Philip Island and Melbourne 🐧

We've been listening to the Harry Potter audio books slowly since we set off on our travels back in June, then watching the film as we finish each book. As we arrived at our campsite on Phillip Island we had just finished The Goblet of Fire, and that's a pretty exciting one because (spoiler alert!) it's the one where Voldermort returns. So you can believe our joy as we're cooking pizzas in the camp kitchen and flicking through the DVDs, we find Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! It really was meant to be! 

The next day we had a good walk around Rhyll Inlet, a RAMSAR-listed wetland habitat on Phillip Island's north-east corner, before visiting the town of Cowes (sounds like we went from north Wales to the Isle of Wight). We then spent the afternoon looking around the Nobbies Centre right at the far tip of the Island. They have a great section called an Antarctic Journey which talks all about the oceans and animals between Australia and Antarctica. 

There is also a coastal boardwalk which takes you along the dramatic coast and you can spot little penguins, the smallest species of penguins, on the way. We walked it once then went back to the van and had tea. Right from the van we could see a wallaby, an enchidna, and two Cape Barren geese. We then headed back out again just before sunset in the hope of seeing more. We saw a few, some young ones still a bit fluffy! 

We got parked for the night with the alarm set to do the parkrun on Churchill Island the next morning. However, we woke to the rain hammering on the van so very quickly decided to give it a miss. So we had a chill morning before heading to Churchill Island anyway, although the rain had stopped the wind was still in full force, which is great for drying towels (I'm going to attempt to put a video below, so fingers crossed it works). The walk was lovely, we saw a lot of black swans. 

We next headed up towards Melbourne, stopping at Brighton beach before a windy night just south at Green Point. We had to leave where we slept at 8am, but there is free parking not far away at the St Kilda Botanical Gardens where we left the van all day, getting the tram into the city. We met the Masons, the lovely family of Mary and Marc Mason, at the NGV. It was great to get advice about what to see in Melbourne, and the whole of Australia, from people who live here, and the art at the NGV is definitely worth a look. We were pointed in the direction of the graffiti street as we said goodbye, which is also definitely worth seeing and is regularly changing its exhibitions but in a different way to the NGV. 

We then had a good walk through the city stopping at the Victoria state library which is a beautiful building and also has exhibitions, we viewed the Melbourne Out Loud exhibition which was full photographs by Rennie Ellis celebrating the city. We arrived at the Queen Victoria markets, which are huge so we spent ages having a good look around before grabbing some tasty food, Matt finally had a Lamington and it may be the happiest I've seen him in Australia so far! 

On our way into the city that day we'd had to take a different route because of road closures for the St Kilda Festival, a free event near where we'd parked the van. As it was a nice evening we thought we'd go check it out, and I'm glad we did. It was a huge music event with different stages right along the beach front and all free. We watched some bands, did some line dancing and had a drink as the sun set. 

The next day the weather was much better so we spent the morning ambling around the Royal Botanical Gardens which are delightful, I love the areas full of huge cacti and succulents. We saw loads of Grey-headed flying foxes and sat in the sun watching boats on the lake. 

Matts next wish was to get a proper coffee in Melbourne, they're apparently well known for good coffee, so we jumped back on the tram to Fitzroy, a suburb of the city. We had a stroll up Smith Street, Matt got his coffee and I treated myself to a pretty amazing smoothie. Our next stop needed to be food, so after a search for best sandwiches in Melbourne we headed to the Seoul Toast Bong, where we were not disappointed. 

Whilst travelling along the coast we've found showers plentiful, if sometimes a little chilly, so I was slightly worried about keeping up our hygiene standards whilst in the city. I'd needn't of been worried however, the DFO shopping centre have free hot showers available to use so we left the city feeling fresh, even if it did feel a little strange having a shower in a shopping centre!

We'd have liked to spent longer in Melbourne but we knew we needed to make tracks as there is so much more of Australia to see. We headed back to the van with time to make it to a random little place called Avalon, where we caught a beautiful sunset. Next - the Great Ocean Road! 

Lots of love, 

Lisa and Matt 💕