The Great Ocean Road: Numero Uno

The Great Ocean Road really and truly is Great! The name is not just a marketing ploy, it is true! In fact, it is so great that I am making it my personal mission to get each and every person I know to go on this holiday "straight away!" 

We flew from Sydney into Melbourne on an easy 1.5 hour flight. The boys were immediately disappointed at the entertainment offerings on the 737 as they are accustomed to the A380. I think the feeling melted away as soon as they got off the plane in the same hemisphere, in the same day, in less time than it takes to board the A380.

From Melbourne it was a 2 hour drive to Phillip Island to see THE PENGUINS! OMG! These little guys are the cutest littlest bluest penguins I have ever seen. We stayed in Cowes, a super cute little town, with the requisite awesome playground. If you stay at fantastic The Waves Hotel you will be right across the street from it! As a side on life here in Oz, along the way we stopped in a tiny, nameless, no gas station town that had a $20,000 playground. Baffling and wonderful!

And they just keep coming...thousands literally!
They are coming up to do a number of different things
depending on the season. Jan/Feb is chick feeding
time. You can hear the little chicks calling for their Mamas, awww.

"Self" Portrait #1 Cowes

Can you see "Prince Phillip" the penguin in his hand?

"Self" Portrait #2, Cowes

Start 'em young! 

his "iPad"

At the Koala Conservation Center

What is the sign in the back warning against???
Giving koalas large torch like enemas if I had to guess.

KOALA!!!

The boys are nothing if not surprising!
The winery visits were some of their best times on the trip.
No, we did not mellow them out with a good Pinot.
The wineries all have toy bins and some have playgrounds!

CH took this picture! I love it!
Churchill Island Heritage Farm
(pretty boring in our opinion)

Beautiful, yet still boring

Playing checkers at Phillip Island Winery

Yes, I promise these are my children relaxing at a winery

Ahhh, that's more like it!
At the Phillip Island Circuit,
which they would have thought was waaay cool if they were just a bit older.

Losers acting like winners :)

The Nobbies Phillip Island...incredible, breathtaking, unreal!

Oh, he was so so so happy to go to the chocky factory on PI.
His cheapo parents decided to skip the $30/pp factory tour.
Confusion and hysteria ensued, until samples were doled out.

TWINS!

In the Mornington Peninsula

After Phillip Island we drove through the Mornington Peninsula(famous for wine) to Sorrento
to catch the fairy to Queenscliffe to start the GOR.
A dolphin entertained us most of the way, jumping, doing barrel turns and just being amazing!
I wish we had more time in both Sorrento and Queenscliffe, they looked great as we passed through.

Yes, a playground on the ferry.

I wish this pic from the ferry turned out...
as one of the residents had their own helicopter pad on the beach.
I could not make it up!

That night we slept in Torquay, at the Wyndhamhotel, not the car to be clear...stay tuned!