Palm Beach Avenue.
Kim and Dans place.
Kim is a longtime friend of mine we grew up in the same village of Kingsbury. We have been through a lot together and get on fantastically so it seemed right to spend a fair amount of time here catching up. Im living like a local which is great to experience a different side to Oz. Im getting to sight see at a relaxing pace. Their place is beautiful. Very peaceful and a 5min walk to the coast. The beach is called Woolamai safety beach. Sometimes you can be the only person on there its great. Kim and Dan have a daughter called Marney she will be one on the 10th Feb so I will be here to celebrate with them. Im relaxing and having a great time. Lots of laughing. They have a dog - staffy called Zeus. Hes ace but gets very frisky with me ; 0
Cape Woolamai
Phillip Islands highest point, the ancient pink granite rises out of the ocean with majestic beauty and golden sweeping beaches linking the cape to Phillip Islands volcanic past, this makes it a perfect place for a beach walk anytime of the year. Woolamai is the most popular surfing beach here. I will be getting some lessons from Kim and Dans mate which should be amusing!
Woolamai Pizza 08.01.07 - 12.02.07
Didnt take long to get back into working! While im hanging out with Kim and Dan thought I may aswell earn a few dollars to help fund my trip further. The pizza shop is 15 min walk from the house so nice and local. There is no public transport system here! I work 2 hours in the morning cleaning and setting up the service bar. Its pretty flexible I go in when I want as long as its all done by 1pm. I work from 530pm til close which is usually 9pm as a kitchen hand, quickly learning to hold a knife properly I tell you!! I nearly chopped my thumb in half the other day, went through my nail to...ouch! My boss paul and his wife Caroline are a good laugh. They are in their mid 30's early 40's. They make me drink with them most nights ; ) they love rum and coke. You can get any mix of drink you want in a can here its great. They said they will ne gutted when I leave as im such a good worker. Its nice to know they appreciate me and that im doing a good job - I have never worked as a kitchen hand before! Its a good laugh so I dont mind working 6 days a week. It all helps to fund my trip.
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit - Hot Rods 07.01.07
This was a good day out. Ace to see the track after seeing it on tv so much watching the World Super Bikes being held here. There were plenty of wierd and wonderful cars/vans to see. There was a "Rockabilly" band playing which was different. I hope you enjoy looking at the pics as much a I enjoyed being there. It wasnt a sunny day but very windy, it still gave you a tan as Kim found out. She had a white mark where her sunglasses had been : )
Inverloch 03.01.07
This is on the mainland coast east of Phillip Island. Such a beautiful beach. The clearest waters and people were fishing right near the shore, some on jet skis! This was Marneys first day at the beach ever...bless. The sand was sooooooooooo hot under foot we didnt stay too long as it was really hot.
San Remo
This is the gateway to Phillip Island.Its concrete bridge is the only way on and off the Island other that using a boat or swimming! Pelicans come into feed here at 1130am daily on the foreshore. Kim Marney and I were 10 mins late and missed the feeding! We went for lunch at The Western Port Hotel. We had Western Port Style oysters, cheese, bacon, worcester sauce and sweet chilli, they were lovely. Unfortunately I had food posioning from them....nice. Kim gave me her last one so I think she knew it was a dodgy one ; )
Rhyll
Its a picturesque fishing hamlet. Casting a line anywhere around this isle can yield rewarding results.
Cowes
The main town here is named after Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Its a busy place and full of tourists, more than any other place on the Island. A shark was spotted yesterday off the coast, reportedly around 6 meters in length!.... mayne I wont be surfing after all ; )
The Penguin Parade - 15.01.07
The Penguin Parade at Phillip Island is world famous for the nightly parade of little penguins returning to Summerland Beach. The little penguins surf in on a wave, waddle up the beach and make their way to their burrows in the dunes. They have to catch 14 times their weight in food for their offspring during the feeding season Nov - Jan! Good for me. Kim and I went with a little picnic of snacks and vodka, made our way down the boardwalk as the sun was setting to the tierd stands on the beach. A ranger welcomed the people and gave a short introduction to the parade.
Dark patches started to appear in the shallow waters and the birds magically appeared on the waters edge.
They stood in the shallows sometimes retreating into the sea if they sense preditors overhead, regain confidence they come onto the beach. They regroup and sometimes over 100 birds made their way up the beach to the dunes.
It was an amazing site seeing them during breeding season. Watching both parents come in to feed their hungry chicks.
You couldnt take photos as the flash photography could disturb the penguins so I have taken a few shots out of the brochure so you can get an idea of how close I actually got to them.
Koalas 22/01/07
We arrived at the Koalas with a really annoying song being played in the visitore centre - since found out its True Blue by John Williams! Its stuck with us ever since. The centre is situated amongst a forest of Eucaliptus trees, the smell is very overpowering, its amazing. Really good for a blocked up nose : ) There is a boardwalk network which puts you at eye level with the koalas, so no craning your neck from the ground to see fubby bundles hiding in branches. You can see from my pics how close we were to one. I actuallt thought he was going to attack me! You never know. I also saw a Gallah for the first time. It was a cool bit of sight seeing and I cant believe I got so close to a koala.
Australia Day 26/01/07
This is celebrated much like St Pats day!I worked til 2pm then had the rest of the day/night off to get drunk. It was a clear day sun beaming at 30 degrees. We went to watch the Roxy womens surf comp at Woolamai surf beach. My first experience of seeing some serious surfing. It was awesome. We had a bbq early evening, drank and was merry.
Ventnor Beach
I went here twice with my collegue Mel its by her parents house. Lovely beach and you can swim in the sea peacefully. No waves this side of the Island. We had a picnic and just chilled.
Marneys 1st Bday 09/02/07
What a great day. We had english party food - no one had ever had pineapple and cheese sticks!! Plenty of people came uncontrolable children wrecking the place and lots of drunk parents : ) Kim and I drank plenty of V,L & sodas. We finished the night off with some on the house pizzas from Woolamai Pizza!
Left Phillip Island on the 12th Feb. Sad to leave my friends but excited about new adventures. Paul and Caroline gave me a lift to Dandenong - what a name - then I got the train to Flinders St Melbourne and onto Epping to meet Pat and Dot Bryne.
