Thursday, Jan. 26: Took an uber to Avis in Blackburn because it would be easier to drive there than in the CBD. We drove to Healesville Sanctuary and had a great time. We especially enjoyed the echinidas, platypus, night creatures, and the bird show. We then drove to Philip Island, checked into our motel, and got dinner.. We wanted to go to the Nobbies but thought we wouldn’t have time as we wanted to get good seats at the Penguin Parade. We arrived at the PP as they were opening the gate at 7 pm and got front row seats in the second bleachers. We saw some cute kangaroos jumping around near the path! It turned out that any seat would have been great and we could have arrived later. The penguins started arriving about 9:20 in small groups. There was a low tide, so it was far for them to walk, therefore not as many penguins as they often have. But we saw over 100 and the best part was walking back to the visitor center. There were penguins everywhere, walking around and calling to each other!
Friday, Jan 27: Great Ocean Road Day! We drove a few hours to Geelong, planning to walk along the shore to stretch our legs. They were setting up for a big bike race so some roads were closed and traffic was awful. We decided to skip Geelong and drove to Bell’s Beach. It was a beautiful day and lots of surfers were out. We stopped at a few more viewpoints, then Teddy’s Lookout (beautiful view, cockatoos and parrots!) and Erskine Falls. Checked into Lorne Coachmen Inn, which was okay despite some horrible reviews. Got dinner at the supermarket. The Lorne campground was packed!
Saturday, Jan 28: Drove to Allenvale Carpark and did 3 Falls Circuit. We enjoyed the birds and being in the ‘jungle’ with hardly any other people around. Our favorite part was the canyon. The falls were nice, not spectacular. I didn’t like the last part, at least half a mile on the road. We stopped by QODOS to view the art. We went back to the hotel to rest a while then walked to the main drag for Indian food. We walked to the beach–lots of cockatoos–and along the beach then over the swing bridge to the hotel. Lorne was cute but a bit crowded. This was the last weekend of school summer holidays. In retrospect, we could have skipped the hike because there were better ones in NZ.
Sunday, Jan 29: It drizzled much of the day. Our first stop was the Kennett River walk to look for koalas. We parked at the cafe and walked up the road. The rain didn’t bother us. We only saw one koala and after about a mile turned back. We saw another koala near the cafe. We continued on to the ‘usual’ sights. Mait’s Rest was nice and reminded us of our hike in Lorne but with lots more people. We got scallop pies and lamington at the Apollo Bakery, then drove to Barham Paradise Picnic Area, which was beautiful. There were picnic tables by a river but we ate in the car because it was still drizzling. We saw giant cows along the way! We spent the night at the Loch Ard Motel in Port Campbell–cute town with lots of bunnies!
Monday, Jan 30: I’ve lost my notes for these days, but we stopped at several GOR stops and enjoyed them. We stopped at Tower Hill and saw a few emus up close at a parking area. We did a few walks and saw a few kangaroos. It was an okay way to stretch our legs. We spent the next 3 nights at Lakeside Tourist Park in Halls Gap
Monday, Jan 30–Thursday, Feb 2 We had an adorable ‘cabin’ in an RV park. There were cockatoos everywhere and a field that had wild emus and kangaroos, especially in the afternoons. We did some hiking but weren’t really impressed by the Grampians. We had a little down time which was nice and really enjoyed the setting.
Thursday, Feb 2 We drove to the J Ward Museum in Ararat and really enjoyed the tour. We booked in advance. Then we went to Daylesford Convent, which was lovely. We spent the night at an airport hotel because we had an early flight the next day.
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TX, USA
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Thanks for the report and all the details! I appreciate it!