Koalas, racing, and farm

After the penguins, we spent the night on Phillip Island.  There are quite a few other attractions on the island so we thought we would make a day of it.  First thing we did was go to the koala conservation center.  They have koalas living in 2 separate groups. (The males have to be separated).  I knew they lived in trees, but it was amazing to see a koala sound asleep in the crook of a tree 20 feet off the ground.  Koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day, so most of them were asleep, but we were lucky to see 2 of them awake, eating, and moving around.  There are rangers at the conservation center that go around every hour and move special signs to where the koalas are located.  This makes them much easier to find.

Ready to see the koalas

Hanging out in the trees

Koala eating lunch

There was a whole group of wallabies living in the koala center

After we left the koala center, we went to the Grand Prix Circuit.  Tom had noticed it on the map right away and really wanted to make a visit.  You can hear the race cars from all over the island.  Phillip Island hosts racing events and there are drivers practicing on a regular basis.  They also have a go-cart track, but the kids weren't tall enough to do it.  We had a good time sitting and watching the racers until they stopped for lunch.  We decided it was time for us to leave and get lunch as well.  

Future race car driver?

Practicing his game face

Watching the racers

The turnstiles were from the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne

After lunch, we went to Churchill Island Heritage Farm, a historic working farm.  We got to watch a cow getting milked and both the kids got to have a go.  We also saw them shear a sheep.  I had never seen that before and was surprised and how roughly they handled the sheep (although it makes sense, they probably aren't very cooperative).  We also saw a horse whip demonstration and looked at the historic house.  We also made a brief stop at the Chocolate Factory (we decided to skip the tour and just buy some chocolate at the store) before leaving Phillip Island.  

Charlotte milking a cow

Tommy's turn

Sheep shearing

We had a couple hour drive to Geelong to spend the night which is near the start of the Great Ocean Road.  We ordered a pizza when we got to our hotel.  I had ordered a meat pizza and was surprised when it arrived loaded with meat and almost no cheese.  We saw this shredded ham at several pizza places on our trip, but never a pizza with this much meat.  Overall, it was a fun but very long day.