Melbourne Day 3: Running Up That Hill

Early morning, and we headed to Queenscliff to board the vehicular ferry to Sorrento.







Weather ain't too good. And it's cold and windy on the upper deck.







40 minutes later, we pressed on by coach to Ashcombe Maze and gardens, a small homely park with a rose maze, lavender maze and 2 hedge mazes.























Wine tasting at T'Gallant winery. The Juliet Pinot Grigio white wine and the Moscato are quite good, so we bought a bottle each. The red wines weren't very appealing...







Visited a glassblower's studio, then a pit stop at Hastings.







Off to Warrook Cattle Farm.



Lunch (which was pretty average - meat was way overcooked) there, with free-flow cheap wine.



We took a tour around the compound on a small trailer truck.



Had a go at milking the cow, and it's sorta gross. Tasted the milk freshly squeezed from the nipple, which tasted extremely creamy and weird. Think about it - milk comes from cow boobies. Sounds disgusting!









Sheep shearing. A rather violent act that takes both strength and skill, as there are various maneovres to immobilize the sheep in different positions in order to shear them.





A wombat. They sometimes bite.







After that, it was off to Philip Island to watch the little penguins (yes - they're called little penguins) return to shore. They're the smallest species of penguins in the world and every night, they return to shore to mate or to feed their offspring. They do so in groups of about 6-10, waddling across the beach when they see that the coast is clear. Then they make their way inland to their nests. Sadly, no photography allowed.

We saw quite a number of penguins, including some nested in the grassland right in front of the boardwalk, less than a metre away from me. It's really cold and windy there, so if you head there, remember your warm clothing!

Night fell, and we headed for a boring Chinese dinner. Then the hotel room, by which it was about 9.30 pm.