G'day folksWe are on our holidays! No more work for a week or two. Fun and laughter on our…..that's enough of that then. So we backtracked for about an hour and a half to go and visit Philip Island on the 30th March to see the little penguins. Photography is forbidden so we snuck in the camcorder up Vicki's sleeve and recorded what we thought was the penguins coming ashore to their burrows for the night, when really all Vicki did record was parts of the night sky and seagulls. Oh okay there are one or two little glimpses of the penguins (the smallest penguins in the world). They surf up on the beach in groups, lose their nerve then rush back into the water. This seems to be the order of the night until they finally pluck up the courage to make a dash for it up the beach, up the sand dunes and into their burrows. There are people in the front row who have paid twice our ticket price for their exclusive position. For their extra $$$ they are given a pair of binoculars, some headphones (not sure what they are listening to, quite possibly Classic FM) and a seat to sit on. But me and Danny had the best seat in the house. We sat at the end of one of the stone tiered steps and less than a metre away a penguin popped out of his burrow, had a look around and a shake. Then another penguin popped out and they stayed by our side all evening and so we had our own private viewing. On the walk back to the car you can see the penguins all by their burrows, talking and gossiping with each other. They make quite a lot of noise. Very cool, very sweet. Philip Island is known for the penguin parades but it has other attractions. Including The Koala Conservation, The Wildlife Park, The Grand Prix Circuit. We decided to test our minds though on the optical illusions and mind puzzles in the house of A Maze N Things. You remember how you marvel at all the wax models in Madame Tussauds, well it's a bit like that but instead of all the wax models its mind boggling games and puzzles and optical illusions . My favourite was the room we went into, both of us standing at opposite ends and when you look at the picture taken of yourselves I look about 7ft tall and Danny comes up to my knees. This is due to the décor of the room and the camera being at an angle. Very funny. The Mirror Maze just had to be done as did the head on a plate, and across the island watching the pelicans waiting for their 1130 feed. Up close they are big birds. We camp mainly in residential areas. Its quite safe (touch wood) and as of yet, we've had no bother. Further along the coast again now we visit the most southerly point of Australia, Wilsons Prom NP. Its quite possibly the most beautiful place we've ever been. And its big. As with a lot of National Parks you pay an entrance fee but it was $21 to stay over night so this worked out cheaper some how, and with hot showers it was a bonus. Lush. In more than one sense of the word. Lush and green all around with many side roads leading you down to stunning beaches with names like Whiskey Bay and Squeaky Beach. Walking down to Squeaky Beach the following day we assumed it was named so because when the trees blow in the wind and rub together they squeak.. Its only when you walk on the very white and very soft sand beach you realize its because the sand squeaks on your soles, just like snow does under your feet back home. The weather was awful. Lots of rain coupled with strong winds. Danny erected our awning only for the wind to take it back down moments later, and its because of this that we didn't explore the NP to our hearts content. And as for being pushed for time ( trying to catch up with good weather up the East coast) we chose to move on the next day. We have plans to venture to these parts next January. We did however explore the odd road or two on the way out, Five mile road, to the end and parked up for a walk in between showers. Down to Millers Landing and onto a beach that we only had to share with dozens of black swans and other long legged birds (feathered). We had a kip in the afternoons sudden surprise of sunshine and it felt very good. Well rested and suddenly energised we headed onwards into the late afternoon. Dan has been reading the book, The History of the Kelly gang. We pass places that Dan recognises from the book such as 11 Mile Creek. We are aiming for the little town of Beechworth. Its supposedly where Ned Kelly spent time in jail ( spelt gaol) and the lonely planet guide gushes whole heartedly about the famous Beechworth Bakery so I'm sold on the idea. We spend a couple of hours over a couple of days getting there, whilst stopping along the way at The Lakes Entrance (very touristy), Bairnsdale (very backwards), and through the Alps (very windy and foggy) but the famous Beechworth bakery is very much worth it all. I had a Orange and Almond slice and washed it down with a bottomless cup of tea, whilst Dan had a Death by chocolate slice that did nearly kill him (ha ha Dan nearly got beaten by a chocolate cake…big girl!). After visiting the Ned Kelly tourist attractions we headed on towards the Snowy mountains. WOW! Snow down under! The day after we arrived at the Snowy mountains and into the little skiing village of Thredbo they had their first snow of the season. Lucky us. Ideally we would like to have visited this area during peak time and tried our hand at skiing. And there aren't really any work opportunities here at the moment so we continued with our journey. We were hoping also to secure work for a week or so in nearby Batlow before driving down to Canberra but this was not possible as their crop had been mostly ruined by bad weather so this brought us early to our current destination. Australias capital. Canberra.Here is a wee riddle for you. What sport is known and played worldwide. Has four letters and starts with a T?A couple of new additions to our blog entries are 'This week we have been mostly saying….' and 'Creek of the week'So…. This week we have been mostly saying…Are you a pint, pot or schooner bar?Creek of the week is…..POOR FELLOW ME CREEK.Please enjoy the pics and vids. The soundtrack to which is Jonny Cash over and over and over again. Ha Ha. Earache all round.Keep all your lovely messages coming. We love and miss you all. xx