It’s really nice being in self catering for a couple of nights after having to have hotel breakfasts for the last week or so – It’s so much easier with a toddler rather than having to be constrained by specific times, or having to make sure they’re on best behaviour three times a day!

Today, therefore, started off okay – after a quick breakfast we headed off into the nearest town, Cowes, to do a bit of shopping and then to have a coffee and a play on the beach for Wills.

Phillip Island is tiny and you can drive from one side to another in about 15 mins, so after coffee we zoomed off to the far side of the island to something called the Nobbies Centre (chortle). From here you can supposedly sometimes see seals on the nearby Seal Rocks but not today (and we weren’t going to spend $5 to see a live video!). The only thing we did spend some money on was a new hoodie for Wills because we’d left his other one in the coffee shop and it was freezing outside (yes, in Australia)!

After zooming back to Cowes, to pickup the lost hoodie, we zoomed to the other side of the island to Churchill Island – here there was a beautiful old restored farmhouse but it does make me chuckle everytime we go into an “old” house over here though and we see preserved things that we just take for granted back at home – like a beautifully preserved door that’s identical to the ones we’ve got in our modest little Victorian terraced house in Tunbridge Wells.

There’s also a, fairly sanitised, working farm with cows, horses, chickens, wallabies etc.  Whilst at the farm, William decided to get an obsession with the horse having a poo – he kept asking the horse if he was having one and then decided to sit and wait to see. If only he could sit as long on the potty himself (or at all actually!)

We dropped into a Koala conservation place on the way back to our chalet which was quite interesting as there were boardwalks that took you fairly high up into the trees, allowing you to get up a bit closer to the koalas. It was a standard William whistle-stop tour at 100 miles an hour – all he wanted to do was to walk over the Billy Goat’s Gruff “Trip Trap” bridge!

One of the things that Mel and myself had been really looking forward to seeing on the holiday, and the main attraction on Phillip Island, are the fairy penguins. Every night, just after dusk, they all march ashore in large numbers to return to the nests for the night. We had been warned in advance that this was a fairly commercial affair, but all the money goes back into the conservation of the penguins and without this, as happened back in the 40s and 50s, the nests would be destroyed through housing development and other human encroachments. On entering the foyer though, it did seem like we were about to go and watch a film at the cinema than a natural spectacle!

We did end up seeing the penguins, but not how we imagined, as Master Walker decided to disappear and the aforementioned Devil Child paid us another visit. Literally as the penguins were about to walk up the beach he shouted, screamed and generally had a proper toddler tantrum for the duration – meaning we had to take him, and us, away early. Hilariously, he got into his head that he wanted a milkshake (as this is his favourite “special” treat on holiday), and through sobs and tears he kept on repeating how much he wanted one over, and over, and over, and over again. We did see some of the penguins and they were very cute, but maybe not one to do with a volatile toddler!

Probably our longest driving day today – about six hours in total.

We started off by leaving the Eco Lodge and retracing our steps along the Great Ocean Road back to Anglesea again where we stopped for a quick coffee. After this we pushed on to Queenscliffe which appeared to be a lovely historic town – however we didn’t stop as we had to board a ferry which took us across Port Phillip Bay to another charming looking little town called Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula.

Lunch stop was at the top of the tallest hill on the peninsula called Arthur’s Seat – named after the similar hill in Edinburgh. This has, in the past, been a fairly substantial tourist attraction with a cable car and other things to do at the peak – however due to a number of mishaps pretty much everything has been demolished or is closed (something we didn’t know about in advance!), so it’s all a bit tired and shabby. Nice views though!

Another hour and a half in the car and we arrived on Phillip Island. We’re staying on a resort of about 250 chalet-style bungalows – it’s not the normal sort of place we’d stay in but we’ve been really pleasantly surprised with the facilities – the chalet is really well appointed, there’s a great kiddies play area for Wills, a couple of swimming pools and we’ve just eaten a delicious pizza from the pizzeria. If we had any complaint it would be that it’s a bit soulless and that it’s a bit of a ghost town – but we are here mid-week and out of season!

Compared to the last long driving day we had with William, he’s been pretty good today – but we think he’s been teething again (still!) as he had a slight temperature and slept for an awful lot of the drive!

Breakfast at the Great Ocean Ecolodge consists of The World’s Largest Croissants, butter and jam. Today they also had the option of Vegemite – now, I do love a bit of Marmite back in Blighty, but not sure I would ever have it on a Croissant. Anyway, I did try a bit of Vegemite and, despite it originally being created as a Marmite substitute when supplies dried up during WWI, it just ain’t the same…

After breakfast, we hopped back in the car with the aim of driving the remaining section of the Great Ocean Road as far as the Twelve Apostles, one of the iconic sights of Australia. William slept most of the way and, apart from a “protest” moment on the way back to the car when he sat down in the middle of the path refusing to move, was a delight.

We drove back by heading inland and stopped for a lovely picnic lunch. After lunch, Wills clambered onto my shoulders and we went for a delightful walk down into a wooded, ferny valley to see the Triplet Falls. There were lots of steps down, and subsequently up, but it was well worth it!

Ever since seeing the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin near Margaret River, every time William has laid eyes on one he has asked to go into it. So, as we were, yet again, staying near a lighthouse we decided to see if we could get up it with him. So, off we drove to the Cape Otway Lighthouse – about 15 minutes from where we are staying and the oldest surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia, dating from 1848. On the way we passed through some beautiful woodland that is a well known koala spotting area – therefore every 200m or so you have to negotiate a load of hastily parked cars and their occupants subsequently standing in the road oblivious to oncoming traffic!

Anyway, we managed to get to the lighthouse without hitting a koala or a Japanese tourist and William was delighted to hear we could go up and, after almost 100 steps to the top (carried by Daddy this time), he gave a little dance!

A leisurely start to the morning today was followed by a frustrating hour-long queue at Hertz in Melbourne waiting to pickup a car – a standard for a Saturday apparently! It doesn’t quite beat our three hours at Rome airport last year but certainly started to come close!

After picking up the car and checking out of the hotel, we hit the road and after an hour or so on the freeway we joined the Great Ocean Road. At this point though it was already lunchtime so we had a spot to eat in Anglesea. A lot of the towns seem to be closely named to UK seaside towns – there’s the aforementioned Anglesea, plus Torquay, Winchelsea, Hastings and St Leonard’s all within spitting distance of each other (in Australian terms anyway).

Straight after lunch we carried on along the Great Ocean Road – think jaw-dropping scenery as the windy road hugs the cliff-face for about 250 km – quite spectacular, although Mel and William started to get a bit bored with me stopping every 5 mins for another photo!

We’re currently staying at the Great Ocean Eco-Lodge about half-way along the Great Ocean Road at Cape Otway – all in the middle of a national park. When we arrived, we were greeted by a troop of kangaroos just chilling  in evening sun.

The eco-lodge is run by a local conservation centre with the aim of helping and preserving the local native wildlife. It’s very small, with only five bedrooms and, after checking in and getting installed in our basic but stylish room we  were treated to a delicious dinner. We had initial aprehensions about how William would be at dinner – sitting at a communal table with a load of “grown-ups” – but he was brilliant and hilarious – chipping in with his little comments on the conversation and laughing at everyone elses jokes.

When I grow up I can drink wine

That’s a lovely camera, can I have one like that Daddy?

After dinner, we went out on a night walk with one of the owners to see and feed some sugar gliders and potaroos, both of which are being looked after and being rehabilitated here at the lodge. Sugar Gliders love honey and, again, William was so well behaved. After putting on his little “safety specs” he put a little bit of honey on his fingers and let the sugar gliders lick it off without any hesitation at all.

We should be seeing lots more animals in the next few days as the area is apparently heaving with kangaroos, koalas and other natives – can’t wait!

A relatively early start this morning Skypeing our parents was then followed by a tram and an hours modern train ride out to a little town just outside Melbourne called Belgrave. The railway line used to continue further until closed by a landslip in 1958. At this point local volunteers rallied together and managed, over a period of years, to reopen the line as a preserved railway called The Puffing Billy (which we very quickly renamed The Windy William).

So, we boarded the train and, like good poms sat down on our seats ready to go. Very quickly, however, the conductor came along and told us off as the Aussie way (on the Puffing Billy at least) is to get up, sit on the open-sided window cill and dangle your legs out of the side of the carriage!

Off we went and proceeded to chug along at a leisurely pace through the beautiful Dandenong Ranges – gorgeous forests and beautiful views. At one point, we went over a 140 year old wooden trestle bridge – with our legs hanging in mid-air! Today, over 900 volunteers contribute to the running of the railway one of whom, Joan, was in our carriage and gave us a really informative talk about the  area that we went through.

William made friends with two other little children on the train and had great discussions with the little boy about Mike the Knight! After an hour on the train, we had a short break next to a beautiful lake before returning to Belgrave and then back into the city.

The rest of the day we spent poodling around the Melbourne Lanes, a little bit more time at the Children’s Garden and then a nice meal.

Melbourne has been a city that is a bit of a grower – initially we were a little bit disappointed – probably after having landed from the warm, sunny and pristine West Coast, Melbourne felt a bit more gritty without any major sights to see. However, over the couple of days we’ve been here we’ve come to really like it – the overall feel is one of a very vibrant and trendy city.

As mentioned in an earlier post, we’re currently staying at Burnside Organic Farm just outside Margaret River. We began our day by having an informal tour of the farm by one of the owners Lara. Lara and Jamie have been living on the farm for 17 years and have an almost self sufficient lifestyle – they have a small winery with two vineyards, avocado, olive and macadamia trees as well as chickens, geese, pigs and cows! The whole farm is managed to organic and bio-dynamic principles using no herbicides and pesticides and instead clever techniques like putting the geese in the field with the avocado trees so as to keep the grass down and the trees fertilised.

After the tour of the farm, we jumped in the car and, after a quick playground stop, headed down to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin – the most South-Westerly point in Australia – the next landmass would be Antarctica! After lunch watching some kite surfers on the Blackwood River, we had a very quick but windy walk around the base of the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse – it’s the tallest lighthouse in Western Australia has been helping ships navigate the coastline here since 1895. Being the most South Westerly point means that this is where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet and results in some particularly choppy waters.

William has been of better spirits of late, but has been perfecting his persuasion skills and kept on negotiating with us to say “two more playgrounds and then the lighthouse”, or “we go to the beach and then we have lunch”. So, to keep him happy we drove back up to near Margaret River and spent an hour or so on Gracetown beach – a beautiful little secluded beach and great for swimming in – although the water was quite a bit chillier than we were expecting. Finishing the day, we headed to Prevelly and had fish and chips while watching the sunset – all in all a pretty good day had by all!

Ever since knowing we’d be going to Margaret River I wanted to try to get to some of the vineyards in the area to taste some of the amazing wines produced in the area. After some searching, we found Sig from Taste of the South who said he would take us on one of his “Hits with the Kids” wine tours – great things for the littl’uns to do and lots of yummy wines for the adults.

I guess because it was a Monday, it turned out that we were his only guests so we had the SigBus (as William called it) all to ourselves! This meant that we had the tour tailored completely to what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go.

We started at a local sheep farm where we saw a sheep shearing demo and Wills was able to feed both the grown up sheep and little baby lambs – one who was only 8 days old. After that, we went onto three lovely vineyards for some wine tasting and a delicious lunch – the first was aptly named Will’s Domain. All three vineyards had amazing play areas for little man to keep himself more than occupied while Mummy and Daddy sampled some of the local tipple. We finished the day off at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory – all in all a great day out – apart from the obligatory 2 year old’s tantrum just before bed!

Just finishing off our wine tasting now, by sampling a bottle of “Three Boys” Primitivo grown by our hosts Lara and Jamie here at Burnside Farm and grown in the next field over – delicious!

Sadly, we’ve already moved on from Perth. We’ve now hired a car to take us about three hours South to Margaret River. On the way, we stopped for what we thought would be a fairly quick lunch in a little town called Busselton – however we ended up spending about 5 hours there.

William had his first paddle in the Indian Ocean and absolutely loved it – it was hard getting him out of the water and he tried to persuade me that he had his swimmers on so he could go swimming properly.

After a bite to eat we took a train ride out to sea! Busselton Pier is the second longest pier in the World (after Southend) and, although now just a tourist attraction, used to be important for shipping timber from the nearby forests. At the far end of the pier is an underwater observatory where we could get up close to some of the marine life in the water, while staying completely dry!

We’re staying about ½ an hour away from Busselton and about 10 minutes outside of Margaret River itself at Burnside Organic Farm. It’s a great little place run by a couple who try to be as self sufficient as possible – they’ve got chickens, pigs, cows, a great little veggie garden and, most importantly, their own little vineyard!

Just before popping into town for dinner, Mel spotted our first glimpse of wild kangaroos – in the garden right behind the little cottage where we’re staying.

We had all intention today of getting up at a sensible time, however time zone differences and jetlag got the better of our normal toddler alarm clock and we ended up missing breakfast and laying in until 10.30.

Wandering back down to the harbourside, we went through Kowloon Park and stopped to look at the flamingos. Hong Kong isn’t the most pram-friendly city but I’m sure that there was an easier way into and out of the park – a large flight of steps up and an escalator down. In Hong Kong generally there always seem to be lifts – but normally from the 1^st floor – meaning you have to negotiate an escalator or steps to get there first. Although the locals have been great towards our little boy, when out on the street they seem oblivious to the pram and you end up playing a game of chicken as you’re pushing your way along the pavements.

From the Southern tip of the Kowloon peninsula, we took the famous Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island. Running since 1888 these ferries plough backwards and forwards all day long taking passengers on the 7 minute trip connecting the mainland and the original HK settlement. The Island feels a bit less gritty than the peninsula – although there are lots of premium brand shops in Kowloon, over here they’re magnified 10-fold – think Gucci, Cartier etc.

We stopped for lunch at the Luk Yu Tea House on Stanley Street– delicious dim sum and jasmine tea albeit with rather brusque service! Master W decided he wasn’t going to have any of it and instead just wanted snack bars!

After lunch, a bit more of a wander and then we ended up at the Peak Tram – a funicular railway that’s been taking passengers up to Victoria Peak for just over a century. Very busy and very steep, it deposited us at the top where we took a 3km walk around Harlech and Lugard Roads – the so-called Morning Trail. Lush greenery, peace & quiet and I’m sure, on a hot day, a lovely respite from the heat. Amazing really that in the heart of HK you can find some peace and tranquillity like this. A quick stop at the main viewing area before we took the tram back down the hill, and the ferry back across the harbour.

After the lack of dim-sum eating at lunchtime, we decided it best to for something a bit more Western for dinner, so in we popped to Pizza Express in a nearby shopping centre – consistent the world over, albeit the service a bit less attentive over here! We didn’t realise quite where the restaurant was until, 10 mins into our meal, the building opposite started to move – we realised we were right at the cruise terminal. The boat moved and revealed a quite spectacular view of the Hong Kong skyline.

We went back to the hotel via the Temple Street night market. This had been built up as an interesting place to go of an evening but unfortunately all we saw were a few stalls selling what can only be described as pretty tatty plastic souvenirs – not one worth going back to really.

Apart from that, we had a fab day in Hong Kong and are really quite sad to be having to leave it quite so soon.

I’ve been wanting get to Hong Kong for ages – the expectation of a heady mix of East meets West – exotic yet still reassuringly familiar in parts. We’ve landed to unseasonably cold weather though – 10C – and everyone is wrapped up in hats, coats and gloves which isn’t what my immediate thought of what Hong Kong would be like.

We’re staying at the Eaton hotel in Kowloon, and with only a day and a half to see the city, we decided to go out and have a quick explore. Wandering down to Victoria Harbour, we were expecting to see the fantastic Hong Kong skyline – unfortunately though it’s so foggy today that we could barely make out the lights on the opposite shore – one for tomorrow!

Walking back to the hotel we stopped for a delicious first Chinese meal at the Kam Shan Seafood restaurant before heading back to the hotel to get some well deserved rest!