2 April 2012 - San Remo Holiday Park, Victoria

I was so pleased that we had arranged to stay a further day here at San Remo. Phillip Island had already proved to be a delight and we were both looked forward to exploring the northern coast.

We drove around Newhaven immediately after crossing the bridge on to the island, from where we could look back to San Remo across the swiftly flowing channel. From here we drove across the middle of the island passing through cattle grazing farmland. Today there was far less traffic than over the weekend and I wondered whether the various “No Vacancy” signs were simply up and about to give the hosts a breather after such a busy weekend.

On the north west coast, we drove about Ventnor. Here there is a “historical precinct” sitting right above the cliff as a memorial to the McHaffies who took the first grazing lease over the entire island in 1842. In 1868 these same McHaffies hosted a shooting party and one of the guests, a Captain Grossard was killed by accident, this tragic event recalled and commemorated at this spot also, with the road named after the unfortunate Captain in case one should forget.

We continued on along the northern coast to Cowes. What a lovely seaside town this is! We stopped and walked along the jetty from where the interisland ferry docks, and then walked up and down the main, or only commercial, street, where there are three supermarkets and every kind of service and shop one would need on a day to day basis. While there are numerous cafes and restaurants, there is no pretension about the place. It is a seaside place for real people. We found a picnic spot close to the children’s playground in the shade, and ate our lunch looking north over Western Port and listening to the happy cries of holidaying children.

Chicory kiln

Heading for Rhyll, we paused at the Oswin Roberts Reserve, an area put aside for the conservation of remaining eucalypt woodland, wallabies, echidnas, owls and bats. The area is just north of the Koala Conservation Centre, and I was counting on some of the koalas having an independent nature and choosing to live on this reserve rather than be constantly under scrutiny at the tourist centre. Not so; the Phillip Island koalas prefer to stay where they will be hand fed, admired and nurtured. In fact the reserve has sadly been attacked by fire and storm, leaving a rather scruffy patch of mixed woodland. We did startle a wallaby out of the bracken but apart from that and the odd parrot, there was little wildlife. We did enjoy the exercise and fresh air, and opportunity to walk off the bakery treats indulged in.

We learned here that both koalas and chicory were introduced to Phillip Island in 1870. Obviously the original koalas had been decimated by the massive burn off, and Melburnians were craving coffee, albeit the chicory substitute.

 
Rhyll is a delight, situated in an eastern bay, protected by Churchill Island and Cape Woolamai. We wandered along the foreshore and on to the jetty where we watched four Chinese fishing and then suddenly noticed a women and her son of perhaps ten, fishing on a lower deck, and a seal swimming around them causing concern about their baited lines in the water. Then suddenly the seal hoisted himself up on to the jetty and watched the fisherwoman, posing for photos, twitching his whiskers and enjoying the sunshine on his drying coat. It was all quite delightful however this was a wild animal and quite possibly the reason the stairs down to this lower deck were barricaded off.

After such a wonderful scene, we could only agree that Rhyll was the jewel of  Phillip Island, and so with that we headed back to camp, driving about San Remo before we settled in for the rest of the afternoon, sorting through the brochures and maps we have giving us an array of destinations to be decided before we head off again on the road tomorrow morning.