Toronto to Melbourne: A weekend on Phillip Island...

When it came time to plan our first weekend trip from Melbourne, Phillip Island was a natural choice. Located 90 minutes south-east of Melbourne, Phillip Island is home to an abundance of wildlife, including the famous little penguins, who come ashore in groups at Summerland Bay every evening at dusk.

Dave and I left Melbourne early-afternoon on Friday, and took the metro out of the city. From there we rented a car (!) and drove the rest of the way to Phillip Island. This was our first attempt at driving on the left side of the road, and even though we were both a bit intimidated beforehand, it ended up going really well! It took Dave about five minutes to get comfortable driving from the right side of the car (and to stop turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal), but soon enough we were well on our way.

We decided to try something different and opted to stay with Phillip Island Glamping in the small town of Cowes. When we arrived at our glamped-out-tent it was all set up and looked great! Definitely more luxurious than the camping I'm used to.

Glamping on Phillip Island including comfy blankets and fairy lights!

Thanks Serena for making our stay so nice!

On Friday evening we headed to the Penguin Parade in Summerland Bay. Every night, over 1,000 little penguins return to shore after spending the day in the surrounding waters. They come back to land to mate and lay their eggs.

On our way to see the little penguins!

Summerland Bay

We arrived at the parade just after 7:00 pm and were able to get great seats right on the beach, less than five feet away from where the penguins waddled by. You aren't allowed to take photos of the actual penguins (though I may have snuck a few). The coolest part of the experience, is that after the penguins arrive, they are very active around the boardwalk area that leads back to the car park. The entire walk back we were accompanied by troves of little penguins squawking and waddling away.

To continue our wildlife tour, on Saturday morning we went to the Koala Conservation Centre also located on the island. We spent an hour or so wandering the boardwalks and playing "I Spy..." with the koalas that were tucked away in the trees, snoozing. It turns out koalas sleep a lot! If you want to catch them in action, it's best to visit in the late afternoon, as that's when the koalas are most active.

This koala had a great spot, wedged into the tree branches

Another cozy climber!

After our trip to see the koalas, we rushed back to our tent to watch a very important baseball game.

Toronto vs. Cleveland game one!

To console ourselves after the disappointing loss, we went for a walk at Cowes Jetty, on the north end of the island. There were extremely high winds while we were there, and the water was quite choppy, which you can see in the photos.

The piece of land in the distance is Mornington Peninsula, mainland Australia.

Cowes Jetty + a seagull (he's a bit disguised)

Dave enjoying the view of the ocean

Dave at Cowes Jetty

Sea foam + red rocks at Cowes Jetty

Afterwards, we drove out to San Remo to go on a boat tour to the seal rocks, located off the south-west coast of the island.

Pinnacles Lookout from the ocean, on our way to the seal rocks

Seal rocks, where over 30,000 seals live! The smell was a dead giveaway...

If you look closely you can see the seals laying on the rocks

A zoomed in photo to better see the seals!

Our boat got within 10 metres of the rocks, and many seals swam out to say hi!

Last stop on our whirlwind tour of Phillip Island was a drive out to The Nobbies (I love the name) which is a unique rock formation in the Summerlands.