We continued down the Great Ocean Road to the pretty beach town of Lorne, where we stayed two nights. Immediately upon checking into our room we were met with a familiar sight. Just like the Blue Mountains, the Cockatoos were everywhere, and as obnoxious as ever!
The next morning we took a walk along the waterfront along the edge of the beach. Beautiful spot!
These interesting rock formations were everywhere along the shoreline.
You have to watch your step along the pathway, as we almost stepped on this little skink. I had to actually pick him up to get him off the path, as it was quite crowded.
Our travel agent, Kylie Luttrell from The Travel Notebook, was in Lorne for the weekend so we ended up having lunch with her and her fiance Simon. Nice couple, but we didn’t get a photo! We are having dinner with them in Melbourne, so hopefully I can snag a shot then.
The next morning the wind was HOWLING, and the seas were quite rough. It even rained quite hard for a bit. It made for a dramatic setting before we had to depart.
Not a good day for the beach! We saw a couple dozen surfers the day before, but you could see the police patrolling the beach to keep people out of the water.
I was worried that the weather would impact a ferry ride we had from Queenscliff to Sorrento, but by the time we made it to Queenscliff the sky had cleared up. Here’s a shot of what must be a fairly new ferry terminal. Cool design!
The ferry as it docked in Queenscliff.
Once in Sorrento we had 2 hours of driving to our destination, Phillip Island. When we booked a cruise for 2020, one of our excursions from Melbourne was a full day trip to this island so we could see one of the most famous tourist sites in Australia, the “Penguin Parade”. We had signed up for the “Ultimate Adventure Tour”, where you forego the huge crowds and get a private audience with the “Little Penguins” (that’s their actual name) on a different beach from the rest of the tourists. You also get to see some other wildlife on the way to the beach.
Here are two Cape Barren Geese next to a Wallaby. There are always two Geese together as they mate for life. They also don’t move out of the way of cars, so you have to be careful when you are driving!
This is the viewing area for the bulk of the tourists (I took this the next day. The stands are pretty much packed full each night).
Here is our guide taking our small group of 8 down to the private viewing beach. This tour is normally for a group of 10, but a couple didn’t show up. Man did they miss out!
Sitting on the beach and waiting for dark, when the Penguins start waddling ashore.
Now for the bad news. The penguins have very good eyesight, and any light will disorient them, so no photos are allowed, as just the light from our phones screen would be an issue. The following photos were taken recently by a professional photographer and let you see the penguins waddling ashore.
As
As info, our guide set up some red lights that don’t bother the penguins, so all the penguins we saw were bathed in red. It didn’t matter, there were at least 25 like this one that walked right by us!
Our guide estimated we saw 56 penguins during our half hour viewing, but I think I saw even more with my binoculars. Regardless, this was a total blast and I highly suggest you make this part of your Australian itinerary! Here is a short video of the little cuties waddling ashore.
The next morning we drove back out to the same area as our guide had mentioned it was quite beautiful in the daytime.
There is a short boardwalk hike at a nearby spot called The Nobbies that is a must do! The wind was howling, but that just made for beautiful rugged seas!
This very dark sky made a perfect backdrop for the coastline.
The local park staff have created these man-made penguin houses that dot the coastline. The penguins love the man-made homes!
After a few years, the local vegetation grows over the houses to the point you can’t even see them.
One last rugged coastline shot from Phillip Island. We were only here for one night, but if we had it to do over we’d have stayed for at least two. Just an absolute gorgeous spot!
Coming up next, we visit Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city.