Over the last few days we’ve been putting down some good miles driving around the Victoria coastline and have now crossed the border into New South Wales.

After leaving Phillip Island, we stopped for lunch on the Wilson’s Promotory, a peninsula and national park that is mainland Australia’s most southerly point. It was beautiful, with lovely sandy beaches and one, called squeaky beach that literally squeaks as you walk on it – this is to do with the rounded quartz in the sand apparently.

The last couple of nights we’ve been staying in Metung, a small little village on the edge of the Gippsland Lakes. It’s very nice but very sleepy and not a whole lot to do in the area apart from boating and fishing so we went out on a boat trip yesterday when we saw a seal, black swans and other birds, but not the dolphins that sometimes come into the lake system from the coast.

A slightly shorter drive today, around 3 1/2 hours in total, with a couple of stops, but it still didn’t stop our darling son from having a rather large meltdown about half an hour from our destination… which is just outside Merimbula at the Woodbine Park Eco Cabins. On arrival here we were greeted by the resident ‘chooks’ as well as the semi-tame ‘roos – Wills was given some feed for them which straight away improved his otherwise grumpy mood. Can’t wait to explore more tomorrow – we’re on the edge of a national park and about 10 mins walk from a beautiful beach.

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!

After a good night’s rest we all had breakfast and were contemplating on what we were going to do today. James noticed that there was a music festival in Apollo Bay, the local town near to where we were staying so we thought it would be a good idea to check it out considering how much Wills likes his music.

Apollo Bay is a sweet small town on The Great Ocean Road and every autumn they have a music festival which just happened to be on this weekend. The festival was quite small but from what we saw of it, it had some great bands. There were a few fun things for the kids to do and Wills seemed more interested in the bouncy castle and ice cream stands than the music! James even managed to persuade him to have his face painted like a tiger. Bless him, he was so good at having his face painted he didn’t move a muscle, but sadly about two minutes after having it done he decided that he didn’t like his tiger nose and asked Daddy to wipe it off.

We must have spent a good couple of hours just mooching around the festival and Apollo Bay itself – Wills had to have his now obligatory test drive of the local playground and, of course, we all had to have a walk along the beach too.

We left Apollo Bay and headed back to the Eco Lodge for a guided walk with one of the conservationists to see the resident rehabilitated Koalas and Tiger Quolls. The Tiger Quoll or spotted-tail quoll is a carnivorous marsupial with a jaw bite almost as strong as the Tasmanian devil. It is no way near as well known but just as endangered. We managed to get halfway around our tour when Wills attention span disappeared and he went bonkers! Some of it must have sunk in, though, as he has a new addition to his crew of stuffed friends in the form of Dottie, the Tiger Quoll!

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.

After the slight mess up at the airport with our pickup it was a lovely surprise to have such a beautiful and funky hotel to stay in for the next few days. We are staying at The Hatton Hotel in South Yarra – it’s a lovely boutique hotel in a period building, on a nice quiet road, all close to the Melbourne CBD – perfect!

We spent our first day walking around Melbourne in cooler, overcast weather – quite a change from Perth. This is my second time in Melbourne – unfortunately I didn’t see much of it last time as I was too busy pining over a certain person called James Walker!

The city is much bigger and grimier than Perth so initially we were not too struck with what we saw but, as the day went on, Melbourne began to grow on us – we had a look around the main centre and then, as the weather improved we set off to the Botanical Gardens – mainly to try and find Wills some swings and slides. After having no success in finding somewhere ourselves I had to ask a local Melbournite. They kindly pointed us in the direction of the ‘Children’s Garden‘ – a fantastic set up for the little ones – it had mazes, secret walkways, a little stream that they could walk down and things to climb on and in – it was just brilliant! We spent at least a couple of hours there with Wills and he absolutely loved it.

After a bite to eat, we set off on the tram to St Kilda, one of the nearby beach suburbs. This gave William a chance to burn off a little bit more steam by running up and down the beach!

We returned to the centre and William was so tired out he fell asleep in the pram almost straight away – this  meant James and I could enjoy the rest of the Botanical Gardens ourselves. We ended the day with a delicious Thai meal at a local restaurant not far from our hotel.

Today we left Margaret River and headed back to Perth to catch a flight to Melbourne. The day started well with Wills saying goodbye to all the animals on the farm and had one last go on the swing and hammock.

The drive back to Perth was a long, three hour journey made even longer for all of us by the reappearance of the Devil Child. After being in hibernation for a few days he decided to truly excel himself by shouting pretty much all of the journey, throwing his favourite bear, Tolo, on the floor every two minutes, telling Daddy not to speak to Mummy, and generally being obnoxious. Just as we realised we were pretty pushed for time to catch our flight, he decided to vomit all down himself. As you can imagine, this left us less than enthusiastic about the four hour flight to Melbourne.

However, we managed to arrive at the airport in time, get through security pretty smoothly and then board the plane without too much hassle. Surprisingly, given his form in the morning, William was an excellent passenger – he sat quietly, ate his meal and flirted with the air hostesses – much to Mummy and Daddy’s relief!

Having arrived in Melbourne, we had to deal with yet another challenge in that the travel agent had mucked up our airport transfer. Despite us having to wait another hour while it was sorted, Wills was extremely good and waited patiently.

It was certainly a day of two halves and in the end The Boy redeemed himself!

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!