Instead of staying in town for the National Footy Final we decided to rent a car and get out of the city for the weekend. We drove 2 hours south/east to Phillip Island, and rented a beach cottage on the water. The kids were ELATED to find a double bunk bed in one of the rooms! On our first day we went fishing...in a stocked lake :-)
Daddy teaching the kids how to cast a fishing pole.
I thought it was incredibly ironic that I was fishing in this lake for Rainbow Trout (which the lake specifically advertised they had imported from North America)... I think every lake I had ever fished in during my childhood in Montana had this fish!
These guys made good money as there was no catch and release allowed. Every fish you caught you bought for $18.00/kilo (after the $30.00 entrance fee) and if you wanted to pay extra they would cook the fish for you so you could eat it. I felt like a complete sucker since this experience was more or less free in Montana!
Mary caught a BIG fish!! :-)
She was so excited!
Olivia catching her fish...in the kid pond it took about 5 minutes!
Making the fish kiss....
Cooking the fish up (we ate it then and there because we weren't sure what to do with two fish we had to buy wrapped up in newspaper while staying in a hotel).
After fishing we went to the Nobbies. You are supposed to be able to get up close and personal to the seals who come up on the rocks. Sadly it was blocked off because the seagulls were nesting and all the baby chicks were hatching! The nests were all over the cliffs, it was like something off of National Geographic!
After the Nobbies we went over to Penguin Island, where you can sit on these steps and wait until night fall to watch the penguin come up from the ocean. They are fairy penguins, so super tiny and once they come in with the tide they run across the beach into their nesting grounds. We were not allowed to take pictures because the flash scares the penguins but here we are waiting for the sun to set!
After the penguin parade we got to walk back to the car. There were penguins EVERYWHERE. Hence the sign below :-)
The next day we went to a farm. The farm was on it's own little island called Churchill Island. It was amazing to be in the country completely surrounded by water! SO BEAUTIFUL! Here we are feeding the horses. You could just walk around and do whatever you wanted, I loved it!
Milking a cow!
Climbing some trees...
After the farm we started driving back to the city and stopped along the coast. Here we are at Cape woolamia.
The dunes were pretty big so the kids were climbing on them and sliding down!
Other than Tasmania, this is as far south as Australia goes...the cold waters are famous for Great White Sharks!
