St. Kilda and Phillip Island

On our last full day in Melbourne we decided to visit St. Kilda, which is a suburb near Melbourne that is accessible by tram. We didn't explore St. Kilda that much except to walk near the beach and onto the pier.

Wombat enjoyed the view from the boardwalk.


Out on the pier in St. Kilda, they have their own little penguin viewing area. While we were there, we found some hiding in their home!


After St. Kilda, we headed home to make the drive to Phillip Island. Phillip Island is a 2.5 hour drive from Melbourne and is connected to land by one bridge. The island itself is relatively small and we were able to enjoy dinner facing the beach before heading to the Penguin parade.

Wombat enjoyed his time on the beach. He even found a little seashell as a hat.


We got to the Penguin place a bit early and had time to kill in the shops. Wombat wanted to fit in with the other animals.


Wombat was even treated like a joey!


Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any photos of the penguins. I wanted to sneak one in but was afraid of getting caught. If you ever have the chance to go to Melbourne, you MUST see the penguins. There are thousands of them and you get to see them cross the beach and then they will all walk towards their home. They have built boardwalks all along their path, so that you can get up close to them.

After you leave the place, don't forget to check under your car! The penguins are looking for any kind of shelter and they might think it's a home!


This was our last full day in Melbourne and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Another funny food story for the readers: In St. Kilda, we were getting a light lunch and Cindy was in charge of ordering at the counter. When she came back, she told us that she had gotten a side of cous cous as well. I hadn't seen it on the menu so I had asked her where to point it out. She pointed to the "Shredded Cos Salad". I couldn't help laughing because in Australia, all their lettuce terms are different than in the US. Rocket = Arugula. Cos = Romaine. So instead of a cous cous dish, we were getting a salad dish. The best part was that even though it had said "shredded" in the dish, she still thought it was cous cous. Cindy, we love you. =)

On our final day in Melbourne, the only exciting thing we did was convince Dave to have pho for breakfast. For those who don't know it, David is one of those people who will only eat breakfast foods for breakfast. When I eat anything not thought of as a breakfast food (which I constantly do), he thinks it's weird. David was willing to eat because of a couple of reasons. He had been up for awhile so it wasn't too early in the day and in Vietnam they often have pho for breakfast. We stopped at a restaurant that claimed that Bill Clinton had eaten there and we weren't the only ones there! The restaurant was about half full at 10:15 AM. What a great way to start our day with a big bowl of pho in our tummies. yum.