee to get to the end, and just enjoy the sights and sounds at the end of it (love hearing the crash of the waves.)
We took the shorter of the trails (the longer Cape Woolamia Circuit taking in the quarry and beacon as well as the Pinnacles was estimated as another couple of hours and will be saved for a later date.) From the Cape we made our way to Pyramid Rock which is aptly named :) as you can see(maybe not as grand as the ones in Giza but a pyramid all the same.)
Next stop The Nobbies, and the first thing you notice (apart from the fact that it was probably the most crowded of the spots we went to today probably because of the marine discovery centre here) was the smell, I think we were downwind from Seal Rocks which are about 1 1/2 kms offshore, but the scent from the fur seals was pretty strong. There is a great boardwalk to explore, and we walked most of it (apart from the section that was closed off because of the birds that have a breeding colony there).
There are spectacular views here, not only of The Nobbies and Seal Rocks but the South Coast and the Bass Strait, in the distance we could see a huge cargo ship and further down the coast there were surfers braving the waves.
We avoided the town of Cowes, last time we came to Phillip Island we wandered the main street and jetty so decided to avoid it (and the many other people spending part of the school holidays here) and headed to Churchill Island instead, via Rhyll which is a pretty little fishing town in the north east of the island. We left it too late in the day to explore
Churchill Island properly as the walk around is estimated at between 1-2 hours, plus the historic homesteads and gardens and we didn't get there until well after 4pm (closes at 5pm) so we just took a short walk and one or two photos, (with plans to come back and do it justice next time).
The trip back to the main road was slow (25km speed limit) but even slower as we had to slow down to accommodate mothers and chicks as they wandered down the paths.
Last stop on our road trip was San Remo (across the bridge from Phillip Island) where we stopped for nibbles-(a late lunch/early dinner of fish and chips....what else?) and walk along the pier.
A glorious end to a glorious day of exploring Phillip Island.