Phillip Island

Last week we spent five days exploring Phillip Island. The island is located about 140km from Melbourne off the southern coast of Victoria. Despite the proximity to Melbourne, Andy and I have only been here once, way back in 2013. I don't know what took us so long to go back, it is a fantastic destination with tons to do and see, especially if you have kids. 

We left on Friday morning around 10am. The drive took just over two hours and luckily both kids slept pretty much the whole way. The weather for Friday wasn’t looking great, and we drove towards some very ominous looking clouds on the way there:

Our airbnb was perfect - a 3 bed/2 bath townhouse with lots of space for everyone. Whenever we rent an airbnb for a holiday I am overcome with the desire to become a minimalist. There is something about entering a perfectly clean space, fitted out with the basics and arriving with only the things you need that feels so... freeing. It’s so easy to keep a space like that tidy without becoming overwhelmed. It makes me want to go home and get rid of all our stuff! (And we are by no means hoarders, we've moved several times since living in Australia and each time we get the opportunity to have a good clear out. But with kids stuff just seems to accumulate so quickly!)

The location was great, a 1 minute walk from West Cowes beach and less than 10 minutes to get into the main part of town. Cowes is much larger than I was expecting, and there was no shortage of cafés and restaurants for us to try while we were there.

Once we got settled we had a quick lunch at Mad Cowes, which overlooked the water. It was juuuuust about warm enough for us to eat outside and enjoy the view. I had a lovely pumpkin soup but we weren't impressed with the coffee. (We actually found it hard to get a good cup of coffee in Phillip Island. Melbourne has definitely made us coffee snobs. My favourite was from a tiny café called G'day Tiger which also had amazing dark chocolate marshmallow sea salt cookies. Mmmmm I want one right now!)

After that we went for a walk along the pier and checked out the boat tours offered. It started to get quite windy then, so we headed back to our place via the grocery store to stock up on some food basics. The weather turned and it was incredibly windy and rainy all night so we stayed in an hung out in the airbnb for the rest of the afternoon/evening.

Just chillin'

That evening we had some take away fish and chips for dinner before bathing and putting the kids to bed. Having a smooth bedtime routine with two young kids involves tonnes of little routines and systems that you probably don't even realise you have in place... until you go on holiday! That first night is always a bit chaotic while you work out some new systems that resemble what you do at home as closely as possible. Babies and kids love routine! (Or so they say.) Happily both kids went to bed without any fuss, and Ella slept soundly the entire night in her own room with a double bed. Pretty amazing since she's been waking up at night ever since Ollie was born. Ollie, on the other hand, woke multiple times throughout the night and decided he was up for the day at 6:30am. I was definitely not ready to start the day at that time. Thankfully once I fed him Andy took him into the living room to play so I could get an extra hour of sleep. Andy also went out and got us some coffees and breakfast from a local café, which definitely helped me to get over my bad night. Is there anything a good cup of coffee can't fix?

Saturday morning we headed to the Phillip Island Wildlife Park, which is a conservation park set on 60 acres of land where you can see many different native Australian animals and birds. And the best part? Kangaroos and wallabies roam around free and you can hand feed them! We even got to feed a mama kangaroo with a joey in her pouch. Too cute. I highly recommend this place. 

We spent quite a bit of time at the wildlife park and were pretty hungry by the time we left. We had a late lunch at Three Acres café, sneaking in just before the kitchen closed at 2pm. We all enjoyed the food here, and extra points as they had a small play area which kept Ella amused until her food came. 

Sunday morning we were all up early so we packed the kids up and headed out for a walk. First a stop at the bakery for sausage rolls and coffee, which we took down to the beach to eat. The weather was very typical of this part of Australia: it started out mild and sunny and then quickly changed to cold and rainy while we were on the beach. We took shelter at a nearby playground which of suited Ella just fine! I don’t even think she noticed it was raining. 

We then headed to San Remo for the daily pelican feeding at noon:

Next up was a 2pm boat cruise out to the Seal Rocks, the biggest fur seal colony in Australia. This was definitely a highlight of the trip for everyone! On the way out it was very wavy and rough and I was having a hard time managing Ollie in the carrier. Luckily Andy took over for me, he is much more steady on his feet than I am! Ella thought it was great and spent the whole time laughing as she clung on to the back of the boat and watched the waves.

When we got out to the seal colony I was amazed at the amount of seals and how close they got to the boat. It was truly a magnificent sight to see, and I’d highly recommend this boat trip if you are ever in Phillip Island.

By the time we got back we were all pretty tired so we headed back to our airbnb to chill out and have a simple dinner.

On Monday we had gorgeous weather, it was 21 degrees and pure sunshine. After breakfast I took Ollie for a walk on the beach in the carrier so that he could have a good morning nap. Is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping baby, blue skies and the sea?

That afternoon we went to the Nobbies Centre. There is a 600m long boardwalk that winds along the cliffs and looks out on to the Seal Rocks. It was a truly stunning sight and we were so lucky that the weather was so nice. We also got a few rare photos, one of the four of us and one of Ollie and me!

Monday night we headed to the biggest tourist attraction on Phillip Island: the penguin parade! Every evening at dusk hundreds of fairy penguins swim ashore to their homes in the sand dunes at Summerland beach. We arrived at the beach pretty early to get good seats to watch the penguins. There is a roped off section of the beach that has stands for watching the penguins. Ella and I sat together on the actual beach just behind the rope. We sat and waited for about an hour before seeing the first penguins. I could not believe how patient she was! It helped that Ella could play in the sand while she was waiting.

The penguins don't come out of the water until it is nearly dark and you are not allowed to take pictures after a certain point so that you don't blind them with a camera flash. However this sneaky penguin came out early so Dave managed one photo:

Watching the penguins come in out of the water was pretty cool but the roped off area was still pretty far away from where they come out of the water. Walking back to the visitor centre along the boardwalks was actually better, as you could see lots of the penguins that had waddled up from the beach much closer. Ella absolutely loved it and it was a pretty fun night, although Ollie cracked it soon after the penguins arrived so I had to take him in to feed him while the others kept penguin watching. It was way past his bedtime to be fair!

Tuesday morning Andy, Ella, Ollie and I had one last breakfast and coffee down by the beach before we packed up the car and headed back to Melbourne. Usually after a holiday I look forward to getting back home and in to routine, but not this time! I felt like I could have stayed in Phillip Island forever! Ella felt the same way, on the car ride home she was crying and saying "I don't want to go home. I want to go back to the new house".  Yep, I'd like to have stayed in our holiday house too Ella!