Wednesday March 24 - the march of the penguins
So it was off to Inverloch today - after an early breakfast we packed up and headed off around 10am for another RACV resort. This particular RACV resort was not nearly as nice as the one at Cape Schanck - but then it was much less expensive. After checking in, it was time for lunch which we had in their restaurant.
After lunch we walked around the area.
We left for Phillip Island around 5pm - a 1-hour drive away - our plan was to go to a pub in Caves (a small town on the island) for an early dinner then head out to the Penguin viewing area / visitor center. We did exactly this arriving in plenty of time - the penguins were scheduled to “march" around 8pm - we had booked the deluxe under-cover viewing area just in case of rain; however, the weather was fine but cool. The penguins did their thing - 100’s of them came up from the beach to their boroughs up an incline - the whole colony is about 25,000 which is amazing. The site was nearly empty as evidenced by the carpark with space for a 100 busses and a 1000 cars. There was only a small bus and a handful of cars.
Thursday March 25
We spent the day driving around the Inverloch area doing a few short walks. Our plan to have a light lunch at a winery was thwarted when we could not find one open in spite of information to the contrary (online and in tourist info sheets) so we ended up at a pub in Inverloch village - this was fine - we shared a veggie tart and salad.
We had dinner at the resort restaurant - one dinner was included in our package - it was fine.
Friday March 26 - Wilson’s Promontory (WP)
Finally on our last full day here we were able to visit WP - it had been closed the previous 2 days due to high winds (gusts to 125K’s) and heavy rain. Fortunately it was a fine day for our visit which turned out to be the highlight of our trip - well worth the 1.5 hour drive. The Mt Oberon area of the park was still closed but we did some great walks.
From Tidal River (in the park and location of the visitor center and a general store and cafe) we did the walk to Pillar Point which has a wonderful outlook then onto Squeaky Beach - about 9 k’s all up. At Squeaky Beach we had our picnic lunch - a ham, cheese and tomato sandwich from the cafe - pretty ordinary but fresh. We drove back to our resort stopping at Picnic Bay (lookout) and Whiskey Bay (lookout).
Back at the resort we had dinner again at the restaurant - still fine.
Saturday March 27 - back to Melbourne
We left around 9am for the 2 hour drive back to Melbourne - it rained most of the way but eventually cleared to a fine afternoon. The check-in to our hotel, the Sofitel, and hire car drop off went very smoothly - even the final refuelling was not too gruelling. There was a bit of strife at the Sofitel with our room - Dieter had booked an upgrade to the “presidential” suite which somehow got lost in translation - we ended up with a Senior Suite on the 50th (top) floor with views all over Melbourne. Since we had Club access we had a snack lunch there.
We spent the afternoon walking around Southbank etc then had happy hour at the Club and dinner at hotel’s fine dining restaurant, N35. The dinner was marred by the fact that our entree arrived within 5 minutes of ordering and our mains 10 minutes later - we complained to the manager who apologised profusely …. but really !!!
Sunday March 28 - Melbourne
We had brekkie at the N35 restaurant then walked around the Fitzroy Gardens before returning to the hotel for the snack lunch in the Club. Later we took the tram (#12) to St Kilda for a walk along the beach area before returning on the #96 tram alighting at Southbank for a stroll along the Yarra river and back to the hotel. We had lots of confusion on how to pay for our tram rides but ended up buying 2 MiKi (like our Opal) concession cards - we were advised that travel for seniors was free on Sundays but somehow on our return journey our cards were rejected - but no one was checking; in fact many passengers did not seem to tap on/off as required - can’t trust those Victorians.
Back at the hotel we went to happy hour at the Club and decided to just have the canapés for dinner.,
Monday March 29 - back to Sydney
Alas, final day of this getaway - after breakfast we packed up and lazed about - then had a snack lunch in the Club before heading to the airport.
Bad news from Queensland - 10 new Covid cases and Brisbane put into a 3 day lockdown - WA and VIC imposed border restrictions - looks like Easter holidays in Queensland will be impacted by many cancellations. We plan to return to the Gold Coast in early May - here’s hoping !!!