Phillip Island

Wake up - my legs and ankles are back to normal - breathe sigh of relief.

After much faffing by me, Dee and I set off for the day to Phillip Island. The Island is attached to the mainland by a bridge - however it is very much shaped (and named) like the Isle of Wight. A fact obviously not lost on the recent locals as the burned out shell of the 'Isle of Wight' pub attests. It feels like a slightly bohemia/surfer vibe very much focussed on the laid back. They have massive motorbike rave there every year (a bit like the Isle of Man) and that sees the island packed out with people.
 I had my first taste of shark (called 'flake') which was very tasty - almost tangy and better than fish due to the lake of bones! Headed to the wet and windy beach to take in the sea air and a stroll along the short pier, that comes complete with fish measuring plates so that you don't keep fish that are too small.

We went back inland to the animal park we'd passed on the way and spent a fun couple of hours getting acquainted with the residents. You're given a free bag of animal pellets on entry which certainly helps with the wallabies & kangaroos. Saw a Cassowary bird (sort of a cross between an emu and a prehistoric colourful turkey), Koala's (one of which was awake - they spend about 90% of the day asleep Dee says so was cool to see one chomping!), an Echidna, Wombat, Dingo's, several HUGE birds of prey, Emu's. Pelican's, various colourful varieties of bird and some rescued cockatoos. Also saw some Whistling Ducks (so called because they....wait for it.....whistle - I know, weird, but cool to hear!) which probably explains where the infamous wine got it's name.

After that we headed for what is, arguably, Phillip Island's main attraction - Penguin Parade.

Informative visitor centre keeps you busy, fed & watered before heading out of the doors and down the boardwalk to watch the Little Penguins come in from a day's/13 day's swimming and feeding. The little guys and gals surf in in batches of about 10, then to & fro and the beach for a while trying to decided if they got the time right, due to the floodlights on the beach, and the location right, due to the hundreds of large things in funny clothing staring at them. Eventually they seem to think all is good and waddle up the dunes, again in a more than leisurely fashion, to their waiting mates/chicks for a noisy reunion. dee and I decided it was either joy or nagging but whichever it was noisy and a wonderful scene to behold as these little things no higher than your knee waddle up and under the boardwalks. Some of them getting so far that there are warning signs in the car park asking you to check under your car lest some poor hen-pecked penguin has decided to join the ranks of the 19% divorce rate amongst their population, and your car seems preferable to their burrow.

Outward Flight

So, jet lag is firmly being squashed - although the fact that's it's winter and getting dark at 5pm is NOT helping at all, never mind, it's now 6:20 on Monday and tiredness has not begun so must be getting somewhere!

Just to warn you that I won't be putting any photos up in the posts (as it takes too long) and have decided to use Trip WOW 's amazing slideshow feature to upload some of my favourite doings. There's a small thumbnail of it up at the top of the sidebar and it will open up in it's full glory when clicked.

So the flight....

Arrived at Heathrow after a rather frantic dash out of school and to the train (which included an OCD run back up the stairs to check I'd locked the door and a lovely Moroccan taxi driver checking I'd got my passport and tickets) followed by an almost un-eventful (there was nearly an event when a smell of burning enveloped the train, after 15mins the driver decided to stop and see if it was something serious.....apparently not) couple of train rides.

Spent 3 hours mooching round and then boarded the first flight - destination Hong Kong

SLEPT: 4 Hours
WATCHED: 4 episodes Glee, 4 episodes The Big Bang Theory
ATE: Beef stew w/veg
          Pork Congee (Pork in very watery rice)
SPOKE TO: Great Chinese Guy - Lecturer in Industrial Engineering in Hong Kong, Bristol & London. Flies with Cathay Pacific a lot and gave me tips about getting snacks etc - also about how to get out into HK when at the airport.

When I disembarked I was slightly concerned to see my name on a board at the end of the gangplank under 'Adelaide'. Turns out my next flight was a 2 parter but they were wondering if I would like to leave on an earlier plane that went directly to Melbourne. Great Customer Service but I couldn't see Dee being thrilled by the thought of picking me up at 6:20am so I declined and ventured on.

For the first time ever my lower legs & ankle swelled up (and took 'til waking up at Dee's on Sunday to go down) which was fairly disconcerting but they didn't hurt so felt no reason to worry....much....

Got out into HK via Airpot express and then free bus transfer to a hotel by Harbour. Hot & Humid despite it being 7pm and dark, loads of people around admiring the stunning light show created by the skyscrapers and buildings on the other side of the harbour. Managed to scare some Spanish and Chinese by slipping down some steps whilst trying to get into a photo from my 'gorrila-podded' camera but other than that no major incidents.

Got the ferry across to HK Island. Ferry costs HK$2.50 (25p). In order to have the change I had to buy a smoothie that cost HK$32 (GBP 2.50) - odd? Ferry was a H&S inspector's nightmare/dream come true but got me to other side whilst enabling new views of the harbour.

Got the Airport Express back from HK Island and then onto the next flight.

SLEPT: 3 Hours
WATCHED: 1 episode Big Bang Theory, Meet the Robinsons, Date Night (v.funny) and Invictus (brilliant performances)
ATE: Past w/chilli tomato sauce. Yoghurt, Fruit, Pastries.
SPOKE TO: Lady travelling with her family. They were form Adelaide but had spent 4 years, in the not too distant past, living in Sutton Coldfield.

We all had to disembark at Melbourne. Suffered a major case of de-ja-vu when re-boarding to same seat as the same people were sitting to my right and I'm fairly certain it was exactly the same plane!

D&A picked me up at the airport - very grateful to see them :) It was about 30min drive to their house in Pakenham and got see some of Melbourne's impressive structures (including the 'millenium wheel' that had to shut about 4 days after opening due to a heat wave making the metal buckle!) from the ring road before heading out.

The first thing I noticed was that almost all the houses are 1 storey - giving the impression of a much wider and open space. Also they are built in several specific styles all next to one another, this is not just restricted to the estates either. D & A's is really open plan with 3 bedrooms and 3 sitting areas with a great island in the kitchen area.

They have a black lab named 'Jetta' and a rainbow lorakeet that can whistle & talk called 'bird'.

Dee cooked Kangaroo steaks for tea and while we ate a kookaburra squawked  - couldn't get more idiosyncratic! I also saw my first spider - not sure if it was 'something that could kill me' but Dee was taking no chances and it ended it's life under a shower gel bottle.

I managed to stay awake until about 7:30 when I finally gave in and crawled into bed. Am attempting to conquer jet lag quite quickly by forcing myself to stay awake......

Arrivals..

Just a quick note to say I arrived safe and sound. Met some very helpful people along the way, had an incident with an automatic tap, and observed some very interesting conversations.

Am currently in Melbourne at Dee's house desperately trying to stay awake past 8:30pm so jet lag isn't too much of a problem. Have already tasted Kangaroo and encountered my first spider (genus unknown) so things are looking exciting!

Managed to get out of Hong Kong airport for a quick trip into the city - photos to follow.


More tomorrow!