Last weekend I had the opportunity to go on a two day, one night excursion to Philip Island that was included in our study abroad trip! It was a free trip, so of course I was going to take advantage of it!

We started the trip by going on a hike through the Dandenong ranges, small mountains outside of Melbourne. It was pretty, but it wasn't anything spectacular, so it's not a must-do if you have the opportunity to come to Melbourne! Inside the ranges was this sculpture sanctuary made by William Rickett. It was beautiful and one of my favorite parts of the trip because the trails were small and surrounded by beautiful ferns with so many half-hidden sculptures peeking through!

After the sanctuary, we headed over to the nobbies, where the largest fur seal population is located, then made our way over to the beach where penguins come up every night to these huts to sleep before they go back out to the water in the morning! They were adorable and waddled in little huddles! I snuck a few pictures when they walked past the boardwalk as we were leaving because they were too cute to resist!

After being on our feet all day, we finally went back to our hostel and slept! The matresses were awful and both my friend and I had terrible headaches when we woke up but we grinned and beared it since we had a lot of traveling and more activities ahead of us!

The next destination was a koala sanctuary wehre we saw koalas up close and personal in their natural habitats, eucalyptus trees. After the sanctuary, we headed to Churchhill Island to a farm where we learned about sheep shearing, cow milking, sheep herding, and bull whip cracking! (which I failed at but I'll still upload the video soon!)

After the farm, it was time to head home, but not before taking a stroll on the biggest surfers beach in Victoria to stretch our legs out before the three hour ride! The beach was beautiful and a great way to end our trip before we headed back to reality of school work and just hanging out around town!

I'm excited for my trip to Thailand in two weeks! I promise to be smart and safe while I'm there for anyone who is worried! I'll probably update once before going there for Easter Break, then the following update will be about my trip!

Cheers!