Victoria:- Melbourne and Phillip Island

(4/3/2018 – 13/3/2018)

By the time we arrived at the Big4 in Coburg (north of Melbourne) we were setting up in the dark!!!!  Throwing a bit of motion sickness from the sail over on the SOT in the mix made for a very long and exhausting day!!!!  

Whilst we were in Melbourne we surprised Mitchell with a visit to LEGOLAND Discovery Centre out at Chadstone Shopping Centre (south east of Melbourne).   He LOVES his LEGO!!!  I purchased discounted tickets through RACV and there was a special on at the time that children get in for free with a paying adult ($28.60 per adult ticket).

We had a fantastic time here.    A perfect place for Mitchell to explore this unique indoor attraction with 2 Lego rides, 5 different themed build and play zones, Lego build classes from a Master Model Builder and a 4D cinema.   There was also a Lego Miniland exhibit of Melbourne city’s skyline, buildings and landmarks.    Along with a cafe there was also the Lego Shop just as you walk out!!!!!!

I even enjoyed the rides myself and the 4D cinema was pretty cool where we could experience and feel ‘rain’ and ‘wind’ in your seat whilst watching a short 20 minute Lego film!!!!!

As for Chadstone Shopping Centre – It’s the ‘Fashion Capital’ and is Australia’s largest shopping centre and a world-renowned fashion and entertainment hub.   Hmm, wish I had a few hours here to myself just to shop!!!!!!!

We drove back into the city but couldn’t find any parking so we headed back to the caravan park.   Since we had already purchased tram tickets we got ready and caught a bus and then a tram back into Melbourne city.   Mitchell loved travelling on the tram, something he’s never done before!!!

I purchased discounted tickets through RACV to Skydeck 88 and The Edge.   Skydeck 88 is located in Southback at the top of Eureka Tower.  Eureka Tower is nearly 300 metres above ground and it took around 40 seconds to get up there in the lift.    It’s the fastest elevator trip in the Southern Hemisphere and there were just spectacular floor to ceiling 360 views of Melbourne.

“The Edge” is an entire glass cube that extends 3 metres out from the building and you can see through it all!!!!    It would be pretty scary if you had a fear of heights looking through the glass floor down to the ground because you are 285 metres high!!!!  Unfortunately the photos from this didn’t turn out.

After spending 5 nights at the caravan park, we packed up on Friday morning and drove down to Phillip Island for the weekend.   This was about 2 hours drive south.    We found a place called Woodbyne Resort in Cowes where we could stay for $10.00 a night (self contained only).   It was good for that price – had an outdoor pool, BBQ area,  kids playground available for use.   Big grassed area for Mitch to have a run around on too!!!    The only problem with Phillip Island is that there are no public dump points which is a real issue if not staying in a caravan park!!    We ended up having to secretly go into a caravan park and do the drive around searching for their dump point to use!!!

On Saturday morning we took a drive around the island stopping at the Visitor Info Centre, Pannys World of Chocolate and Forrest Caves.

Forrest Caves

I booked an EcoBoat Adventure Tour out to Seal Rocks for Saturday afternoon (purchased discounted tickets through Groupon).   It was a perfect day to be out on the water!!!   We had a great afternoon out on a high speed boat.  We travelled along  Phillip Island’s spectacular coastline before we stopped at a protected inlet to see the seals swimming and playing in the water.   On Saturday night we drove to Woolamai and caught up for drinks with Peter and Fiona (whom we met in Charleville, Qld last year).

On Sunday morning we drove out to Phillip Island GP Circuit where Andrew and Mitchell went go-karting!!!     Andrew and Mitchell went around the circuit together and then Andrew had a drive on his own!!!  Andrew and Mitchell had a blast here, in Mitchell’s words “it was awesome”.   That night we took a short drive to Rhyll for dinner.

On Monday we drove out to the Nobbies Centre at Summerlands.   We went on an interactive, virtual journey of the Antarctic where we walked through a visual cinematic display of the Antarctic wildlife, felt the freeze as we entered the Antarctic “chill zone”, listened to Antarctic wildlife in the Sound Lab, compare our thermal image to that of an Emperor Penguin, examined various specimens under the microscope at the Research Station and we were also able to “pat” a penguin and ‘stroke’ a seal using reality technology – quite incredible!!!     There is also a gift shop and café at the Nobbies Centre.

Outside the Nobbies Centre, there was spectacular cliff top scenery as we walked along a boardwalk to a blowhole and along the way we could see numerous penguins in their boxes as well as underneath some parts of the boardwalk.   From there we drove to the Penguin Parade Info Centre but it was closed so we headed back to the caravan.

We had a fantastic time at Phillip Island.  We packed up on Tuesday morning bound for the Mornington Peninsula.

(4/3/2018 – 13/3/2018)