Thomas Family Road Trip: Phillip Island (21/12/11

We arrived in Phillip Island on 21/12. We were all happy about this as we had booked in for 6 nights. No driving and moving on for almost a week! The caravan park was almost empty when we arrived and stayed this way until Boxing Day, when tourists arrived by the busload!!

We stayed at the caravan park right next door to the theme park - A Maze N Things.

We decided to make the most of the quiet time before Boxing Day to do the "touristy" things. Thursday we spent at A Maze N Things. 1st stop - Illusion area. The kids loved going on the gravity chair, which went up not down, into the shrinking/growing room and the disappearing tent. Our favourite though was the mirror maze - it was so hard. Ben walked into the mirrors with a loud bump a couple of times! Next stop - "Puzzle Island" - so many different things to see and do. The kids loved having their head served up on a plate, riding the surfboards, trying to find the hidden treasure, puzzles and games. Simon, Donna and Chloe tried out the Mountain Drop. Poor Ben was a bit little to go on it. Probably a good thing as it was scary. It literally was a drop!! Very impressed Chloe did it. From here it was onto the outside maze. There were four flags that you had to make your way too. The first two were easy, but all but Ben struggled to get to flag three. He managed to do it twice. It was so frustrating but we finally made it and then found flag four and the way out.

After lunch we headed back for 19 holes of mini golf. The kids just loved all the different courses and we all had heaps of fun. Well deserved ice creams all round after we finished. Such a great day - early to bed as we were all exhausted!

Friday morning we spent at the Vietnam Veterans Museum. Our tour guide was a veteran, filled with many stories, much knowledge and experience. It was such an interesting place and really did provide a greater appreciation for what our soldiers went through, not just in Vietnam but all the other places soldiers were sent to at that time. And of course our current soldiers. Donna found it particularly relevant to hear about conscription, given Dad was conscripted and spent time in Thailand during the Vietnam War. Ben loved the helicopter! Chloe and Ben loved the hovercraft ride at the end, which simulated a roller coaster.

Next stop, Panny's Chocolate Factory. Interesting self guided tour. The kids enjoyed getting the sample chocolates, seeing the huge 1 ton block of chocolate and watching the chocolate waterfall. Best part however was being able to make our own chocolate. We all had many turns at this!

Checked out the town site of Rhyll, which had amazing views of the beach and Woolami Surf Beach, which was on Getaway the night before as one of Australia's best beaches. Definitely nice, but WA beaches win hands down!

To top off our huge touristy day we went to the Penguin Parade at 9pm. We could not believe how many people were there - at least a couple of thousand. Glad we went on a "quiet" night! The penguins were very very cute and there were so many of them. The best part was when we walked back up along the viewing platforms. We were so close to them and some had chicks in their burrows. The kids were mesmerised. A definite highlight. No photos of the penguins though - no photos allowed. Not that that stopped some people!

Xmas Eve was spent relaxing - so exhausted from previous day. Donna caught up with Nadine, one of Jen's friends, which was lovely. Thanks Nadine!

Huge thunderstorms and heaps of rain during the night and unfortunately a bit of rain on Xmas Day, although it was warm. So our plans for a quiet picnic lunch at the beach was changed to lunch at our caravan. As per usual we all ate way too much. The kids were as excited as ever about Xmas and very happy to see Father Xmas had found us in Phillip Island. It was definitely a very quiet and relaxing Xmas, but not quite the same without our extended family around us. We got a chance to see our nearest and dearest briefly on SKYPE before it started playing up.

Boxing Day saw a huge influx of people at the caravan park and more rain. Must be time for us to move on! However the holidays and the tourists were posing some problems for us in terms of accommodation and everywhere was so busy! Phillip Island was the first place we had made a booking the entire time we have been away.

We all loved Phillip Island, not only for the many greats things we saw and did there, but for the nice relaxing time we had. We are feeling very refreshed and relaxed.

Who knows where to from here??