Where to go and what to see in Australia!
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Phillip Island

Phillip Island Map

Introduction

Phillip Island is another of Australia's natural wonderlands, blessed as it is with penguins, koalas, fur seals and a host of other wildlife.

Considerably smaller than Kangaroo Island, Phillip is just 26 km long and 9 km wide and is connected to the mainland by a bridge of just 640 metres.

Around 7,000 people live permanently on the island, but this swells to around 40,000 during the Aussie summer and around 3.5 million people visit each year.

Phillip Island Circuit hosts two major international motorcyle events with both the Superbike World Championship and the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. For the petrol heads, it's also open for go karts ($28)!

Getting there

Phillip Island is around a two hour 140 km drive from Melbourne, with the sat nav saving us a $10 road toll by way of a 20 minute detour.

If you get there early enough, you can watch the Pelican feeding at 11:30 each morning at Davis Point just before the bridge onto the island.

Where to stay

If you choose to stay on the island, there is a range of accommodation in Cowes. We stayed an extra night in Melbourne because of an early flight the next day and that seemed just as practical.

Koala Sanctuary

3 km beyond the information centre, your first stop is the Koala Conservation Centre ($10 each). It has two enclosures which are both awesome places to get up close to the bears for some really good photos. If it wasn't for the penguins, this would be the island highlight! That just goes to show how good the penguins are!

Phillip Island Wildlife Park

We didn't quite make it to the wildlife park ($15), having seen or planned to see many of the animals elsewhere and being a bit short for time, but it does come well recommended.

As does Smith's Beach on the way to the penguins, which was pretty if a little deserted in the dodgy weather.

The Penguin Parade

Every day at dusk Summerland Bay hosts Australia's most popular wildlife event - the Little Penguin parade.

Buy tickets at the information centre (on your left just after crossing onto the island) to avoid the queues and they'll tell you what time you need to get there. They'll also give you a great map of the island's attractions to help you get about.

If you have time, visit The Nobbies, right on the south western tip for a boardwalk around the rugged coast.

Between October and December, up to 16,000 fur seals - Australia's largest colony - gather here to breed at Seal Rocks. The rocks are around 1 km offshore, but steerable video cameras in the visitor centre can be directed by the public to get a closer look.

Where to next?

Back to Melbourne or on to Port Douglas


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