The drive to Philip Island was eventful to say the least. We unfortunately fell foul of the toll roads in Melbourne, the annoying thing being that they don't tell you it is a toll road until the last minute and also give you the middle finger by placing a barrier up the middle of the road with a sign saying no u-turns (this annoyance eventually cost us £21 from Hertz rental cars). We eventually made it to Philip Island and spent the night at a nice campsite with laundry facilities (we had started to smell by this point!!). The following morning we headed to Conservation Hill which is, as you can probably guess, a conservation area. They have set up a boardwalk over the top of the wetlands so you can view the wildlife without getting your feet wet or standing on the hundreds of tiny crabs that live in the muddy banks there. We spent a bit of time walking through this area but we were really waiting for the Koala sanctuary to open! Inside the Koala sanctuary they have fenced off a large area of eucalyptus trees to protect and bread the cute little fur balls. To be honest we were a little dissapointed at first as the Koalas were all hiding really high in the trees and we didn't get to see them any clearer than we had on the Great Ocean Road, and then just as we were about to leave a baby Koala came down from his perch in the leaves and paraded along the handrail right next to where we were stood. He seemed to be mugging it to the crowd that had now gathered almost posing for pictures before climbing back up the tree to see mum. This made the whole thing totally worthwhile!!! Following Koala watching we headed to the other side of the island to a place called the Nobbies where they have seal collonies. Unfortunately here the island is too far away to see, even with the zoom lens on my camera. Even when we paid 2 dollars to use the telescpope you still couldn't quite see the seals. They do offer boat trips out to the islands to get a closer look but as you can imagine there is quite a hefty price associated with that. To end our wildlife filled day we bought a ticket to one of the most unusual shows in the world the "Penguin Parade." This is another area on the island where Blue Penguins (the worlds smallest penguins) nest in the shrubs along the seas edge and the same time every day, just after sunset, hundreds of these cute little penguins swim back to the beach and return to their nests to feed their young with regurgitated food they've caught earlier that day (yummy). It really is amazing seeing the little penguins flop out of the sea and then line up like a front line platoon on the edge of the beach before checking the coast is clear and charging up the beach to return to their nests. The funniest part is that they are a little unsteady on their feat so some of them keep falling over as they waddle along.

Philip Island was a true wildlife paradise and we felt it was worth the detour to go check it out. There was another place that we were quite excited about going before we finally dropped our car off in Melbourne, but for very different reasons. After leaving Philip Island we drove north to the Yarra Valley and home to a wealth of Vineyards and Cellar Doors all waiting for us to sample their grape juice... The first place we stopped was the Yering Station Vineyard which the guide books had said was not to be missed. It was true the location was amazing and the restaurant and cellar door buildings were incredible but there was not much life about the place, maybe because it was a Tuesday. So we decided to move on to Tarra Warra vineyard which had an art gallery connected. Again this place was architecturally stunning and offered incredible views over the vineyards and landscape, we had a wine tasting session here and got to try several of their best reds. We drove over to Oak Ridge to take some pictures from their restaurant and then dropped into the Moet and Chandon vineyard for a tour of their "bubbly" wine factory (you can't call it Champagne as it doesn't come from the Champagne region) and were told to our amazement that you actually pronounce the "T" in Moet!!! To mix it up a bit next we hit Punt Road vineyard which had started specialising in Ciders. We had a few tastings but weren't amazingly impressed so left without buying any (it's hard to compete with British ciders to be honest). Feeling slightly tipsy my designated driver Heather whisked us back to Melbourne to drop off the car and get checked into our hostel.

After a lovely sleep in a warm, comfortable bed we felt recovered from the chilly time in the tent and hit Melbourne for some exploring. We ended up in Federation Square which is the cultural hub of Melbourne and home to some really interesting buildings dotted around an undulating public square (like heaven for us architecture geeks). We dropped into the ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) where the displays give an interactive history of all things video, from movies to art and video games. We got so engrossed in the exhibits that we were actually asked to leave as they were closing for the day. On our way back the hotel we stopped to watch a street performer called "Basketball Man". Now I know what you're thinking, that sounds like a show you would want to watch with a man performing loads of tricks with a basketball. Unfortunately for us I think Basketball Man was having a bad day as he kept stopping his show to berate the audience, telling everyone to be quiet while he performed and to move closer so as not to block the sidewalk. It got to the point where we were terrified to leave his show for fear of being yelled at. It was supposed to be a 5 minute show, so he kept saying, but I don't think we'll ever get back the half an hour it actually took. To finish the evening off we walked back to the hostel for a beer in the basement bar and to have a good laugh at the worst street performer ever... The next morning we spent in Victoria Market doing the obligatory souvenir shop, we came away with about 20 mini boomerangs and even more koala beers holding a boomerang or an Australian flag. We had a lovely picnic in a little park overlooking the river and then jumped on a tram to the quirky, hippy end of town St Kilda. After walking round the shops and chilling on the beach we met up with Richard, a mate of mine for some drinks and a catch up. Our last day in Melbourne we spent in the Fitzroy district which is a bit like the trendy Northern Quarter in Manchester. There is a large park in Fitzroy too where they have relocated James Cooks house brick by brick from Yorkshire. We had our lunch outside James Cooks house and went for a wander through the streets of Fitzroy obviously ending up in a quirky bar called Cape Cafe for a few beers. To end our time in Melbourne we decided to have an Australian delicacy called Chicken Parma. This is basically a breaded chicken breast topped with a tomato sauce and cheese and by the way is a taste sensation. At 7 o'clock that evening we hopped on our overnight bus to Sydney and the final part of our Australia tour...