20th to 22nd Philip island to Mornington Peninsula

I spend the morning surfing which is good fun. There's a kid's lesson going on and one of the instructors tells me they're "inner city" kids, some of who haven't seen the sea before - one comments on the saltiness! I get a few free pointers from the nice Ozzie surf instructor who clearly can't bear to watch me fall off anymore without intervening!
I walk around Cape Woolami in the afternoon- more beautiful coast-line and contrasting vegetation of ferns, succulents and bushland. In the evening I came back to see the sunset.

Next day I drive to the Mornington Peninsula via a small wildlife park- The Moonlit Sanctuary. I get the obligatory Koala picture, hear a talk about Dingos and feed Wallabies by hand (very cute!). I stopped at Mornington for lunch and drive along the coast past a string of beautiful sea-side small towns all with beautiful beaches. To Arthur's seat a viewing point inland named after Arthur's seat in Edinburgh. Then onto Sorrento towards the tip of the Pennisula and spent a nice evening back in the company of other people watching the antics of fox cubs and mice.

After a bad night sleep due to very wobbly bunks and thin mattresses I get up to watch the sunrise over the sea, beautiful! After breakfast I walk along Millionaire's walk; a short cliff-top walk which all but goes through some back gardens of the most desirable residences in Sorrento (and possibly all of Melbourne) the views are lovely, enhanced by the rich-people's yachts and private piers. I drove on to Point Nepean and from here took a transporter (actually a tractor with carriages!) along the point to walk back. Point Nepean was used as a quarantine station then a fort post WW1 then as an army training station and even to house Kosovan refugees in 1999. It's more beautiful coastline walking and I'm interested to see Cheviot beach, the site of the disappearance of Harold Holt, Australian Prime Minister in the 60s. Bill Bryson in "Down Under" is fascinated that Australia could lose a PM and the rest of the world not hear about it- he makes the point that for such a large country very little is heard about it in the rest of the world. I chat to an old couple who are walking and they tell me that basically it wasn't considered a particularly big deal athough there was a big search for him.
After a swim in the still waters of Portsea front beach (all the towns at the tip of the peninsula have a calm and still bay beach and a back surf, ocean beach- best of both worlds or what?!) and then head back to Melbourne.






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19th Feb Philip Island and Penguins!

I'd booked a hire car for 4 days and by 11am was heading SE out of Melbourne. Well, after a few stressful moments caused by the positioning of the indicators on the right hand side resulting in me putting on the windscreen wipers rather than indicating! The gears were sticky and I'd forgotton to ask the speed limit so have to figure it by seeing at what speed I get consistently overtaken. The map's also not the best but soon I'm on the correct mainroad and after passing a series of ugly retail parks I'm on a long straight, empty road cutting through countryside along the coast and can relax a little and listen to the radio as the sun starts to come out.
Philip island is connected to the mainland by a bridge and can be driven across in about 30 minutes so is pretty small. I'd planned to surf but was advised that it would be better next morning so instead I headed to the South West of the island walked around the coast to the Nobbies, some rocks where seals like hang out. None visible from shore (and I was feeling too mean to pay $2 for a telescope) but some Little Penguin chicks were hiding under the boardwalks and the scenery was stunning- with a carpet of succulents (spineless cacti) covering the cliffs oh and the perfectly blue sky and sea!
At the hostel I have a dorm to myself which is rather nice and swim in a tiny pool before heading to the Penguin Parade as the sun goes down.

This is, in the guidebook's words, "horribly commercialised" but necessarily as a conservation effort to control the visitors and protect the penguins. As twilight drifts in I sit with a large crowd in an auditorium facing the sea, glad of a fleece as the air cools, and wait for the penguins to emerge from the water. They wait for darkness and so we see them by dim spot-lights crossing the beach in small groups for safety (they get preyed on by eagles etc). Away from the beach the view is actually better as you can see them from boardwalks head home to their burrows. Everyone loves penguins- how can you not when they move so commically! These Little Penguins or Fairy Penguins are the smallest species of Penguins and they live year rounds in Australia, swimming impressive distances to fish by day and having quite an arduous walk home each night! The cool air is filled with their calls and clicks, it sounds like they're catching up on the days' news and having the odd argument! The funniest sight is the penguins who are fattening up for moulting when they're confined to land, they double their body weight from 1kg to 2kg and can barely walk having to stop for frequent lie-downs!

17th/ 18th

Still unconvinced by how far away St Kilda is from the centre I decided to walk in along the beach. It was a cooler day but quite soon the sun came out and once again I was walking around in the heat of the day. On route I checked under St Kilda Pier for penguins- yep, some chicks were waiting home for mum and dad hidden under the rocks. Pretty cool. I had a swim to cool off having finally made it into the city and having no energy for further walking, and decided to get the tram back.

 

Next day, I met Jessamy (an Australian Vet who had locumed with the West Mount practice back home). It was great to see her and she took me to a little restaurant called St Ali's in South Melbourne tucked down one of the typical laneways that Melbourne is famous for. Because Melbourne is based on a grid pattern there are loads of these little side streets and as Jess said all you really expect to find are dead cats, rubbish and perhaps a tramp or two. Instead: artist markets, hip restaurants and the artistic style of graffitti.
We wandered around S. Melbourne a bit then Jess dropped me on Brunswick St in Fitzroy to get a sense of this area of the city. From here I walked down to Carlton gardens with the Melbourne museum and Exhibition building then cut through to Lygon St, centre of the Italian area.
On a whim as it was such a nice day I decided to go up the Eureka Tower- essentially a slightly overpriced "viewing experience". 288m it's just the highest thing on the skyline and importantly just slightly bigger than Sydney's version!
Great views and I feel I'm starting to get a sense of the geography of Melbourne. Yes, it's a grid but somehow I still manage to get lost! Coming down I hit Southbank along the river and watch the street artists and performers, it's a great atmosphere here Sat eve at dusk and I feel rather more connected with the city- less of a hot and tired tourist! 

14th to 16th Melbourne

I have a late start the next day, tired from the hectic schedule of the previous few days. A bit of a wander around St Kilda, where I'm staying in a pretty nice hostel. St Kilda is shabby gentile and reminds me of run-down English sea side resorts. However the sun's shining and it's pretty warm so it probably wins there! There's a small theme park next to the beach which isn't particularly special- the main draw seems to be the incredible cake shops of Acland street. I spend a couple of hours on the beach and swim.
Next day is even hotter reaching 33 degrees. I hit Federation Square by tram- the centre of the city and CBD. Federation Square was created not so long ago as a central point to the city and the jostling architecture of Arts centres, cathedrals and high rises is spectacular. I take a swim at the rather fancy city baths then wander through part of the botanical gardens past the Shrine of Remembrance and all the way back to St Kilda which takes an hour and for which it's much too hot really!

 

It's a scorcher to start again and I'm up a little earlier to try and avoid frying. A tram in and I join the tour of the Shrine of Remembrance, a War memorial, the central point is designed to bit hit by a shaft of sunlight at 11am, Nov 11th which passes across a slightly sunken marble inscription.
Picnic lunch by a lake in the Botanical Gardens which really are a lovely place so close to the city centre. Then to the Immigration museum which is quite interesting- there are loads of individual stories- but very sad when it tells about child immigration to Australia.
Leaving the museum the temperature's dropped by 10 degrees and a thunderstorm is in progress! I think Melbourne's weather is quite famously unpredictable. 

13th Wilson's Promontory

An even earlier start today and after a couple of viewing stops we head down the coast to Wilson's Promontory National Park. Wilson's Prom is the most southern part of mainland Australia, once joined by a landbridge to Tasmania. As a national park it does pretty well as the usual pests (feral dogs, cats, foxes, rabbits) find it more difficult to get there. We walk across Squeaky beach which is beautiful and along the headland to each lunch on "the Prom", on one side is the Tasman sea which joins up with the Pacific, on the other the Southern Ocean which is fed by the Antarctic ocean. The weather's finally stabilised and it all looks beautiful in the sunshine.
Back from the coast a bit and where the bush is cleared to create a landing strip we encounter the mobs of grey backed kangaroos (great collective noun huh?) who like to hang out there. They're pretty used to humans and some have been tagged for research projects but still wild and it was amazing to see them. I still can't get over how they bounce across the landscape! We also see emus, a blue-tongued lizard, wombat holes and the poisonous Red Back spiders- though only usually fatal to children, a decent sized adult would have a fairly unpleasant few days and probably need a hospital trip.

Away from the Bushland and onto Melbourne.

12th Feb , Highest Mountain, longest beach

After a great pancake breakfast we catch a chair lift up into the "mountains". With the Alpine lodge the night before and now this I'm feeling a bit confused. It could pass for the Alps if you squinted. However with the benefit of eyesight you realise at once that the trees are wrong- Snowy gums rather than pines- and that left me with the feeling of having slid into another dimension. Above the tree line and it's a 6.5km easy walk up to top of Australia. Unfortunately the cloud cover gets heavier and although we're spared rain there's nothing to see from the top. At 9 degrees C and me in my gortex jacket it could pass for the Lake District- except for the lack of sheep and the delicate alpine-type plants.
Back down and after lunch on the road to take the scenic route from Jindabyne through the Snowy river National Park. Much of this is on a unsealed road- although reasonably driveable, probably more so when it's not raining. For the rain's caught us up in heavy showers. This is clearly the part of the trip when the guide educates you regarding Australian music so we start we the country stuff, move through the Aboriginal bands to more contemporary.
All the time winding along hairpin, with sheer drops below and nothing on the horizon except gum trees. I suddenly begin to get a sense of just how vast Australia is. The forests are interspersed with skeletal leafless trees- victims of the 2003 bush fire which burnt for 6 weeks! Australian species though are designed for this and regeneration has left the forest as green as before.
A great moment as spectacular views unravel, Men At Work- I come from a land down under plays and a kangaroo dashes across the road. So this is Australia afterall.
At Wulgumerang the proper road resumes and we arrive at Lakes Entrance. A touristy rather tawdry town full of motels where the Gippsland lakes reach the sea at 90 mile beach.

11th Canberra and Snowy Mountains

An early start to catch the minibus that would head from Sydney via Canberra to Melbourne over 3 days. "Squatter"- our guide and driver is a slightly mad Aussie, catch-phrase "yee-ha!" and en-route he tells us much about Australia, the capital and the reasons for its formation.
We arrive in Canberra and stop at the war memorial- sitting at one end of Anzac parade it's a quiet, beautiful building with an eternally burning flame and a grave of an unknown Australian soldier. I learn much about the ANZACs and their massive defeats- at Ypres in WWI and Gallipoli in WWII especially. In fact, it seems the only time they had a military victory was in defence of Australia in WWII when the army was away from home and a make-shift army of old men and boys were dispatched to fight in Indonesia as the Japanese advanced. Australia was never invaded but Darwin was bombed. And in fact Australia and GB were essentially at war for several days in WWII when the Oz general demanded to be able to take his army home to defend it's country.
We drive down ANZAC parade with monuments to the different wars and conflicts and those involved down the sides.Canberra is a city designed around concentric circles which seems to make driving and navigation pretty difficult!
Outside Old Parliament House and we learn about the Aboriginal protest, first for landrights but now although some things have improved, still ongoing and a place where violence could very easily be incited.
After lunch eaten in the midst of a multicultural festival in Canberra it's a tour of the New Parliament- sunk into the hillside, symbolically not raised- not presiding. The Official tour is 3 hours, Squatter's was 45 minutes though we did have to run to keep up. His resume of ex-Prime Ministers was biased largely towards their misdeamours though this added interest of course! We learnt about the Oz voting system- well, something about it, I got a bit confused. However if the 2 houses can't agree on an issue then a general election can be held and all MPs ousted. Voting is compulsory and I get the impression that Australians are rather more interested than the English are.
A few hours drive now and up into the Snowy Mountains where reasonable skiing can be had in Winter. We passed Jindabyne lake, a man-made lake created for a hydroelectric scheme and also to distribute melt-waters to inland dry areas.


We stayed in Thredbo in a distinctly Alpine-feeling ski chalet, very bizarre in summer. However the temperature had dropped right down with heavy rain and trousers and jumpers were needed.

10th- Aquarium

Back into Sydney today, really so I was in the right place for an early pick up for the 3 day tour I'd booked Sydney to Melbourne. YHA The Railway was very smart after the run-down Backpackers out at Manly and a chance to do laundry and get more organised!

In the afternoon I walked down to the Aquarium to see the sharks and penguins etc. Unfortunately the rare Dugongs weren't on display which was disappointing!

8th-9th Surfing and Bondi

I'd been doing my bit for Anglo-French relations and been socialising with the French hostellers, their comprehension we discovered was dramatically improved by the addition of a French accent to problem words! No joke!
Next day I had a surf lesson planned - my first one and I was rather nervous. The surf had been big enough in the last few days for the beach to be closed to swimmers. And to paraphrase some famous person: It's far easier to eat handfuls of sand and mouthfuls of sea water than learn to surf! Our instructor was energetic and a bit mad and soon had us doing dry runs of jumping up on the board. We only went out about 15 metres to catch small waves, by the end of 2 hours I'd managed to catch a few waves, then mostly fall off but on a few occasions get to my feet, balance and make it to the beach for the final few metres. Woo!
Then that was me pretty much finished off for the day. I'd not been ready to leave the water but on a final fall, I was left sitting in the shallows with the waves washing over me and realised I was pretty tired!

Next day stiff and sore from surfing,  I headed over to Bondi beach to see what the fuss was about. Still not sure, it's meant to be the epitomee of Australian beach culture. Nice enough beach, clearly popular but just a beach. I walked several kilometres down the coast to Coogee which was nice and swam in an ocean pool to cool off. 

Manly 7th-8th Feb

A train from Newcastle to Sydney took about 3 hours and cost about $8 dollars. Compare that to an English train journey with no advance booking! Only thing I've found cheaper over here yet...!

Back in Sydney I became the proud owner of a bank card then caught the ferry over to Manly, part of greater Sydney really but the nearest ocean beach to the city. The hostel here was a bit of a come down after good old YHA. The gas rings took nerves of steel to light, you had to place a deposit to borrow a mug and there was sand everywhere! However, the people were friendly though mainly french.
Next day I walked around the North head pennisula which took about 4 hours and is a track through some pretty wild-feeling preserved bush-land with some good sea views. Strange to be in a bit of a wilderness spotting lizards and ears full of insect noise with the Sydney skyline breaking through everyso often! It was pretty hot and I was glad to swim later in an outdoor but heated pool (not that they have to heat it all that much!).

5th Newcastle

Newcastle being so close to the Hunter Valley and New South Wales' 2nd city it seemed like a good plan to pop up there. A sunny Sunday and it was all about the beach. Too many waves for anything more than cooling off in the sea (well, unless you were surfing) but a huge ocean pool was great for lengths. As it cooled down the cliff walk was very scenic and back at the rather posh YHA (leather armchairs!) I compared sunburn with 2 Canadian girls.

3rd-4th February Hunter Valley and wineries

Up early, I took a train 2 hours outside Sydney, caught a bus then got a lift from the nice YHA people and was suddenly in the country in the middle of wine country! A nice change from the city and as the afternoon progressed the rain stopped and hiring a bike, I set out to explore. It felt good to move under my own steam after the confines of the city, however for a valley it was surprisingly hilly and my legs were a little shocked by the novel exercise of cycling!  A wine tasting and champagne (well premium sparkling wine actually) tasting were good reward for the exertion.
Whilst stopping to take pictures I think I saw my first Red Back Spider but wasn't inclined to linger! It might have been something else.
As evening came blue sky reappeared and a small rainbow. Intense insect noise kicked in, another contrast.

Apart from me and my Swiss roomate everyone else in the hostel were working as grape pickers, however it's not been a good summer for the grapes, too much rain has meant they can't be picked and even when it dries off the sugar content is low (avoid the 2012 vintage perhaps?)
Next day an organised wine tour for myself, Sylvie and a couple of others- 1 English, 1 Irish. The sun shone and the day flew by in a happy hedonistic blur. We discovered the Swiss girl liked reds, for me the whites, for the Irish- well she'd drink it even if she didn't like it, not much spitting out on this trip! There was also some soft cheeses (feta and camembert varieties are made around this area) and gelato.
The Hunter Valley is known for its Semillon, Chardonnay and Shiraz varieties. Also Verdelho not usually grown outside Portugal. It's too warm for the cooler grape varieties- the Sauvignon and Pinots. We visited Lindemans as a large winery and several small, family run ones- Constables, Mount View and Savannah Estate but there around 140 in the Hunter Valley most only selling from cellar door (sadly!)

Sydney continued 31st- 2nd Feb

Bit of a delay in the blogging largely due to lack of free (or even cheap) internet places in Sydney. The weather changed on the 31st and became a little cool and rained lightly. Visiting Toronga zoo was still very enjoyable. After just a very short ferry trip across Sydney harbour, the views from the zoo were great. I'd particuarly wanted to see a Platypus and the Koalas, Kangeroos and Echidna (bit like hedgehogs). Visible but fast asleep were the Tasmanian devils and Wombats . Apparently when Captain Cook and the Endeavour first discovered Australia the samples of Kangeroo and Platypus they sent back were thought to be fake! And you can see why, theyre crazy creatures!
Elephant bathing and keeper interactive and flying bird show were other highlights.
Feb 1st was cold and raining- not what I expected from Australia! I have yet to register my formal complaint! To stay indoors and use my gift voucher (thanks again Auntie Jackie!) I took a tour of Sydney Opera house. An impressive building- roof especially- but not my favourite due to the exposed concrete. The history was interesting- Jorn Utzon who was the architect who won the competition to design it coming up with something not even known to be possible and work starting on the foundations before they'd figured out how to do the roof. Eventually as it went increasingly over time and budget he'd had to resign and never saw the Opera House completed.
I spent the afternoon and part of the next day walking around the city a bit, inevitably getting rather wet.