Australia: Day Eighteen and Nineteen - Road Trip to Philip Island

We left our resort in the morning and got a taxi ride back to the Bali airport for our flight to Melbourne, Australia. (You would think we would fly to Cairns which is northern Australia but all the flights there were red eyes so we chose to go to the southern tip first.)

After landing and getting through the airport we waited for our hotel shuttle in the dark. With a five hour flight and time change it was 10 o'clock already. Once we had caught the taxi and checked in it was already 11. The next day we had to leave the hotel by 9 so we took a shuttle to the car rental, got our van and grabbed some muffins for breakfast before driving out of Melbourne (on the left side of the road) to our first destination Moonlight Sanctuary. It was a couple hours south east around the bay and as soon as we walked in our first stop was to see the koalas. There were a few koalas hanging from the Eucalyptus trees and one of them you were able to touch. (It's not usually good to familiarize wild animals with humans but this koalas was orphaned at birth and couldn't be released back into the wild.) The koala's fur was super soft and smelled strongly of eucalyptus. It was really cool to see it up close because in the wild you usually see them way up in the tree tops and they look like a big grey ball of fur.

We moved on to the wallaby and kangaroo habitat. We had some kangaroo food and you can actually feed them out of your hand because most of them were orphaned joeys and raised there. What usually happens is the mom gets hit by a car and the joey is still alive in the pouch. We walked down the pathway and entered the huge habitat with wallabies and kangaroos on both sides. We all took turns feeding the kangaroos and wallabies and they would lick all the food off of your hand and they even stole some right out of Sage's bag. 

Once we ran out of food we went to see a show at the front of the sanctuary. We took our seats and a cockatoo flew right over our heads. He flew around the audience a few times before flying back to the front of the stage. The sanctuary volunteer told us about the cockatoo before calling in a barn owl who flew past us without a sound. And the last part was a tiger quoll. They're a bit like a Tasmanian devil but more tan coloured and a little bit smaller. The small tiger quoll ran right up a tree with ease before heading back into the back of the outdoor stage. At the end of the show we got to see a nightjar that would stretch out its head and look like a broken tree branch. It was really cool. 

Then we headed to see the laughing kookaburra at feeding time. The sanctuary staff was throwing pieces of rat meat high in the air and the kookaburra would snatch them out of the air. Not one piece hit the ground and after they made the weirdest laughing noise. 

When they were done feeding we moved on to the Tasmanian devil habitat. The Tasmanian devil was almost thirteen years old, which is quite old for a Tasmanian devil, but was still quite fierce looking and could tear us to pieces if it had the chance. 

After the Tasmanian devil we headed over to see the Dingos. They looked a little like golden furred dogs but are one of Australia's main predators. 

We took a few pictures before heading over to see the wombats feeding before we had to leave. We made it just in time to see the wombats coming out of their dens for some food. They looked like giant gophers or huge guinea pigs but apparently they can hold their ground against dingos. When a dingo attacks the wombat retreats into its den and when the dingo lunges in the den to get him his head hits the back of the wombat which is made of rock hard thick skin (hard cartilage). If the dingo doesn't die from the collision the wombat smashes its head into the top of the den, which sounds like a horrible way to die. 

By late afternoon we left the Sanctuary and headed down to Phillip Island. We arrived at the hotel and had a quick dinner before driving out to the beach to the Visitor Center for the Penguin Parade. Once through the center we walked down the boardwalks to the beach and saw a Fairy Penguin (also known as a Little Blue Penguin) in its nest in the dunes. Since there was still some daylight we could take a photo without hurting its eyes with the flash.

We headed the rest of the way out to the bleachers on the beach and joined the huge crowd waiting for the tiny penguins. As the sun set, on the far side of the beach, there was a group of about fifty fairy penguins waddling up the shore. You could barely see them with the binoculars and they were just tiny moving dots without them. We watched them carefully make their way up the beach and disappear into the dunes.

(Can you see them? It was hard as it was getting dark and we weren't allowed to take pictures after sunset.)

We were a little disappointed that they were so far away and were thinking of leaving soon until one Fairy Penguin bobbed in the waves not far from us. He rode the wave up onto the shore and then pulled right back out again by the wave. He kept going till three more penguins popped out of nowhere beside him. They all rode the wave until two more popped their heads out of the water and then they all marched up the sandy shore together. A few more small groups went up and out of the water until a hug group wattled up the shore and everybody from the stands went up to see them pass under the boardwalk. Once everyone had left the stands we headed down to the first row right on the beach. The hotel we were staying at told us to wait for everyone to leave the stands and to go upfront and be patient. The majority of the people had headed back up the board walk to the visitor center leaving us alone in the stands with probably 20 of the hundreds of people that were there. Then out of the water came more and more groups of penguins only five at a time but the view was incredible. Towards the very end three adventurous penguins waddled right up towards us. As they went by I could almost reach out my hand and touch them. They scurried up a hidden path towards the boardwalk. (Would have been great photos if we could have taken them but it was a great memory.)

Soon after there were no more penguins popping out of the water and it was getting quite dark so we walked up to the boardwalk and saw all the penguins make their way to their nests below. You could hear them calling out to their mates to find their way back in the maze of nests as we headed back up the boardwalk. We checked out the Visitor Center to learn about them some more and then we headed back to the hotel ready for our big road trip the next day.

Total planes: 1

Total shuttle taxis: 2

Total vans: 1

Total miles walked: 1.8 and 2.4 miles

Southeast Asia: Day Seventeen - Bali Snorkelling Trip

We left the resort early in the morning and got a taxi over to another beach where our snorkelling trip would begin. We waited in the hot sun for the boat and went for a swim waiting for it. Once it arrived we grabbed our stuff and got a nice seat on a ferry boat. After a crowded thirty minute ride we arrived at the docks on the island of Lembongan. We found our tour group and piled into the seating that was installed into back of a truck (like the one we had taken to Thai cooking class). The drive wasn't very long and we got out at a small building with a few cabanas and lockers for our stuff. We put all our stuff in a locker before piling onto a small boat. We left the tiny dock in the mangroves and headed out to the open ocean. We passed turquoise waters carving upon worn down cliffs on our way to our first stop. The boat stopped in a large bay with choppy water. Sadly, since the water was so rough there were no Manta Rays there but I did spot a green sea turtle coming up for air in the waves.

We jumped in the water really quick to see if they were beneath all the waves crashing above but we didn't find any. We got out of the water after a little so that the waves didn't throw us into the cliff and headed to calmer shallow waters.

Once we got to a calm bay we jumped out into the warm turquoise water to a rainbow reef. There were tons and tons of fish of all colours and sizes darting through the rainbow corals and sponges. We snorkelled around the reef for a good half hour before climbing back into the boat and driving off to our next stop.

The boat stopped along a cliffside and we jumped back into the water and swam with the current along the cliff. Just below us were some colourful coral and a few fish but down far below were even bigger coral and bigger fish. It was too deep to for us to dive all the way down but the guides were able to with great ease. The main reason we were snorkelling on the cliffside was to see Bali lion fish that live in the crevices in the cliffside reefs. One of the guides swam way down and used a palm frond to poke into one of the crevices and after his second dive a lion fish swam out. The guide swam to the surface quickly because lion fish are quite deadly with their poisonous quills. We all watched the dangerous orange and white fish down below and his quills seemed to glow a deep orange colour. It was so cool. After he went back into his crevice one of the guides offered to take a video of one with Kaden's Go Pro. We watched as he swam way down to a new crevice and found another lion fish. He went super close up with the camera before swimming right back up to the surface.

We left the cliffside and drove out to a sandbar reef that had a bunch of clownfish and parrot fish. We snorkelled the reef and saw a bunch of clownfish sticking the top of their face out of anemones. After ten minutes we all got out because the water felt so much colder than it had near the island. We climbed out shivering and were glad to be able to warm up on the way back to the dock.

We had a nice lunch sitting at the cabanas before our last activity which was kayaking. The rest of the group didn't go and instead went for a truck ride around the island before heading to the ferry. We were gonna have to do the same but our guide offered to take us even though the rest of the group wasn't going. We paddled through the mangroves and even raced on the way back to the dock. Once at the dock our guide showed us how to do a handstand on the kayak. Kaden was able to do it without falling into the water but Zaddek and I only did it for a second before falling into the water.

We thanked our guide before getting a ride back to the ferry. Once the ferry ride and taxi ride were over we relaxed and had some ice cream at the resort enjoying our last day in Bali.

Total taxis: 2

Total ferry boats: 2

Total snorkelling boats: 1

Total kayaks: 5 (Mom and Sage shared)

Total miles walked: 1.1 miles

Total miles swam: a ton

Southeast Asia: Day Sixteen - Ubud

We had breakfast in the room quickly before starting our tour of Ubud. It is a town in the middle of the island of Bali, Indonesia known for holding the traditions of Bali like art, dance and temples. We drove through rainforests and fields to get to it. 

Our first stop was a cultural dance at an outdoor theatre. We grabbed some seats and soon the show started. There was a bunch of dancing and no real plot that we could figure out. I don't know how to describe it but what seemed to happen was a tiger ate the villager's children so the they fought and the tiger won. Then it skipped to a man trying to sacrifice his son to the gods when he was saved by a creepy sorceress who killed the father. The villagers ran out and fought the sorceress who turned herself into a wild boar. Throughout the entire show there were people playing instruments (mostly drums) on the side of the stage. We really didn't know what was going on but we were told it was a traditional Balinese dance - the music was trancelike and the costumes were very colourful and odd. In the end it was good to see how they pass their traditions down.

After the show we headed over to a big building where there were a ton of big weaving looms and they were weaving everything from clothes to coasters, hand fans, placemats, flip flops, belts, and blankets. And about a million colours in all of them. We checked out their warehouse and then went on to see an art museum and wood carving museum. Then we went for lunch at an outdoor restaurant set in the rice paddies where ducks walked up the paths. Their main dish was Peking duck. (Not for us!)

We got back in the taxi van and drove to the Monkey Forest. Once we got there we bought some tickets and entered the temple ruins. There were beautiful mossy statues of monkeys in the entrance to the temple and the walls of the tunnels had monkeys engraved in them. Once we got out of the tunnel there was a group of people gathered at the edge of the path and sure enough Zaddek was sitting there with monkeys picking stuff out of his hair. Once the monkeys left we continued through the beautiful temple ruins with monkeys sitting on every perch and ledge. We explored through the jungle making sure to keep our phones out of view from the monkeys (who are famous for stealing phones and cameras). After half an hour we had seen most of the temple ruins and plenty of monkeys. Luckily no more monkeys tried to pick stuff out of anybody else's hair. Zaddek tried to get one to jump on his shoulder but he was only able to get one for a few seconds before he scrambled back up a tree. We left the forest with a disappointed Zaddek who wanted to stay.

We then went to the rice terraces on the edge of Ubud and descended down layer after layer. It looked really cool. We stopped at a side path to get out of the way of the people coming down to take some photos of the rice terraces when Mom spotted a huge rat in the terrace below. After the commotion we kept walking down the side path making sure to keep an eye for rats from then on. We found a good angle for some photos. And when I was taking Dad, Mom and Sage's photo Dad accidentally bumped Mom off the edge of the terrace. The ledge wasn't that high up but she fell right into the marsh water the rice grows in. We helped Mom back up and then headed back up the terraces. Mom's shoes were soaked (and we all know that it wouldn't be a Taylor Family trip if that doesn't happen at least once). Luckily this time it was at the end of the tour so we didn't miss anything like when we left our tour in Austria to get Zaddek dry pants and shoes.

We headed back to the resort and watched the sunset at the beach before going back to our room.

Total vans: 1

Total miles walked: 3.2 miles