The world according to babies

Chinnas and Binnas - these are apparently types of bird (likkle birdies) who are red, blue, black and occasionally multicoloured. They live in the forest or sometimes in houses A, B or E. They are also occasionally found in teapots like you pour coffee from. Binnas live in big houses.

Jacket Pies - I have no idea.

Peng pengs - Penguins

Wobberlies - Wallabies

Kangeroos are just too big.

Today was another slow start where I did washing and David and Alex went to buy nappies. The time was punctuated by two phone calls, one from Beyond the Blue to discuss some changes to the trip and the other was from the Best of Melbourne tours to change the pickup time for the afternoon tour. The weather is horrible and is wet and windy.

When David got back we popped out to Subway for some lunch. After lunch we walked to the park in Flagstaff Gardens for a play in the park. The girls had about half an hour or so to play before the weather became too wet and we headed back to the hotel. When we arrived back we had time for a little relax. We were then taken by surprise when the driver arrived early at about 2:30. We rushed down and got in the van. We were the first pickup so we had the choice of seats so we settled into the front 2 rows. The next pickup was at a posh hotel to pickup up a couple of Chinese ladies who seemed OK but I found their perfume pretty overpowering. Our final pickup was at the office and was Afika from Malaysia.

We then headed out of Melbourne and the driver gave some commentary but essentially it was a long trip and I was worried about how the girls would cope with it and especially as Alex was in pant and not a pull up. She did a really good job as it happens. After a while we arrived at Maru which is a small interactive wildlife park where the girls were able to see Koalas and feed and pet the kangaroos and wallabies, or wobberlies as they preferred to call them. The park ranger was very nice and we had chat about the weather and how Victoria needed the rain to help with the fires, they had sadly lost people in them.

Afika gave the girls a bowl of feed for the animals and they both enjoyed feeding the animals or mostly throwing it at them. The kangaroos were a little large and spooked the girls but they did very well. Alex has not grasped that kangaroos are not good at English and her polite requests of 'excuse me, excuse me, that food is for the white one' doesn't really work. We then saw a baby wallaby being fed by bottle and put in his pretend pouch for the night. We then settled back onto the bus for our journey to Phillip Island, as we did so the weather worsened. The driver took us on a drive around the penguin area and explained how it used to be a housing estate but when they decided it was important to protect the penguins and they have bought the land back. A number of residents have decided not to sell and remain so under strict conditions on the repairs and maintenance they are allowed to do on the property and when it becomes unsafe they have to sell to the park. The roads in the area are also closed in the hours of darkness. Our drive let us see some amazing scenery which was windswept and wet, not a good day to take photos. On the drive we also saw a few wild wallabies and two little penguins in a nest under a bush. Looking carefully you could see burrows all over the hillside. Amazing when you consider the cliffs were pretty high and the penguins are about 25 cm tall with no knees.

We arrived at the penguin centre and the lady on the door was pretty rude. If you are checking tickets and not just counting heads then ask to see them rather than assume I know. When we got in we grabbed dinner in the café and Afika joined us. I bought some souvenirs, what a huge queue !

Anyway we went to the viewing platform, it is amazing that when asked to be quiet some people just cannot shut up. We watched a couple of groups come in, they arrived as a group on the waves and the surf popped them bum over head onto the beach. They then waddled up the beach and Alex was beside herself with excitement and happiness to see them. The weather was turning for the worse so we made our way back to the centre. We had a silly photo taken. As we waited for the photo Elizabeth wrapped herself around David's leg as she was Fireman Sam. We then chatted to Afika, her English is really very good even though she does not think so. As she had spent some time with us she asked if she could have her photo taken with the girls and we agreed to and so did the girls. As soon as it was taken we had to whisk the girls away as yet another Japanese tourist was about to start snapping away at them.

Given the weather the driver opened the bus early and we got in and waited for the Chinese ladies. They had asked the driver if they could go back to Melbourne on a big bus as they found the little one too bumpy, so he took a little time to organise that. The journey back took just under 2 hours and was at times 'exciting'. Both girls fell asleep on the way home.