The countdown soon arrived when the clock struck 4.50pm the time when we boarded our flight from Penang to KL. Yay!!! Finally we are flying to Melbourne. We spent 5hours at LCCT while waiting for our flight to Melbourne. Despite the bad weather forecast in Penang, we successfully boarded the flight without interruption. After loitering around at McD, LCCT, we flew to Melbourne at 11pm. Emeryn fell asleep almost immediately upon getting to her seat. She slept soundly for the first two hours but ended having disturbed sleep on and off.
After enduring a 7.5hours flight, we landed at Melbourne International Airport at 10.10am local time. We went through the immigration and custom check smoothly. Upon getting out from the airport, we grabbed a skybus which transferred us to the Southern Cross Station. No hassle, only 10mins wait for the skybus and another 25mins sending us to the main station. We then took a free shuttle provided by skybus in which later transferred us to Greenhouse Backpacker, where we stayed. We took our own sweet time checking in to the room and dropped our luggage. We realized we were late for our day tour pick up, so we grabbed a taxi to Intercontinental Rialto Hotel. We missed our pick up as we were 15mins late. Luckily mummy called up the tour company and they got us heading to their office at Federation Square. Luck was on our side as we managed to catch the bus.
Our first day tour was Philip Island and its nature parks. It was a day completely filled with Australian wildlife, including being able to watch the very unique phenomenon of hundreds of little penguins come back from the sea at sunset to waddle over the beach to their nests on one of the island’s coasts. This day-tour suits anyone visiting Melbourne who is interested in seeing Australian animals in a more natural habitat.
The first place we arrived was called Churchill Island farm, built by a Scottish family who settled there. The farm was complete with chickens, ducks, peacocks, horses, sheep, working sheepdogs, Scottish ‘airy coos, and of course, wallabies. At Churchill, the daily farming activities includes cow milking, blacksmithing, sheep shearing, working dog demonstrations. We also have the chance to experience a traditional Aussie working farm and visited the adorable baby animals in the nursery. Daddy stopped by to purchase a strawberry shake as we did not managed to have our lunch. We visited the gift shop before leaving and Emeryn snapped lots of photo with the soft toys.
Our next stop was at the koala conservation center on Phillip Island. We walked around among the Eucalyptus trees and there were also areas with elevated boardwalks where we could get a little closer to the koalas in their natural habitat. Before leaving mummy bought a key chain as a souvenir for her own keepsake. Again daddy didn't missed the chance to purchase something to pamper his stomach.
And finally, the grand finale to our tour: The Penguins Parade. Every night at sunset, hundreds of little penguins can be seen coming up on the beach back to their burrows to their babies and their significant others. They come at sunset to avoid being seen by predators. We sat down on bleachers and waited for the penguins to emerge. The first few were tentative, took a few steps but then freaked out and jumped back into the waves. They travel in groups as well to avoid predators in the water. However, group by group we watched them appear out of the waves and start making the trek across the beach, sand and cliffs to their homes. It started drizzling a moment after the penguins emerged, thus we decided to walk back to the tourist centre. On our way there, we spotted few groups of penguins walking back to their homes. We followed alongside them on the boardwalk. They were so adorable and Emeryn can't get her eyes off the penguins. She simply loves them.
We left Penguin Parade at about 9.15pm and reached Federation Square about 2 hours later. It took us about 10mins walking back to the backpacker's place. We went back for a quick shower before daddy brought us out for a quick meal at Mc Donalds. It was freezing cold as the average highest temperature was 14 celcius and min 8 celcius. We slept almost immediately upon going up to our room. We had a private twin room with 2 bunk beds.
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