Our First Day in Australia

Post Date: Tuesday August 7, 2018

We filled out our customs forms and deplaned. When we went to check in at the automatic booth, Hunter's passport wasn't being read, so we had to go in the extra assistance line and thankfully it went pretty quick. Then we had to go through a biosecurity line where they checked us with a special sniffer dog. When we finally got out we found a place to sit to figure out our next move. We decided to buy a data plan so we could use the GPS on our drive and post easier to share our adventure. It was $25 AUD for 22 GB of data. After figuring the data plan out, we took an Uber to the rental car spot in downtown Melbourne. It was significantly cheaper to take and Uber downtown to rent a car than to get it at the airport. 

A building on our way to get the rental car

Once we got the rental car, we drove to Woolworths and Aldi's, two grocery chains. Driving was interesting. In Australia they drive on the left side of the road, opposite to how we drive in North America. Even the driver sits where the passenger normally would. Needless to say, our first trip was a little scary, but Hunter did an amazing job at figuring it out and making sure we were safe. 

For lunch we got sushi and we picked up some road trip snacks too. After lunch we began our adventure! We went to Brighton Bathing Boxes. This is where there are brightly colored sheds with paintings on them. It's a pretty popular spot and I finally touched the Pacific Ocean in the Southern Hemisphere. We then headed to Philip Island, a 2 hour drive away, to see the penguins parade at sunset. 

A rare photo of Hunter!

We made sure to get to the penguin sanctuary early as to avoid the crowds and get the best seat possible. It is way out on the point of a fairly remote island sticking into the ocean. You can pay more for better seating or even special underground viewing but Hunter talked me out of it. In the end we got to sit in the front row anyways, with great views, so it all worked out. It seemed to take forever for the penguins to show up and while we were waiting someone in the crowd fed the seagulls. This turned out to be a bad move and led us to being mobbed by aggressive sea gulls in search of more food. The Rangers got very angry and told him to stop. Eventually after the sunset and some light rain, some little penguins showed up! The name of the type of penguins we saw are called "little penguin". They are slightly blue and only 33 cm tall. We don't have any pictures of the penguins because it is against the rules to take photos. It is for the safety and welfare of the penguins, however, you can see photos online the Rangers have of the penguins. You can see the gallery of photos online here!

Waiting for the penguins

After the penguin parade we decided to car camp overnight.