Tuesday morning we left to head to the ferry which we had decided to use to get to the Great Ocean Road instead of driving up through Melbourne. Paul really didn’t want to drive through the mess of roads in the city of over 5 million.
The ferry ran every hour and we arrived and was able to get on to the next ferry that was arriving soon.
Leaving Sorrento for the 45 minute boat ride.
We had a short drive on the other side to our stop for the night.
We ate a nice dinner of fresh salmon from the Tasmania Sea.
The next morning we began our journey along the Great Ocean Road. It was built by WWI veterans between 1919 and 1932 and is the world’s largest war memorial. It follows the ocean a great deal of its 243 km length. Wednesday we had beautiful weather for driving.
The start of the road Some awesome cliffs. We had some awesome waves!Paul captured photos of some sulphur crested cockatoos at one of our stops. Phenomenal wave action at Apollo Bay
We finished our day with about 45 minutes to go the end of the road. Once again we had full kitchen facilities so I took advantage and did some cooking ahead for the next days. Then I was able to freeze it since we wouldn’t need it for a day or two.
On Monday morning we headed to the Phillip Island Koala Conservation Reserve. Visitors fund the vital research, conservation and education work done there. Staff care for over 1,980 hectares of beaches, bushland and wetland reserves on Phillip Island. We had a brief intro by one of the staff and then headed to the boardwalk to look for koalas. They are divided into two areas. One is for the “retired” koalas who are no longer reproducing but haven’t died yet. The other area is where the younger koalas live and mate.
They like the eucalyptus leaves for food. A koala is generally asleep for 20 hours in a day. We were fortunate to observe 8 out of the 10 koalas in the two areas.
You walk on a raised boardwalk so you are closer to where the koalas are. The park staff go through periodically looking for them and when they find them, they put up a sign pointing to them. Of course, they could move before you go through, but the koala isn’t as active during the day so often the signs are still valid.
This koala was just lying on the branch. Apparently they rarely fall out due to their sharp claws and quick reflexes. Look at the claws!This koala was just cuddled up. We also saw a pair of Gulah birds. Very colourful!
We opted not to take a longer walk through the bird section since it was very hot with lots of sun and we knew there would be more walking that night.
After supper, we headed to the Penguin Parade area. This had been hard for us to get tickets for – normally not once school is back in session which it was. However we were lucky to get some in the premium viewing area which holds about 300 people compared to the regular area which holds 2000! This event attracts over 700,000 visitors per year and is home to the world’s largest colony of little penguins, with approximately 40,000 birds residing on the Summerland Peninsula. Also known as little blue penguins or fairy penguins, these are the smallest penguin species (around 30-33 cm tall) and the only ones with blue-and-white feathers.
Some of the penguin burrows. Other burrowsWe were able to capture a few photos before dark but then all cameras and phones had to be put away in order not to disrupt the penguins. There were about 200+ penguins counted that came out of the ocean near our viewing area the night we were there.From their website
We also saw other wildlife.
A couple of wallabies These were Cape Barren Geese that were introduced here to try and increase the population. It has been successful.
Tomorrow we leave Phillip Island and head to the Great Ocean Road.
Following Joyce & Paul's Travels in Retirement 