Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island

By Jen.

We arrived in Melbourne about 4 weeks from our planned departure date (3-Dec) to do some maintenance on the van. However, it took a lot less time than we expected, so we took another week to go visit some more parts of Victoria before we came back to clean and prep the van for shipping.

We had started down the Mornington Peninsula before, but those travels got interrupted by the sudden availability of a ferry ticket to Tasmania back in January. Since we had some time, we decided to try it again. It was a cold and rainy day, but the views were still nice.

This rock is called London Bridge.

Black-rock beach at Cape Schanck Lighthouse.

The next day was nice and sunny and a perfect day for viewing penguins! Phillip Island is known for its accessibility to see little (fairy) penguins. Typically, this is before sunrise and after sunset, so we went first to see Seal Rocks. Unbeknownst to us, the cape has little boxes set up everywhere to house nesting penguins (they aren’t very good at building their own burrows). And, it was nesting season! So, at least one adult is sitting while the other goes out for food.

This one looks like it is on an egg.

This one looks like a parent with a several-week old chick.

The scenery.

The rocks and seals from which it gets its name.

There were other birds as well.

A young bird of prey.

Grey geese were in abundance.

On the beach, you could see countless penguin footprints after their morning exodus from their burrows into the water.

We made another stop at the Penguin Parade Visitor Centre, which is free during the daytime. Lots of penguins here as well. They even had some peep-holes in the centre, where you could see into nests. Amazingly, they had all situations represented: chickless (and empty) nest, parent on egg, parent with chicks, 5-week-old chicks (parents leave them on their own during the day). Those were really fun.

A penguin in its burrow, but you kinda see how blue they are. Out in the daylight, they are even more blue.

To finish the day, we went to view Cape Paterson’s coast.

They have a set of caves that are only accessible during low tide and are the only active archeological site in Victoria. Every summer, they wait until the water clears out of the cave each day, then remove all the sand that the tide has just deposited and start digging for fossils. Sounds even more tedious than normal archeological digs!

We aren’t very good archeologists, but at least it looks like something interesting (even if it isn’t anything).

Fun Fact: I have relatives that live near Bowling Green, KY, and the name really never made sense to me. In Australia, they actually have outdoor bowling greens instead of indoor bowling lanes/alleys. They are flat lawns (often artificial), where they bowl. Now I know from where the Kentucky town's name comes.