Day 3 off the edge

Today we are aboard the Poseidon for an adventure off the edge of
Australia. We venture through the Great Barrier Reef to the edge of
the Continental Shelf. Minki (sp.) whales have been seen in the area
and we hope to be able to swim with them. The captain of the Poseidon
is highly-recommending the taking of sea sick tablets. Must be rough
out there.

Are we there yet?

Yes we are. 11 hours door to door.

One more wait

This should be the last wait... Shuttle but to the hire car place.
Nice to be able to stand for a while and give the kids a run around
before we put them in a car for a couple more hours.

Sunny, hot and wonderful

We've landed! Coming out of the plane we bump into Andrew. We always
seem to see each other hundreds of miles away from where we live. He's
headed back to the cold and wet whereas we are headed for a relaxing
holiday. Now where do we pick up the bags again...

Foggy at the airport

After an efficient transfer to the airport we are faced with a
mounting list of delayed flights. Including ours! News of the day:
brent's basketball team are through to the finals after a nail-biting
game last night (36-33). Julia Gillard is challenging Kevin07 for The
Lodge, and the Socceroos won this morning (2-1). Gotta love life.

Ready, set, GO!

Early start and we're waiting for the shuttle bus. We're getting very
good at this.

Feeding Time

Mogo Family

Pack of Feral Kids

Feral Kid

Iguana

Tim the white Lion

Meet Tim at Mogo Zoo.

Mogo Zoo

We spent much of today at the Mogo Zoo. A lovely variety of animals
you would not see in Sydney or Melbourne.

Here is the amazing white lions.

Ulladulla

For our last night we have found ourselves in Ulladulla.

Windy

The only thing to do on Moruya Beach today is fly kites! Brrrr.

Moruya Beach (Sth)

Looking south on Moruya Beach

Moruya

We have stopped in Moruya for the night. Our site has lovely views of
the mountains in the background and fields with cows close by. There
is a river on the other side of our camp site though not very good for
swimming.

Shady Tree Parking

Cows and Bulls

Milkshake anyone?

The milk and cheese is yummy.

Every Dairy Farmer's Dream

Three udders per cow. Imagine how much milk and cheese you could get
out of this cow!

Say Cheese!

To make good cheese you need a cow! Here is the cow at the entrance to
the Bega cheese factory. Moooooo.

Merimbula from up high

A better view of Merimbula.

Merimbula

Main street Merimbula.

Pambula

Parking was a little tricky. We managed to get a spot in front of the
surf club.

Swim at Pambula Beach

An earlier than usual start fir the day allowed us to have a swim at
Pambula Beach. Crystal clear water and beautiful white sand was a very
inviting sight. The water was still a bit cool for some of the campers
but it was a great way to freshen up!

Eden Beach

Nothing like a stroll along the beach after dinner.

Been Fishin'

We have stopped in Eden for the night and have found a powered site
at....The Garden of Eden Caravan Park. Wasn't hard to pick that name
was it! When you're in a fishing town you have to have fish for
dinner so we found the fish & chip shop and have ordered up big.

Cann River - Lunch break

We have pushed on from Lakes Entrance and are heading for Eden is the
little ones can hold out. We have stopped in Cann River Victoria for a
bit of lunch at 2pm. We found a lively piece of shade under a tree in
front of the local Police Station.

Great Spot

Lakes Entrance is a lovely place. Looks like you need a boat to take
full advantage of what the area has to offer though.

Pelicans at Lakes Entrance

We had a lovely stay in Lakes Entrance and went to check out the
Pelicans and let the kids go to the skate park. We had to make some
running repairs to Natasha's scooter. The local auto parts shop had
what we needed.

iPhone art by Dean

Dean whipped this up on the iPhone. Copyright 2010 Dean

Ensuite!

That's us tucked in on the left hand side. Pretty cool out today. Nice
blue water and the boys spotted a skate park on the way into town.
Guess what they're asking us to do next! We need to catch up on the
washing first. Sausages on the BBQ tonight.

Lakes Entrance

1825 kms into the trip we find ourselves at Lakes Entrance. We have
the deluxe suite with ensuite swimming pool, ensuite playground and
ensuite kamp kitchen. Everything at our fingertips really. A steal at
$40 a nite. Yes they stole $40 from us!

Traralgon

When the van is moving they want to get out. When the van is stopped
they don't want to get out. Hmmm something wrong here.

Traralgon

We left Phillip Island at about 10:30am and we are headed for Lakes
Entrance for the night. Here we are having a quick ploughman's lunch.
Bread and a variety of fillings such as chocolate spread (Brent found
that) peanut butter, strawberry jam, vegemite and some real
strawberries all washed down with a fine red (cordial of course).

Penguins!

Well you can't see any penguins here. They came in at 9:15pm. Cute
little things. 30cm tall and they come up the beach in groups ranging
from 4 to 14 (at least this is what we saw).

Waiting...

I sneaked this one on. Heaps of people coming out tonight. The gate
opens at 7pm and the Penguins are expected at 9pm.

Our Penguins

As you are not allowed to take photos of the real penguins we took a
photo of our 4 penguins with a penguin we found outside the penguin
centre.

Penguin Parade

We are heading out to see the Fairy Penguins later. We have two of our
own to add to the parade.

Weary Traveler

It was a long day for this little man.

Phillip Island

Today we travelled from Woodend to Phillip Island. It took longer than
we expected. We managed to find a powered site for the night. Geez
it's packed here.

New Year's Rain

Thunder, lightning, hail, heavy rain & some sunshine has been the
order for New Year's day weather. Great for the bushfire threat, the
animals and the crops.