THE PHILIP ISLAND HOLIDAY
Day 1 – Sand sculptures.
Chris and Lucy had booked a chalet on Phillip Island, about 1 ½ hours from Melbourne. On the way we stopped to see a display of sand sculptures on a beach, where I had expected to see glorified sandcastles. What we saw was an amazingly detailed collection of sand sculptures, with the theme of Great Moments in History. The three dimensional sand “tableaux” were 2 to three meters high, and several meters wide, and the attention to detail was amazing. The scenes ranged from ancient to modern history including the Trojan Horse, the Coliseum, Spanish Empire, French Revolution, World War 2, and modern technology and games. The giant Lego particularly caught my eye.
The sculptures are made of builders’ sand, using only sand and water, although they are sprayed with a water repellent to minimise rain damage. Despite the spray, there was some weather damage, and I chatted to a sculptor who was repairing the front of a London Bus in “The British Empire”. One of the Trafalgar Square lions was also looking the worse for wear. The sculptor was German, and told me that sculptors’ travel world wide, and get paid, including all expenses, to produce and maintain an exhibit. A reasonable living can be made from five exhibitions a year, but since she was based in Australia, rather than Europe, she only gets two or three annual invitations to exhibit. Sculptors’ use such exhibitions to hone their skills before entering international competitions. The only British one during 2010 will be in South Wales in June.
Our chalet, on a camping and caravan park on Phillip Island, was small, but very well equipped. After unpacking we headed off to the west of the island to see seals. We saw no seals – they were on rocks off shore, but we did see dozens of Little Penguins in burrows very close to the boardwalk, oblivious of visitors close by. Fascinating for grown ups, but Bridget and Megan preferred the play area in the visitors centre.
Day 2 Koalas and Penguins
We spent all morning in a Koala nature reserve. A raised boardwalk allows visitors to get close to Koalas, which were generally asleep in branches. I suppose that I must have seen them in zoos, but they were larger, and much cuter, than I expected. Their diet of eucalyptus leaves is nutritionally poor, and so they sleep for 20 hours a day, ideal for the amateur wildlife photographer, and we must have seen and photographed a dozen or so.
Chas and I also spotted a wallaby, which must have been quite used to visitors, because it allowed us to get quite close.
Many Phillip Island locations are named after the Isle of Wight, and the two islands are twinned. We spent some time touring Ventnor looking for somewhere to eat, until we realised out that, unlike the original, the Phillip Island Ventnor is a rural area, rather than a town, and so we headed for Cowes, where we had fish and chips by the busy beach. We spent the afternoon on the beach, where the sea was slightly chilly, although significantly warmer than the Solent, but since the sun was significantly hotter than in Southern England this was not a problem.
After dinner back at the chalet, Chris, Chas, Bridget and I set off to see the Penguin Parade, Little Penguins leaving the sea to waddle up the beach to burrows in the dunes. Since this took place after dusk, too late for Megan, Lucy stayed behind. Viewing the event is well organised, with tiered bench seating, and we wanted to get there early for a good seat. Chris drove briskly, in fact a bit too briskly. We heard a siren behind us; Chris looked in his rear view mirror, and said a word most unsuitable for the ears for a three year old. By the time a Very Nice Policeman had had a bit of a chat with us, Chris was $260 poorer, we were running late and a tearful Bridget was convinced that her daddy was going to jail.
Nevertheless we arrived about 45 minutes before the event and got a seat with a good view. After a talk by a Ranger, we sat and waited. Shortly after dusk large groups of Little Penguins, about a foot tall, appeared in the surf, illuminated by dim floodlights. They were a bit hesitant at first; some groups just waiting at the edge of the beach, with more penguins emerging from the sea to join them. Other penguins headed back into the sea, to regroup and reappear several feet away. As they emerged, some groups were “dive-bombed” by seagulls. We later asked a Ranger about this. Apparently the gulls had learned that a harassed penguin will regurgitate food intended for chicks – the penguins were being mugged for food.
Eventually one group of penguins took some tentative steps up the beach, and eventually groups of penguins could be seen all along the beach, waddling away from the sea towards the dunes behind us. Despite being told to keep still, many Japanese visitors decided to get up and head up to the boardwalk on the dunes to see the penguins arrive. This didn’t appear to worry the waddling groups, and allowed us to move to a seat on the beach for a very close up view of a group passing by our feet.
Afterwards we followed the Japs up into the boardwalk, expecting that the penguins would be in their burrows to avoid all of the activity. We needn’t have worried; there were hundreds of penguins close to the boardwalks that led back to the visitor centre. Some were peeking out of burrows, some were waddling around in groups, and some just stood staring back at the visitors.
Having ticked off “Seen Penguins” on their itinerary, the Japs had obviously headed back to their hotel for a glass of rice wine, and we were able to wonder freely up and down the walkways. Bridget fell fast asleep on Chris’s shoulder, and so we headed back to the chalet, after checking under the car for Little Penguins.
Day 3 Churchill Island
A small wooden bridge off of the main Island leads to Churchill Island, with sheep, cows, gardens and a heritage farm. We lunched on the lawn by the visitor centre, with an extensive view across the bay to the mainland. A field of lavender led from the lawn down toward the sea, and I took Bridget to go and smell the flowers, but she decided not to go because she was “scared of the farmer”, even after being told that “the farmer” didn’t mind.
Bridget and I returned to Chas and Lucy, to find that Megan had gone to sleep and Chris had gone exploring. Heavy hints were dropped that I was interrupting a serious girlie talk, and so Bridget and I spent a happy half hour exploring the visitor centre, before finding Chris and heading for the heritage farm. We looked around the farm house and buildings, and saw the blacksmith shape a horseshoe. Either the horses on Churchill Island are remarkably tiny, or the horseshoe was destined for a visitor’s mantelpiece.
Chas and Lucy joined us in time to see a sheep being sheared, although Lucy left shortly afterwards with Bridget who felt that the operation was far too noisy, and preferred to go and see the Shire horse instead. We saw a sheepdog demonstration. The dogs would not have fared well in “One Man and His Dog”, but Chas and I were happy to talk dogs with the “shepherdess” and the sheep shearing chap.
On the way back to Melbourne I was on Bridget-entertaining-duty. “Tell me a story, Grandpa Coops”. I spent over two hours telling made-up stories, an all time record, apparently. There was “Bridget and the Easter Bunny”, “Bridget helps Father Christmas”, and one more that was so memorable that I have forgotten it.
Tomorrow night we would be clock watching, and so we put the girls to bed, and had an excellent “last supper” and chat.
AND FINALLY…
Our last day was hot and sunny. Lucy had a morning meeting in Melbourne, and so Chas, the girls, and I walked to the local Coles, supermarket to choose Easter Eggs. Bridget chose an egg that was being given a cuddle by a large soft Easter Bunny, and so we bought two of those. These eggs would be collected by the REAL Easter bunny that night, and not returned until Easter Day.
Lucy returned in time to make lunch, after which it was time for Bridget’s weekly swimming lesson, where we were allowed to have a poolside seat. The half hour lesson allowed enough time for each child to have a four one-to-one sessions with an instructor, each involving a swim along the length of the pool and back. Interestingly the first style taught is front crawl. I first learned a rather splashy doggy paddle. The instructors concentrated on breathing – “one, two, three FOUR!” every fourth stroke the swimmer takes a breath. I never did get the hang of front crawl. Bridget, on the other hand, was getting the hang of it nicely, and earned herself a certificate.
Afterwards we collected Bridget’s bike from home and walked/cycled to a café overlooking the large lake close to Chris and Lucy’s house. I somehow managed to order a beer and a coffee and a cake and some ice cream, all just for me. Oh well, it was the last day of my holiday.
And that was about it. Back home to shower and pack, tell the girls a final bed time story (Grandpa Coops flies home without his kangaroo hat but Bridget saves the day), and a rather subdued dinner, before catching the 01.30 flight back to Hong Kong and then the UK.
We will be back. I am sure of it.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
