If you ever go to Melbourne, Australia you should spend a whole day at Phillip Island too. It’s only one and a half hours drive from the city and within a day you can discover the whole island, see beautiful animals, get closer to nature.

Plan your trip in advance as some of the “shows” are strictly scheduled and I’m telling you: you don’t want to miss out on any of them!

1. The Nobbies

Nice long boardwalks, beautiful view to the south coast, blowhole – hey note that the blowhole doesn’t really work if the ocean is not wavy:) From here you can see Australia’s second largest fur seal colony as well … well not really… you can see them if you have a nice binocular… but there IS another way to get closer to these cuties… I’ll tell you later how. (Free entry)

2. KOALA COVERSATION CENTRE

It’s so much better than the Zoo. These Koalas are wild animals, they move around as they want to… most of the the times they don’t really want to tho. There are so many and it’s easy to spot them on the trees. ($10 entry/adult)

3. Seal Watching Cruise

After meeting the Koalas go and grab something to eat in Cowes as your next trip will go straight to check out the seals. Now this is a MUST to do.

Seal watching cruises depart from COWES (Rotunda The Esplanade):

Daily at 2.00pm & 4.30pm (Oct to April) (plus 10.45am in peak) and Sat, Sun, Mon, Wed, Fri at 2.00pm (Sept, May. June). If you take the one at 4.30pm, you’ll have just enough time to get to Penguin Parade.

It’s around $60 but it is worth the money. You’ll see 5-6000 seals very very close to the boat, they smell, they sound like drunken people in the pub, they play, they are so hilarious that you just can’t stop laughing.

The tour is around 2 hours and straight after you can grab your stuff and drive to Penguin Parade.

4. Penguin Parade

I think this could be the highlight of your trip. (I’d buy the tickets online in advance as then you don’t have to line up and believe me this show is always packed). These penguins are the smallest ones on the Southern Hemisphere and just around 9pm in little groups they all come out from the ocean and waddle up the beach to feed the little ones.

You are not allowed to take pictures there (that’s why I don’t have any here) as it would scare the birdies away but it’s all good as the experience is simply unforgettable.

The show starts at around 9pm but you’ll have to be there by 7pm to get the best spot. If you buy a general pass try to go to the right hand side corner, sit on the sand so no one can block the view – it really did work for me.

If you’re a crazy one like me you can drive straight back to Melbourne, you’d be there by midnight, if not chose a safer way and stay over at Phillip Island.

Other attractions:

• Churchill Island – working farm with cattle, ducks, chicken, horses etc.
• Several boardwalks, tracks around the island.
• A Maze’N Things – good for kids, for me it was a waste of time.

(Prices mentioned in this blog might change)

Pictures in this article are all copyrighted by the author Melinda Balazs.