We have completed our Nashi pear picking experience....yay!!! Left Shepparton on Wednesday after a good oz style bbq on our last night. We have kept our tent as we made quite a bit of cash doing work and camping so we're thinking we might repeat the experience if the opportunity arises again.

So we got back to Melbourne on Wednesday, checked into the hostel we were at before and got upgraded to a private twin room, which was lush after staying in a tent for so long. Did some boring admin, banking type stuff and had a bit of a chillout.

Yesterday we went to phillip island and churchill island which was a-maz-ing!!!! I've managed to upload a few photos but not many. They're mainly of me aswell because i'm a bit vain and Lees a bit of a camera dodger. But anyway we started our day at a place called the moonlit sanctuary where we got to cuddle gumbo the koala who might look cute but has super sharp claws so we had to be a bit careful around him. We also got to hold a victorian carpet python which is non venomous and seemed pretty docile. Walking around the park there are wallabies and kangaroos that roam free and you can feed them as you go around, they're all very cute and there were some baby wallabies around too. After this we went to churchill island heritage farm where we watched some sheep shearing and used some moisturiser made from sheep wool grease called lanolin. I had a go at learning to crack a whip. I did hit myself in the head with it a few times but got a few decent cracks to be proud of and was much better than the geordie guy who went before me who kept chickening out and and moaning that no one understood how much it hurt....pansy!!! After seeing me flail around with the whip for a few minutes lee decided he would hang on to his dignity and not have a go. We also got to watch a guy throwing a boomerang properly but didn't have time to have a go, We then went to the koala conservation centre where there were loads of koalas sleeping in the trees and theres an elevated boardwalk so you can walk among them. Then we went to a place called seal rocks and the nobbies where there is an absolutely massive seal colony that sit on the rocks out of the water and because its malting season there were a few miniature penguins on the land. Last but not least we went to the penguin parade which was brilliant. These tiny penguins come out of the water and then they wait until there's a nice big group of them and try and cross the beach but when they start to walk one little penguin gets scared and runs back to the sea and the rest of the group get spooked and follow suit. This happened a good 20 times with one particular group which had a little penguin coward which we named John who kept panicking. There are little penguin homes all around and under the boardwalks so we got to see them really close aswell.

So today we are going to a chocolate restaurant and then maybe up the tallest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere or something like that, We've decided to scrap tasmania as its snowing there and it'll cost about 500 dollars for one night which we cant really afford. Tomorrow we pick up our camper for the great ocean road drive which is as far as the plan goes at the moment.

xxxxxx