Snowy Mountains to Penguins

Snowy Mountains

We drove from Canberra into another large area of mountains and national parks. We stopped in a town by a lake called Jindabyne and stayed at a pub hotel called The Banjo Paterson Inn (named after a local poet). The room was good, we had breakfast included in the price and the view was over the lake. The town had been moved from it’s original spot when the Snowy River was dammed and flooded making the lake. We explored the beautiful hills - different from others we had visited. Much more Alpine with many flowers in bloom. We had a drink at the Charlottes Pass ski resort which is the highest skiing resort in Oz. As you can see from the photo, the red poles guide traffic along the roads when the snow is high!

The following day we went up on the cable car from Thredbo to 2000 m above sea level. We walked to the lookout of Mount Kosciuszko which was a delightful walk apart from the very strong and chill (alpine!) winds. The views were great and the scenery as good. This was Australia’s highest mountain and we got to within 228m of the top. But this was another 4 km in the wind so we went and had a hot chocolate instead in the highest café in Oz.

Eden to Lakes Entrance

We then started our way back from NSW (Eden) into Victoria (Lakes Entrance). Eden was lovely with lakes, beaches and a fishing port. At one end of the bay was Boyd’s Tower built as a lighthouse and whale spotting tower but never lit. The rocks around there were amazing and so vividly coloured. From there we drove via Orbost (where we had another random breath test!) to Marlow which is where the Snowy River starts it’s journey into the hills. We spent the next night in an RSL hotel which is like our Royal British Legion. It is a seaside holiday resort and fishing port at the start of The 90 Mile Beach. We went to look at the beach in different places and at one, just along from Delray Beach were the remains of a ship wreck - very photogenic. We also liked the road signs warning us about the wildlife!! What do you think? So far we have only spotted 3 out of the 4 in the wild.

Penguins at Phillip Island

When we got to Phillip Island we were met at the Tourist Office with the usual “oh, we are rather full up” closely followed by a lovely private one bed roomed apartment on a quiet road - available now! We ate pizza on the beach and then went to see the “World famous Penguin Parade” at Nobbies Head. We dressed up warm as it was almost freezing in the wind and sat in the front row of the stadium to wait - and 2 hours later at 9 pm on the spot, they came. They swim and fish alone all day but make groups called rafts to come back to land for safety. Each group took 2 or 3 attempts to get on the beach after scuttling back into the safety of the ocean. One pair of babies even came down to the beach to try and claim food from anyone’s mum. When most of the penguins were in, we walked along the boardwalk to watch them closer up finding the babies. One of the best things we have ever seen.

The next day we did a tour around the island. It is a very pretty place with suburbs called Ventnor, Rhyll, Cowes and Newhaven! One of the beaches - called Shelley Beach! - had the best shells we had ever seen. Cowes was lovely with a custom car rally. And back at Nobbies Head we actually saw about 15 baby penguins all waiting in or by their burrows! Right in front of us waiting to be photographed. Fantastic.

After a quick purchase at the local handmade chocolate factory we drove into Melbourne where we plan to send a few more days with Marvyn until we go to New Zealand!