On the second day we took a wildlife tour to Phillip island, home of the Little Penguin (30cm tall when fully grown).
The tour was lead by an amusing Aussie guy (with massive eyebrows) who showed us the sights including a visit to a chocolate factory (see pic!!). The penguins arrive from the sea at nightfall in small groups and make their way up to the beach (very slowly) to their nesting grounds. They're the cutest little fluff balls, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos to prove it as the flashes send them waddling back into the sea faster than they came out :( but we did get within a few cm's of them!
The next day was spent in Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsular, a beautiful coastal town with breathtaking views and a great beach with rock pools to bring back childhood memories. Unfortunately we underestimated our journey times so spent about 6 hours on public transport only getting about 2 and a half hours actually in Sorrento! But if nothing else, it was worth it for the gigantic ice cream we consumed when we arrived! The saying 'eyes too big for your belly' sprung to mind!!
The next day was the start of our Great Ocean Road whistle stop tour. Hours of the most amazing coastal driving! We hired the cheapest car possible, which struggled on the hills, but thankfully had air-con!
The first town you come to is Torquay - where the surfing brands Rip Curl and Quicksilver started out, and also home to Bells Beach where Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze filmed the showdown scene of Point Break apparently!
Next stop was Anglesey (seeing a British theme here?) with another fab beach! Further down the coast the road opens up to picture perfect postcard views of turquoise sea, bright blue skies, sandy beaches etc etc. After checking in to our hostel in Apollo Bay, we had a race against time to catch the sun setting on the famous sea stacks an hours drive down the coast; 12 Apostles, London Bridge, The Arch and The Grotto, All carved by the wind and waves over millions of years and utterly spectacular. We just made it in time to experience a not so spectacular (cloud obstructed) sunset! Our journey back to the hostel was VERY dark, slow and nearly ended up in tears when a Kangaroo forgot his green cross code by sitting in the middle of the road on a blind bend-Matts lightening reflexes saved all three of us! The following day we headed to the 2nd most southerly point in Oz - Cape Otway, however it wasn't the highlight of the trip, the most exiting thing about this little drive was the Koala lined road-no exaggeration there were 100's being their usual sleepy selves (they sleep up to 20 hours a day) high up in the gum trees, it became a bit of an obsession trying to see how close we could get to them!
Once we'd satisfied ourselves that we had some good photos we set off for Yarra Glen for the big wedding of our friends Gareth and Andrea. The drive was about 4 hours in total but this included a 20 minute stop off to harass an Echidna that Sam spotted at the side of the road for a photo (see pic!). Another wild animal ticked off our list!
The evening was spent catching up, eating and drinking with Gareth an his family and grooms men (bizarre seeing friends on the other side of the world).
We had some time to kill before the wedding the next day so thought it only right to visit some vineyards seeing as we were in wine country. We made it to two, one of which was Domaine Chandon (Moët Chandon). The wedding, also set at a vineyard 'The Stones of the Yarra Valley' was fabulous, the bride looking beautiful and the groom very handsome! The ring exchange brought back memories of ours... hot hands and a struggle to push the grooms ring on, but it got a few giggles! Then drinks were flowing for the rest of the evening and into the early hours, the speeches were great despite nerves, we think the brides topped them all though-very brave Andrea! Understandably the next day was a slow start but eventually we made it over to the brides family home (with a pool!) for our 1st real Aussie BBQ (I know, on our last day can you believe). Unfortunately that pretty much rounds off our time here in Oz! We're very sad to leave but exited by the next stage as we travel a little further round and down the globe to New Zealand ;)
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