Phillip Island
Our accommodation was a simple two bedroom apartment with a large balcony. The apartment itself was a little dated and nothing special; the highlight was the pool that was shared with only two other apartments. We had it largely to ourselves the whole five days, however it was fun when other families with kids were around - it meant Ella and Ollie would get in the pool without us! We spent a few hours every day in the pool over our five days in Phillip Island, and Ollie in particular increased his confidence in the water so much over the holiday, so it was totally worth finding a place with a pool.
Cowes is the biggest town in Phillip Island. It is located on the north side, and the beaches there are very child friendly. They are patrolled by lifeguards and are calm and shallow. Our holiday apartment was only a five minute walk from the beach and the Main Street in Cowes which was perfect with the kids as we didn't need to use the car as much.
We had really great weather the whole time, which I hadn’t expected. The forecast had shown thunderstorms and rained for the first couple of days, and in fact it rain for almost the entire drive down. It's nearly a two hour drive from our place in Melbourne to Cowes, so we planned a stop halfway in a town called Tooradin. There is a jetty with a playground and café which was the perfect place for us to refuel and stretch our legs.
Just before the bridge to Phillip Island is the town of San Remo, and everyday around lunch a group of pelicans come ashore to be fed lunch. We happened to arrive just in time for this. The kids got a big kick out of watching the feeder throw fish high into the air and the pelicans reaching up to grab and gobble it down in their giant beaks.
The rain had stopped at this point and by the time we got to our accommodation the sun was out and it was hot! The temperature was only in the low 20s all week, and we had some cloudy mornings, but once the sun came out it always felt really hot - hot enough that even I needed to cool off in the pool or in the sea.
By far my favourite part of the holiday was taking the kids to different beaches after dinner. One night we simply went to our closest beach, called Erehwon Point Beach. It’s just east of Cowes beach and much quieter than Cowes. The tide was out so it felt like there was miles of flat sand to play on. Ella and Ollie play together so well at that time of day. They would just go off and play together while Andy and I relaxed and enjoyed the view. At Erehwon Point there were some big rocks to explore as well, and Ella and Ollie loved climbing in them and through the little caves.
Another night we headed to the western side of the island to watch the sunset at Woolami Beach. This is more of a surf beach so we had to be a bit more on guard with Ollie especially. The water here is really only suitable for experienced surfers, not for three year olds to go swimming! The sand was so soft and there were large dunes for the kids to run down, which they did over and over and over again. Again they played together in the sand, building sandcastles (and smashing them in Ollie’s case) and chasing each other around the beach. The sunset was glorious and I felt such a sense of calm and contentment that evening. Calm, protected beaches are fantastic for the kids, but there is something about a surf beach that is good for the soul.
We checked out a few other beaches during our stay. One morning we headed to Red Rocks beach, another north facing beach just west of Cowes. This beach was much less busy than Cowes, with calm water and rock pools created by the red rocks along the beach. We stopped for coffees on the way to Red Rock Beach at The Store, in Ventnor. This was one of my favourite cafés, it had a very relaxed vibe and was the type of place that made me wish I was living some sort of laid back surfer lifestyle in this part of Phillip Island. The other customers all seemed local and were having friendly chats with the baristas while they made their coffees. We only had coffees and muffins but the menu looked great, if we are back in Phillip Island in the future I'd make a point to head back here.
It was a windy morning so we took our coffees and set up shop between some rocks where the kids played for a while. No swimming this morning - Ella wanted to jump in but no one else was willing to brave the waters that early in the day!
We saw this cute echidna on the beach at Red Rocks. Who doesn't love an echidna?
Our last beach exploration was at Forrest Caves. We got here at high tide so could only climb over the rocks and watch the waves, but at low tide you can actually go into the caves to explore. Something for next time! To get to the caves you need to follow a boardwalk up and over sand dunes. Once you get to the top you are treated to a stunning view!
Other than the pool and the beach we did a few other touristy things, many of which we did on our last visit, but of course the kids were too young to remember that. Phillip Island Wildlife Park is a great place to see Australia's native animals. It is a huge place with wallabies and kangaroos roaming freely that you can feed. Having not grown up in Australia, feeding a kangaroo just feels so exotic to me!
Here is Ella with a Cassowary, one of the largest birds (after ostriches and emus) that live in Australia and New Guinea. Fun fact: they are one of the closest living species to dinosaurs!
There is also an emu enclosure that you can go into and feed the emus. These emus are pretty "friendly" and as soon as they see your brown paper bag of feed they are straight over to you looking for food. I think we were all pretty freaked out by the emus to be honest! They were so stealthy, you'd just turn around and there was an emu, staring at you with it's beady eyes. We didn't stay in the emu enclosure for long.
I managed to get my favourite recent selfie with Ella here.
We took the kids to mini golf one morning, which was fun-ish. I think 12 holes was enough for our kids, by the 18th we were all well and truly over it! Ella has got into mini golf lately so she plays properly, but as you can imagine Ollie just whacks the balls around here and there (which he seemed to enjoy so I suppose that's the most important thing anyway).
After mini golf we headed to the Outback Chef's Wild Food Farm for some lunch. This was a lovely place with a real "paddock to plate" feel. There are trails around the property that you can explore after eating in the cafe, and also a Rainforest Room where they have lunches on Saturday. Although we weren't there on a Saturday we were able to take a walk with the kids in the Rainforest Room, which would be a pretty cool place to have lunch one day.
One morning we headed to the Nobbies, which is at the very tip of the Summerland Peninsula. There is a clifftop walk along boardwalks, with stunning views of the Bass Strait. The water is wild here, with huge waves crashing into the rocks below.
Trying to get a picture with Ella when she's not in the mood...
Ok this one is a bit better!
On our last evening we went to see the penguins, Phillip Island's most famous attraction. Every evening hundreds of tiny fairy penguins come ashore to Summerland Beach from the ocean to their burrows, where this time of year they have baby penguin mouths to feed. We waited for about an hour on the viewing platform to see the first penguins come in at dusk, and then spent time walking along the boardwalks as we watched the penguins waddle around and find their babies. It truly is a one of a kind experience, and Phillip Island was even named on the New York Times 52 Places for a Changed World list this month. The list highlights places around the world where travellers can be "a part of the solution", and Summerland Beach is listed 24th for it's efforts to return this area to it's natural state and protect (and increase) the penguin population.
We aren't allowed to take pictures, but here were are waiting for the penguins...
There is a very informative centre with some interactive displays that you can spend time exploring before the penguins arrive. We are still trying to avoid "indoor" activities at the moment so we didn't see a lot here this time.
The penguins was a late night, and the next morning we were up and out of our apartment by 10am. I was so sad to leave! Both Andy and I agreed that this was the first family holiday we've taken that really felt like a holiday. The kids are at an age now that being away from home is a lot easier than when they were babies and toddlers. We don't have to pack things like nappies, travel cots, prams etc. They sleep well and can adjust to different beds. They can walk places and have a lot more fun playing together. Ella even packed her own suitcase, and the only things I had to reminder her of were her toothbrush and pyjamas! During our time away both Andy and I were able to fit in some exercise and I read quite a bit of my latest book. I came home feeling pretty relaxed and ready to head back to work, if only to countdown to our next school holidays in April and daydream about where we can take the kids next!
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