The Great Ocean Road: Wildlife (Ok - Koalas)

From Phllip Island we went to Wilson's Promintory on an absolutely beautiful day.  Unfortunately, the weather took a turn and our next couple of days were blustery to say the least.  Happily, our farm-stay cottage had a wood fireplace and plenty of serenity...ahhh...the serenity. So, we had to forgo the scenery for the fireplace, books, card games and movies.  It could have been a lot worse.
We had a big day driving from there, clear across Melbourne to Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road.  Our six days there and in Port Campbell, further west, were filled with great scenery and wildlife.  I'm breaking it into two blogs, just because there are so many great koala pics.
We've been in Australia for 9 months, each day of which I've been hoping to see a wild koala. Well, my hopes were fulfillied with an unofficial count of 64 in a couple of days.  I was so excited to see the first one - way up in a tree - that my feet were pounding.  Well, as you'll see by the pics, we did a lot better than way up in a tree.
Hope you enjoy.
J

The Road to Cape Otway

Adam spotted this Mother and Babe in the bushes

Typical Koala

Checking Each other out

These guys loved peanuts!

Phillip Island

From Melbourne, we headed lazily along the Mornington Peninsula and then over to Phillip Island where we were treated to fantastic weather and cute little fairy penguins (sorry - no cameras allowed so no pics of that).  Here are are the photos of other interesting wildlife...and scenery.

Eastern Tip of the island

Walking the Pier



Jumping at the Pier



Our morning Cappucino Routine

Dune Jumpers at MagicLands Beach. Check the Clouds.



Happy Grandchildren above MagicLands



Sunset Moms

Melbourne...part one

Long time no see everyone.  We just returned from our last big Aussie adventure: Victoria. Ok, well parts of it. We got to see that not all of Aus is as sunshine and butterflies as it is in Queensland (a balmy 32 degrees today).  Yes, we had to put on layers.  But, as I think you'll see in the next few posts, it was also worth it.  We had a fantastic two weeks away with my parents in some of the most spectacular oceanscapes we've ever seen, as well as checking out Melbourne.  It is truely an 'iconic' city as the Aussies would say.  Yes, it does go on my top ten cities list and I highly recommend a visit.


Oli joins the street performer

Check out the pics.

Pick your mode of transport!

Biking amidst cool architecture and bridges

The Pier at St. Kilda (There's a Fairy Penguin hiding in the rocks)

At the Melbourne Jail Evan and Adam were involved in the trial of Ned Kelly

xo Jules





Locked up - not for good.



Evan in Ned Kelly's homemade armour

Oli Does Ned
 

Melbourne's markets