Day 8- Trip to Phillip Island

September 24, 2015

Day 8- Trip to Phillip Island

Time flies during holiday. Today is the last 2nd day of our Melbourne trip. After breakfast, we set off and quickly pumped petrol at a nearby petrol kiosk before driving down to Philip Island, which is about 1.5 hours drive from Moorabbin. Along the way, all the passengers on board the car were sleeping. I have to keep awake as I have to ensure Ah Dear is on the right route. I took over the wheel when I got frustrated over his sense of directions and his confusion over the roundabout!

The first attraction was the Maru Koala and Animals park. When we reached the park, it was the Koala feeding time. So we headed down to the koala enclosure. We paid another $70 to get up close to the koala, in which we can touch and take individual photo with the koalas. After which we headed to the reptiles show, in which the kids were not able to sit still. Hence we decided to head out to feed the kangaroos. At the beginning, I was quite worried that John will be scared to feed the kangaroos. But once he has the hand-on, he was enjoying the feeding and even went up to stroke the kangaroos. As for Joy, it's in her character of being adventurous, hence she was happily feeding the court of kangaroos along with her Po-Po.

After the park, we drove together Philip Island. Prior to crossing the bridge to the island, we stopped by the small town - Marine Parade to have our lunch. We packed some fish and chips and burgers as well as fried rice and noodles fr the Chinese restaurant which is 2 shops away. We bought coffee and sat down by the seaside to have our lunch.

The 2nd stop was the Panny chocolate Factory. We see the process of how chocolate was being made, from the cocoa tree to the end product. Within the factory, you can pay and customise your own very chocolate bar. Of cos we skipped before JJ discovered this! Joy discovered how to operate 1 of the machine that actually distribute a chocolate coin upon you press on the button. I think she ate quite a few chocolate coins before we pulled her away!

After exploring the chocolate factory, we headed down to the Nobbies area. When we reached there, all were asleep in the car. So Ah Dear and I had some couple time while the rest continued their beauty sleep in the car. After which we drove down to the other attraction A maze N things since we have free entry to 3 attractions. However it was closed when we reached there at 5pm! John was awake so I brought him to the playground where he could play with the swing. He had a good time playing the swing with Po-Po till the ushers led us out as they are closing off the playground too! And he turned to me and said "Mummy, can you bring me here again tmr". I was like .."hmm.. tmr.. we will be heading home, son! End of our holiday"

Next we headed back to the Penguin Parade. We decided to go for dinner after the parade instead.

True enough, there were many tourists besides us crowding the toilets as well as the 1 and only cafe there! Due to the cold weather, everyone is rushing to get a cup of hot drink before braving ourselves at the open area to wait for the return of the penguins! AFter getting our drinks and clearing our bladders in the toilet, we headed to the waiting area for the penguins. It was really cold!!! While waiting for the penguins to be back, John says he need to "shhh..shhh", so Ah Dear brought him to the toilet and they were away for quite a long time. By then, the penguins are coming back in batches, and the people started to clear off. Probably most of them are tourists, and they had to head back their coaches, so Ah Dear and John just stayed put at where they were to watch the penguins making their way home. For me, I brought JoyJoy down, nearer to the sea, but instead of looking at the penguins she was playing with the sand. Pengz.

After the penguin parade, we headed to Cowes, and had our dinner at The Seagull restaurant. It was a quiet town, with only a few shops. We were the last customers in the restaurant! hahaha! We ordered our food, and it was served pretty fast as there were just a few tables with customers, probably just 3 tables! Ah Dear enjoyed his steak and I must admitted the steak was good, cos he only spared me a slice of it!

After dinner, Ah dear and I have to stay awake to drive all the way back to Melbourne city while the rest sleep through the journey after a full dinner! And i guess both Ah Dear and I were so tired that we ended up in the wrong Kingston Road. Sigh, thank to Google map for keeping changing my route! Frustrated! But we still relied on Google to get us back to Quest in the end!

It was pretty late when we reached quest, abt 11.30pm. So I just carried the kids to the bed, before starting to pack the luggage as we are going to head back to SG the next day! It was a tiring night, ... somehow I was glad the trip is coming to an end but then I was starting to miss Melbourne! the weather, the space, ...arruuuggghhh!!! Mixed feeling.. well, that's woman .. I guess!