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to some, Phillip Island (1.5 hours south-east of Melbourne)
in Victoria only means surfing spots. Others may think of
it as home of the two-wheel Motorcycle Grand Prix.
Even more will love the area as the visiting and nesting
area for all those cute little Fairy penguins.
However, Phillip Island boasts two other excellent spots
where you can see another side of Australia and get up close
and personal with the local animals.
The first is the Koala Conservation Centre on the Phillip
Island Tourist Road between Newhaven and Cowes.
Here is a place you can take yourself and your family, or
interstate/overseas visitors, and you are guaranteed of seeing
koalas in the wild.
Don't laugh, have you ever tried to go koala spotting with
a guest from deepest Mongolia who is determined to see one
of the blessed little beasts! You can spend hours upon hours
patrolling bushland and you'll get very disappointed.
However, at the centre you can use a treetop boardwalk through
some of the park's bushland and if you get there at about
 4pm
the rangers feed the koalas fresh gum leaves.
Anyway, in the centre you can wander around and the furballs
are all located and signposted daily by the staff. You can't
touch them, but you are often within centimetres of them.
If you do want to get touchy-feely with the fauna then the
Phillip Island Wildlife Park is the place to head.
You may not want to get too close to all of the 900 inhabitants
- as some of them are snakes - but there are kangaroos, wallabies
and deer by the dozen.
You get some bags of feed with your entry fee, but you may
want to buy more as you'll get a kick out of having the lovelies
eating out of your hand.
Take some wipes, too, because they aren't the most sanitary
of eaters. And, you need to keep an eye on the emus, which
were feral the day we visited. It took a few good pieces of
football shepherding to stop the devils overrunning the young
bag holders.
Despite the warning signs about wombats biting this fellow
Wombat couldn't resist feeding some of them. It was great
and I still have all 10 fingers!
The park is 1km south of Cowes and is open daily between
9am and sunset.
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