Short trips

Phillip Island is a family adventure playground, an easy 90 minute drive from Melbourne. There are activities and attractions to be enjoyed by all ages here, including spectacular coastal scenery, wildlife to view and beaches.

And also very busy during the summer school holidays. We booked into a caravan park on the outskirts of Cowes, the main township on the Island, and headed off with the three grandsons for five days of adventures.

The Nobbies, nesting Silver Gulls and Koalas

We prefer things natural and Phillip Island offers that in abundance. We started at the Nobbies, which is situated right at the western most tip of the Island overlooking Bass Strait. The point is called the Nobbies because of the rock formations in the shallows. Here visitors can explore the boardwalks along the cliff tops where silver gulls, Cape Barren geese and penguins nest.

The Antarctic Journey is located in the Nobbies Visitor Centre. This is an interactive experience of life in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. There are activities to educate and entertain. Then, as an amazing surprise, share in an audio visual spectacle as penguins, seals and orcas appear on the screen with you.

Next on our visiting list was the Koala Conservation Reserve. Treetop boardwalks provide close up views of Koalas as they go about their daily activities, which was mainly sleeping.

We also saw Koalas high up in some of the trees as we strolled along the bushland trail, as well as an echidna and a wallaby too.

Penguins and more

But the Penguin Parade at dusk is a highlight of any wildlife activity on Phillip Island and not to be missed. After a long day fishing, the Little Penguins form groups at the waters’ edge. Then they make a dash across the sand, to climb over the hills to reach their homes and chicks. You have to admire the tenacity and resilience of these hardy birds.

You can also see penguins on their pathways beside the boardwalks as they head towards home.

Since the penguin parade starts at sunset, it is wise to wear warm clothes and take a rug to sit on while you wait.

Churchill Island is a small island located just across a narrow bridge from Phillip Island. This historical precinct was the first farmed site in Victoria. Enjoy some farming activities here with blacksmithing, sheep shearing and working dogs amongst the offerings. And explore the historical buildings, grounds and gardens.

Churchill Island walks provide views over Westernport Bay as well as bird-watching opportunities.

Phillip Island – Family Adventure at the beach

But now it was time to hit the beaches and we headed for Smiths Beach. And so did a lot of others. As a popular beach, it is patrolled by life savers in the summer months. The boys were soon in, enjoying the surf and later exploring around the rock pools.

Smiths Beach is ideal for older children and adults. For families with younger children, Cowes beach facing onto Westernport Bay’s calmer waters is more suitable.

There are several walks on Phillip Island offering stunning coastal views of the beaches, cliffs and rock formations.

Cape Woolamai, the highest point on Phillip Island, is one of these. This walk starts at Woolamai, with a walk along the beach, before climbing the stairs to the loop walk on top of the cliffs. The lookout at the highest point provides expansive views of San Remo, Kilcunda and more.

Another clifftop track with some more spectacular coastal views starts near Pyramid Rock, another of Phillip Island’s sculptured rock formations.

Phillip Island also offers several touristy attractions including ‘Amazing Things’ and the Chocolate Factory where you will find Panny’s Amazing World of Chocolate. Who could resist a tour through the chocolate making process that includes fascinating facts, interactive machines, free samples and a liquid wall of chocolate to amaze? – not us!

Entry tickets to the Penguin Parade, Churchill Island, Antarctic Journey and Koala Conservation Park are booked from https://www.penguins.org.au/buy-tickets/. Tickets can be individually purchased for each attraction or as a discounted package for all four.

We really had a fun time for five days. With its beaches, wealth of natural places to spy wildlife, walking trails and range of attractions, plus its proximity to Melbourne, Phillip Island really is the place for a family adventure holiday.

The Tarra Valley is a very pretty area, situated between Traralgon and Yarram in West Gippsland.

The unprecedented scale and extent of the recent bushfires of East Gippsland affected the lives and homes of the people and damaged the native forests and wildlife across an enormous area.

Now in the aftermath of the fires townships and local businesses, not in the area of the fires, were struggling as holidaymakers travelled away from the areas close to the still burning fires.

Even while the fires were still at their worst, local businesses in nearby areas were already feeling the effects due to lack of visitors during what should have been their busiest period.

Just when we were preparing for our annual short trip with the grandkids, I heard one of these struggling businesses, the Tarra Valley Caravan Park, reaching out for visitors on the radio. Sothis was where we headed.

The Tarra Valley

Tarra Valley in West Gippsland seemed like a good choice, as it’s only two and a half hours from home. And it was several hours away from the fires still burning further east.

The access to the caravan park from Yarram, is via the Tarra Valley Road. This is a windy narrow strip of bitumen that follows the Tarra River as it enters Tarra-Bulga National Park.

Along the way, the road passes two caravan parks and our choice was the second one. This is just a small park, perched on the side of a hill, with cabins and powered and unpowered sites, all neatly laid out in a treed setting.

The river babbles close by and if you dangle a line you might catch a trout.

And on this occasion, there was plenty of room for the children to play due to the lack of visitors to the caravan park. There was a playground and room for cricket and frisbee throwing and exploring and paddling along the river bank. The park owners were serving Devonshire teas or coffees, which were popular with park visitors.

What to see and do nearby?

Tarra-Bulga National Park

The park, features giant mountain ash and myrtle beach, plus tree ferns that dominate in gullies and provide shade on the walking tracks beside creeks. Only a few kilometres from the caravan park along windy Tarra Valley Road brings the visitor to a parking and picnic area. From here an easy walk meanders through a rainforest gully on a well-defined circuit track passing Cyathea Falls.

The waterfall is named after the dominant fern found here Cyathea australis, or rough tree fern, which is one of the tallest growing tree ferns in Australia.

The Visitor Centre of the park is located near Balook, a tiny township found at the top of the range on the Grand Ridge Road. There are several walks through the forest from here, the most popular leads to Corrigan Suspension Bridge. The bridge, which stretches across the rainforest canopy, offers excellent views of the lush fern gully below.

Choose from a selection of walks to see the bridge and return by a different route. We took the Scenic Track, which went higher along the ridge through mountain ash and cool temperate rainforest.

Port Albert, Woodside Beach and Port Welshpool

Established in 1841 by explorer Angus Macmillan, Port Albert is one of Victoria’s oldest seaports, and became the major supply port for pioneers and gold miners. This was until the railway connected Melbourne with Sale in 1878.

There are a number of historic buildings remaining in Port Albert, but our major interest in the town that day was the café selling ‘the best fish and chips’. It received our tick of approval.

From Port Albert we headed for Woodside Beach at the beginning of the 90-mile beach, which stretches – well, 90 miles east from here to Lakes Entrance. This wide sandy beach is ideal for swimming and surfing the waves. Soon the two young boys and the old boy were in enjoying the water and under the watchful eye of the life guard.

Port Welshpool is well-known for its historical Long Jetty. The Jetty has been completely renovated and restored after a fire and decay from exposure to the elements had closed it for many years.

It is now used for walking and recreational fishing, with the historic Broman Diving Bell, used by divers in the Bass Strait oil industry, and a shelter shed located near the end of the jetty. The shelter shed provided welcome shelter from the stiff, cold breeze that was blowing.

There are many more activities to entertain in this very diverse area. These include driving the Grand Ridge Road for spectacular views over Wilsons Promontory, enjoying a beer at a boutique brewery at Mirboo North or visiting Mini Ha Ha waterfall at Hiawatha or Agnes Falls near Toora.

Despite the rain that poured down while we were trying to pack up, we thoroughly enjoyed our time here. The Tarra Valley is a great place for a short getaway.

We’ve just added another great short trip destination to our getaway list – Wilsons Promontory National Park

We took off for a few days camping with 3 of our grandsons.

Wilsons Promontory is a place of spectacular scenery, pristine beaches, rainforests and heathlands, sand dunes and kilometres and kilometres of walking tracks.

Situated at the most southern point of mainland Australia, Wilsons Promontory National Park is only a 2½ hour drive from Melbourne CBD on bitumen roads all the way to Tidal River, the main camping area of the park.

The weather was hot on the first day so we chose the beach at Tidal River where it enters into Norman Bay. Here a long sweeping beach is bounded at each end by headlands. The sea surged gently towards shore with a wide shallow area that suited swimmers and paddlers of all ages – the younger and older generations amongst the breaking waves, toddlers and watchful parents playing in the shallows.

Good fun, but there was more to see, so after an ice cream from the General Store (where there was a long queue of similar-minded buyers) we headed for Squeaky Beach to see if we could find some squeaky sand.

We did find some squeaky sand, enough to satisfy all expectations and also found a smaller bay than Norman with less people and bigger waves.

The boys and their grandfather were soon in and so was their grandmother, enticed in by the crystal clear sea, the hot blue sky and water that turned out to be not too cold. (I don’t think I have been swimming at a beach for well over 20 years).

We all enjoyed it so much that we were back the next day.

There are many walks of varied lengths available for all abilities at Wilsons Promontory. Many of the walks involve overnight hikes, but we were only interested in short walks and there are many to choose from.

Our first choice was Lilly Pilly Nature Walk, an easy 5.2 kilometre stroll through heathland and eucalypt forest to a boardwalk loop in the creek gully rainforest. Of wildlife, there were birds, lizards and cicadas aplenty.

Big Drift walk was our other choice and a major hit with the boys. This walk is accessed from Stockyards camping area, found just inside the park entrance. The well signposted walk is easy until the last 10 metres, which goes steeply up through very soft sand onto the top of the dunes. Was all that effort worth it?

Yes!

With views over the sea to the west and the mountains to the south, our boys had a great time exploring the expansive landscape of inland sand dunes revealed here.

We also visited Picnic Bay and viewed the nearby Whisky Bay. We could have spent more time at both these spots.

Car parking and toilets are provided at most sites. There is a huge camping area at Tidal River, but as summer time is very busy one needs to book online in June (the previous year) to get a site.

We didn’t book in June, instead we went to Yanakie Caravan Park on Corner Inlet and enjoyed ourselves there.  The caravan park is only 5 minutes from the park entrance and an easy drive to Tidal River and other places of the Prom.

All in all, Wilsons Promontory is an ideal place for a short trip getaway, with something to offer all the family.