11 May 2019 
After spending several days in Melbourne city, we started our 7-day road trip to visit Phillip Island, Dandenong Ranges, Grampians National Park and the Great Ocean Road.
We collected our rental car from Avis at the Southern Cross Station. The lady at Avis was kind to advise the best route out from the city, avoiding the dreaded hook-turn only found in Melbourne where you use the left lane to turn right. This hook-turn manoeuvre is not so intuitive for visitors driving in Melbourne city for the first time.
It was a Saturday morning, so traffic in the city was light. Unfortunately, road works forced us to take a detour and I had to do a hook turn in order to get back to our recommended route.
It was a good thing I had done some prior research. The hook-turn was not difficult after all.
It was rainy weather as we drove south towards Phillip Island. It took us about 2 hours to get to San Remo, a lively seaside town located at the gateway to Phillip Island.
We knew about the pelican feeding that takes place on the beach next to the San Remo pier daily at noon. The sky cleared just as we parked our car at San Remo Pier. We could see a couple of wild pelicans already loitering by the beach.
Fish and chips lunch at San Remo Fisherman's Co-op restaurant before the Pelican feeding.
The San Remo Fisherman's Co-op restaurant by the pier serves the best fish and chips in town, featuring fish straight off the boats, as well as healthy grilled options, and even delectable crayfish platters. We had ample time for lunch before the pelican feeding starts at noon.
Pelican Feeding at San Remo Beach
By noon, a crowd had gathered by the beach. Similarly, more wild pelicans had also gathered for the daily snack.
A lady arrived in her truck and started unloading boxes of fish. We could feel the excitement levels rising in both birds and men.
While giving the birds their daily snack, the crowd was also given information about the pelicans, their diet, lifestyle and how we can improve conservation and environmental efforts to protect these and similar species.
The pelicans that came for the feeding are wild birds and able to fish on their own. They are not dependent on the daily feeding to survive. In fact, the amount of food given at the daily feeding is just a tiny snack for them.
We learnt that the male and female birds looked almost exactly alike. We also learnt how experts estimate the age of the birds. The younger bird has whiter eye ring while the older birds tends to have yellowish eye ring.
The pelican has a large pouch on their lower beak. They will always swallow the fish head first. The edge of the upper beak has a sharp and nasty hook!
The pelican feeding is very entertaining, educational and is free to watch.
Hike to Pinnacles Lookout at Cape Woolamai
We drove to Cape Woolamai, located on the south-eastern tip of Phillip Island. Cape Woolamai is the highest point on Phillip Island and has nice walking trails that feature breath-taking panoramic views of cliffs carved by wind and waves.
There are a few walking trails to choose from, namely the Pinnacles walk (4 kilometres), the Old Granite Quarry Walk (6 kilometres) and the Cape Woolamai Beacon Walk (6.6 kilometres).
We parked our car at the Cape Woolamai Lifesaving Club’s car park next to the surfing beach and started on the trail to the Pinnacles Lookout.
The trail to The Pinnacles is approximately 4 kilometres in length with an estimated walking time of 2 hours return.
Getting onto Woolamai Beach from the car park.
The first part of the trail involves walking on the beach. The trail is only accessible during low tides. Woolamai Beach is one of Victoria’s most popular surfing beaches but no surfers were spotted on this day with inclement weather. Or maybe it was low tide.
It was good to see the sun shining as we started our walk along the beach but there are forbidding looking grey clouds looming in the distance and also behind us. We were not deterred since we came with weather-proof clothing.
After following the beach for approximately five hundred metres, there was wooden stairs leading up to the cliffs above.
The next section of the walk to the Pinnacles would be along the cliffs above. There were not many hikers on this day. We met a couple of hikers on their way back to the beach.
“As changeable as the weather”…as the saying goes. The dark clouds we saw in the distance were soon above us.
Looking back, we could see the entire length of Woolamai Beach.
It started to rain just before we arrived at the Pinnacles Lookout. Accompanying the rain was some strong wind. Thankfully, there was no lightning as we were quite exposed on top of the coastal cliffs.
The rain stopped just as we arrived at the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are formed by years and years of volcanic activity and erosion.
More rain clouds were heading our way, so it was not wise to linger at the lookout point. Anyway, the rock formations were not too impressive.
Just as we were leaving, a couple with a toddler showed up proving this trail is not too difficult even for family with young children.
The sun came out again as we were on our way back to the beach.
On our way back, we spotted many tiny snails emerging from the sandy trail, probably attracted by the water that seeped into the sand.
Evening walk at the Nobbies
After checking into the Seahorse Motel at Cowes, we headed out to the Nobbies, located at the westernmost end of Phillip Island and just 5 minutes from the Penguin Parade.
As we drove along the road to the Nobbies car park, we spotted some small red brown kangaroos on the side of the road. We did not stop since the road was quite narrow.
Also located at this area is the Nobbies Antarctic Centre but we were more interested to just walk the scenic trail on the Nobbies Boardwalk instead.
Map of the Nobbies Boardwalk.
Nobbies Boardwalk with Antarctic Centre in the back.
Seal Rocks.
The walk begins next to the Nobbies Antarctic Centre. The boardwalk offers some spectacular coastal views. Offshore from The Nobbies are Seal Rocks, home to some Australian fur seals. Coin operated binoculars are provided for those who wish to spot them.
We could see waves crashing on the rocks below. We paused for many minutes at the Nobbies Blowhole, hoping to video the jet spray from the horizontal blowhole entrance without success. However, the fine misty ocean spray, backlit by the sun low on the horizontal, was quite dramatic.
A sign along the boardwalk explains how the blowhole works:
1. A large wave enters the blowhole.
2. The wave fills the tunnel from floor to ceiling, compressing air against the rear wall.
3. The wave hits the near wall and rebounds, its speed increased by the explosive force of the compressed air. This creates a jet spray from the tunnel entrance.
There are also fairy penguins nesting on the ground beneath the boardwalk. We managed to see a couple of them.
Boardwalk leading to the South Coast Lookout.
View from the South Coast Lookout.
The South Coast Lookout is the furthest point along the boardwalk. From there, we backtracked to the starting point with views of the sun low over the horizon.
Penguin Parade
Most people came to Phillip Island just to see the Penguin Parade. We came to the island for the same reason too.
Nay. We actually skipped the Penguin Parade!
We had already seen lots of fairy penguins at St Kilda Pier earlier during our trip. We figured it was better to save the entrance fees to the Penguin Parade (AUD 26.60 per person!) and used the money to buy ourselves a nice dinner at Cowes instead.
Dinner at Fig and Olive Restaurant in Cowes
This steak and seafood restaurant was recommended by the kind gentleman at the Seahorse Motel who checked us in. It is located in Cowes, a few minutes by car from our motel.
Grilled Lamb Rack and Eye Fillet Steak for dinner at Fig and Olive.
Where we stayed in Phillip Island
We stayed at the Seahorse Motel, a clean and well maintained motel located in Cowes. The air-conditioned guest rooms are equipped with electric blankets (a must during the colder autumn and winter months!), a fridge and cable TV.
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