For the next three days we are on the great ocean road trip with Bernie, Natalie, Alan, Cristina, Maggie and Mark.

We set off about 9am on Tuesday to our first stop of the day, the Twelve Apostles. The sun was shining and we enjoyed a nice walk along the cliff tops taking a few pictures along the way. Only nine of the Apostles were still standing but those remaining were still impressive, tall wind/ sea carved rock structures.

A little further along the great ocean road we walked down Gibson steps to the beach. We had fun (well, Stephen and Bernie had fun) racing the waves back up the beach. Unfortunately, Bernie's practical joke of putting one of Christina's flip flops in the path of a big wave backfired when he ended up getting soaked himself. He then spent the next hour or so of the trip dangling his soaked trainers out of the window of the car!
Later that day, we ended up in a seaside village called Lorne. We arrived around 5pm, had a quick change and then headed to the sea front for cocktails and something to eat. After everyone else had gone to bed, Stephen, Bernie, Natalie and I took a bottle of wine down to the beach and watched the waves crashing in as we got progressively more inebriated!

The following day we checked out and grabbed an al fresco breakfast in the sun before hitting the road again. We had quite a long drive ahead of us to get to Phillip island where we were staying in a place called Cowes. On the way we passed through towns called Rhyll and Anglesey and i was starting to think i was back in Wales until i realised that the weather wouldn't be so good.

Our first stop was a little town called Sorrento, which we reached by ferry. It was another hot and sunny day, perfect road trip weather! We stopped for lunch and a look around Sorrento and then took to the road again. When we arrived in Cowes we had to check in and get back in the car in about 10 minutes as we were going to see the Penguin Parade.

The Penguin parade is a nightly event where you can observe the little penguins returning to their burrows for the night after a long day at sea. We arrived at about 6.30pm and took some seats on the steps, cordoned off from the beach. We then had to play a waiting game. As the sun crept lower in the sky, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. Just as the sun went down we caught our first view of the penguins. They nervously hopped out of the sea and stood in a line viewing the beach ahead. We were told by the warden that this is the most dangerous time of day for the penguins as some of them have to waddle up to 1.5 km's to their burrows, much of this being out in the open.

We willed them on and suddenly after one of them started quacking loudly the group, known as a raft quickly waddled across the beach in single file until they reached the relative safety of the sand dunes. As the first group crossed the beach we noticed another raft appear further up the beach and watched similar events unfold. Some of the penguins were particularly chubby and they were going through the moult which is a time they have to eat much more than usual. They literally had to drag themselves up the beach, their belly's on the floor, stopping occasionally as if to catch their breath! It was very cute and funny to watch.

After about half an hour and several rafts of penguins later, we decided to walk through the dunes to observe the penguins from the numerous viewing platforms. This was highly amusing and they could be seen waddling along in single file, wings flapping at their sides, white belly's sometimes dragging on the floor as they quacked manically! Once they reached their burrows they appeared to stand guard outside, though I think they were catching their breath before calling it a night!

Eventually we headed back to our cars. We had been warned to check under our car before driving off as sometimes the penguins hide under them. Luckily there was no penguin present so we were in our way relatively quickly. It was a great way to spend an evening!

The following day we visited a few wineries on the way back to Melbourne. Another hot and sunny day and 3 contrasting wineries. The first was a small, family run business. As we drove up the gravel path we were greeted by a Golden retriever bounding down the path and then the owner closely followed.we had a choice of about 6 different wines and we particularly liked the red, slightly sparkling one so bought a bottle. After having a wander around the Rose garden and a play with the dog we headed down the road to winery number 3, a bigger and slightly soulless place. We didn't stay long and we were glad we moved onto the 3rd winery when we did as it was fantastic. We were the only people there and the owner pulled out about 10 assorted wines for us to try. The tasting room was in a large shed like structure. He had an old fashioned record player in there which he put on for background music and then prepared plates of nibbles for us to eat whilst we soaked up the views of the valley below from the balcony. We stayed for about 2 hours and enjoyed 3 bottles of wine between us. Much to my surprise, my favourite was the 2005 Riesling, very nice indeed.

We then headed home for a chilled out evening in. Natalie cooked for us again.