Australia
Rhyll

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    • Day 39

      Welcome to Rhyll, Phillip Island (VIC)

      January 19 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 61 °F

      New-to-us-Port #10.

      We made it!

      After a rough night at sea from Portland, we were able to tender to Rhyll … a slow 45-minute ride.

      We’ll be spending part of the day in Cowes … and then join a private tour this afternoon to explore the island … and hopefully see some 🐨 and 🐧Read more

    • Day 37

      Phillip Island: Parade of Penguins

      February 14 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

      Arrived at Phillip Island, Australia, to find out that last night's storm had knocked out the town's power. We had tickets to see the Koala Sanctuary, but they were closed due to the outage. So the small town was doing its best to accommodate the tourists from the ship. The winning shop was the Coffee stand that already had its own generator.

      While walking through town, we discovered a barn in a back lot behind the main street shops. That's where we met the artist, Sam, the Metal Smith. He had a small studio with local handmade crafts (wood, jewelry, knitting, paintings), and a workshop for metal, leather, and wood working. What beautiful knives! He explained how he mixed metals and folded the blades for added strength. Loved the intricate design patterns and wooden handles from local wood.

      The main event of that night was the Parade of the Blue Penguins. Every night, the Penguins make the journey back from the ocean to their burrows to feed their chicks. Due to their light sensitivity, no photos are allowed after dark. It's fascinating to watch nature at work as 800+ Penguins come onto the beach at night (for safety) and locate their chicks in the burrows.

      Got back to the ship to find wonderful Valentine's Day desserts.
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    • Day 54

      Day 54: Rhyll, Phillip Island, Australia

      February 14 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

      Good Morning Everyone! We have just dropped anchor in Western Port Bay. Donna and I got up at our leisure; had breakfast at the World Cafe.

      It’s about 10:20 AM and the ship tender boats have started the task of getting people on to shore. The BIG event at Phillip Island is the March of the Little Penguin Parade which happens this evening. I will be sure to post pictures of this event tomorrow. I am pretty sure I watch a TV documentary on this a long time ago. Pretty cool we will get to see this event of nature tonight. - More to come.

      In the meantime, enjoy the photos of our view. I think our plan is to go into town for a bit and check it out - then tonight to see the Penguin Parade.

      Update: Donna & I were heading towards the tenders to go ashore. People were already coming back; reporting no power on the island, shops closed, weather is cold & windy. Since we knew once we would get a shore we wouldn’t be back to the ship until after 10:00 pm - change of plans - stay on board until the 5:15 PM Penguin Parade excursion tonight — back to blogging catch up.
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    • Day 54

      Day 54: Meet “Ledi Gaga”

      February 14 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

      This post is long overdue. I am pretty sure it was our first time eating at “The Restaurant” our waitress comes to our table and introduces herself.

      The introduction went something like this

      “Hello my name is Ledi and my national name is “Ledi Gaga” — “Okay”, I said to myself, “that is an unusual name.” Light bulb turns on -“Oh! It’s a joke.” But wait, there’s more, she continues her introduction …

      “I am from North Philly … (a well timed pause) … North Philippines.”

      This is one funny young lady, who you will never forget.

      Every time we see her she is sure to acknowledge us and if she is not running 100 mph she will stop and have a quick chat.

      I am sure she is the person on the crew that keeps the party going below decks. “Ledi Gaga” (I get it now.) Has plans on buying/building a house in “North Philly” and in her free time she is a free diver. That’s just plain crazy to me.

      In an earlier post, I mentioned we all have back stories - the more I learn the more amazed and humbled I am to be on this cruise.

      If you have any “Ledi Gaga” stories - or stories about any of the crew members I have featured, or just want to give a shout-out to them — please feel free to do so by replying on either the FB posts, or the FindPenguins post. Your stories will add to the kudos and support we can give to those who continue to give to us.

      #myVikingJourney. #myVikingStory #vikingNeptune
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    • Day 54

      Another day in Melbourne

      February 13 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 31 °C

      From Melbourne I took a tour to the Healesville Sanctuary, about an hour away. The bus took us through the suburbs and the Australian bush. The suburbs look like the USA; however to prevent too much urban sprawl the city encircled itself with a green belt and restricted the kind of housing that could be built beyond the green belt. I was looking forward to seeing the Australian bush. It looked pretty green and had a lot of vineyards and fruit orchards. Not at all what I imagined!

      The wildlife sanctuary was great. See pictures.
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    • Day 39

      02.14.2024 Phillip Island, Australia

      February 14 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

      Happy Valentine’s Day! We are on anchored off the coast of Phillip Island. It’s very cool today. 64 degrees but sunny. And of course windy. It’s a nice reprieve from the 97 degrees we experienced yesterday in Melbourne.

      Phillip Island forms a natural breakwater for the shallow waters of the Western Port. It is 26 km (16 mi) long and 9 km (5.6 mi) wide, with an area of about 101 km2 (40 sq mi).[4] It has 97 km (60 mi) of coastline and is part of the Bass Coast Shire.
      A 640 m (2,100 ft) concrete bridge (originally a wooden bridge) connects the mainland town San Remo with the island town Newhaven.[4] In the 2021 census, the island's permanent population was 13,799

      Phillip Island is home to Australia's largest colony of little penguins, with an impressive 40,000 breeding penguins found on the Summerland Peninsula. The little penguin is not only the smallest of all penguins weighing around 1kg but also the only penguin with blue and white feathers.

      Myron spent his morning at the spa and Diana had a class where we made our own body scrub. It was very fun. We did tender to shore but there was a huge storm last night so they were without power which meant the stores were not open and if they were they only took cash. Melbourne was also without power so our timing to leave there was excellent.

      Our included excursion was to see the penguins as they come ashore by the hundreds at sunset. Photos are not allowed but this is what they look like. Diana’s favorite part was the wallaby drinking.
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    • Day 81

      trip Melbourne day 14

      December 6, 2016 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

      This night wasn't to bad but a lot of wind and bit of rain. It was almost 15 degrees colder than the night before.

      We went to some beaches and some lookouts. They were okay and good. Then we went to Philip island. We went to a koala park where they live in the wild. But unfortunately we couldn't spot one koala. But there were a lot of Flys. They where. Very annoying and sat with their whole family on our back.

      In the evening we went to see the pinguin parade. The smallest pinguins (30cm) live only in Australia and are blue-white (instead of black-white). In the evening at dusk they come out of the sea and go to there nest. When they come out of the sea it looked liked they marched like a Pelton of army man to the coast. So funny to see. And ofcourse we witnessed real live pinguïn porn. Haha
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