domenica, giugno 19, 2016
Phillip Island tour
domenica, giugno 19, 2016Prenotiamo il nostro tour organizzato a Phillip Island con Melbourne Australia Tours : spendiamo 99 dollari (circa 66 euro) e decidiamo...
Prenotiamo il nostro tour organizzato a Phillip Island con Melbourne Australia Tours: spendiamo 99 dollari (circa 66 euro) e decidiamo noi il punto in cui farci venire a prendere. Fissiamo il ritrovo alla St. Paul Cathedral alle 11,55.
La prima tappa del nostro tour è il Maru Park, un parco protetto incentrato sui koala, ma in cui si trovano tutti gli animali simbolo dell'Australia. Dai canguri al diavolo della Tasmania, dagli emu ai gringo, dalle cacatua ai wallabies. Dopo un paio d'ore trascorso a osservare e ad imparare qualcosa sugli animali, ci fermiamo per una pausa pranzo. Nel parco c'è infatti uno spazio ristorante che fa un po' di tutto, noi optiamo per un fish and chips menu a 10 dollari, e riceviamo in regalo anche un piccolo pupazzo a forma di koala :)
Dal parco ci spostiamo a Summerlands, facendo una tappa al museo della cioccolata, in cui tutto è troppo caro per essere acquistato. E per la strada vediamo pure dei wallabies e dei canguri saltare qua e là. Summerlands è un belvedere con una terrazza naturale che da su una vista pazzesca. È uno spiazzo di terra e rocce a strapiombo, con solo mare davanti, e l'orizzonte. Un tramonto freddo, ma che trasmette alla perfezione l'infinito e la tranquillità dell'oceano, si abbassa mentre mi perdo a guardare il mare. E più lo guardo e più mi ci perdo. E più penso.
Dopo il freddo e il gelo dello spettacolo dei pinguini (tra l'altro quello è stato uno dei giorni più freddi dell'anno a Melbourne) sulla via del ritorno ci riscaldiamo con una pizza, che, sarà l'appetito, sembrava pure buona!
Arriviamo in centro verso le 9 di sera, e per non tornare a casa troppo presto andiamo a passare un paio d'ore al Rooftop Bar, un rooftop in Swanson Street.
E che dire, realizzare di aver visto degli animali che è possibile vedere solo in questa parte del mondo mi fa rendere conto di quanto io sia fortunata, e di quanto raramente mi fermi a pensare a quanto è bella la mia vita, e a quante cose ho potuto fare, a quanti posti (e animali :)) ho potuto vedere, a quante città ho potuto visitare, a quante persone ho potuto conoscere.
We booked the tour to Phillip Island with Melbourne Australia Tours: 99 dollars (around 66 euros) and we decided the spot where to be picked up.
We set up the meeting at the St. Paul Cathedral at 11,55. The first stop of the tour was the Maru Park, a protected natural park focused on koalas, but where you can find all the animals symbol of Australia. From kangaroos to the Tasmanian devil, from emus to gringos, from cockatoos to wallabies. After a couple of hours spent watching and learning something about the animals, we stopped for a lunch break. Inside the park there is, in fact, a restaurant that has a bit of everything; we opted for a fish and chips menu for 10 dollars, with which we also got a koala puppet as a gift.
From the park we headed to Summerlands, doing a stop at the Chocolate museum, where everything was too expensive to be bought. And on the way we even spotted some wallabies and a few kangaroos jumping around. Summerland is a panoramic viewpoint with a natural terrace with a crazy view. It's an overhanging open space with terrain and rocks, with only ocean in front, and the horizon.
A cold sunset, but transmitting perfectly the infinite and calmness of the ocean, lowered itself while I was getting lost watching the sea. And the more I looked at it the more I got lost. And the more I thought.
With the passing of the hours it got really cold, and there was a wind that almost carried us away. And it was almost time to go to Phillip Island, because the penguins were about to come! The strong point of the tour was, indeed, the penguins show: nothing to do with zoo and stuff like that, basically everyone sits down and waits (long enough) for the penguins to find the strength and the courage to get out of the water to hide in their ground shelter. And it's a big emotion when the first group of penguins manage to get out of the water and walk all the way up to the beach to go "on solid ground"! They are really tiny penguins, around 20-30 cm high, and of an endless tenderness!
We booked the tour to Phillip Island with Melbourne Australia Tours: 99 dollars (around 66 euros) and we decided the spot where to be picked up.
We set up the meeting at the St. Paul Cathedral at 11,55. The first stop of the tour was the Maru Park, a protected natural park focused on koalas, but where you can find all the animals symbol of Australia. From kangaroos to the Tasmanian devil, from emus to gringos, from cockatoos to wallabies. After a couple of hours spent watching and learning something about the animals, we stopped for a lunch break. Inside the park there is, in fact, a restaurant that has a bit of everything; we opted for a fish and chips menu for 10 dollars, with which we also got a koala puppet as a gift.
From the park we headed to Summerlands, doing a stop at the Chocolate museum, where everything was too expensive to be bought. And on the way we even spotted some wallabies and a few kangaroos jumping around. Summerland is a panoramic viewpoint with a natural terrace with a crazy view. It's an overhanging open space with terrain and rocks, with only ocean in front, and the horizon.
A cold sunset, but transmitting perfectly the infinite and calmness of the ocean, lowered itself while I was getting lost watching the sea. And the more I looked at it the more I got lost. And the more I thought.
With the passing of the hours it got really cold, and there was a wind that almost carried us away. And it was almost time to go to Phillip Island, because the penguins were about to come! The strong point of the tour was, indeed, the penguins show: nothing to do with zoo and stuff like that, basically everyone sits down and waits (long enough) for the penguins to find the strength and the courage to get out of the water to hide in their ground shelter. And it's a big emotion when the first group of penguins manage to get out of the water and walk all the way up to the beach to go "on solid ground"! They are really tiny penguins, around 20-30 cm high, and of an endless tenderness!
After the bitter cold of the penguins show (by the way, that was one of the coldest days of the year in Melbourne) on our way back we warmed up with a pizza, that, might have been the hunger, even tasted good!
We got back in downtown around 9 pm, and not to come back to early we spent a couple of hours at the Rooftop Bar, a rooftop in Swanson Street.
So, what to say, realizing to have seen animals you can only see in this part of the world makes me realize how lucky I am, and how rarely I stop to think about how beautiful my life is, about how many things I have been able to do, about how many places (and animals) I have been able to see, about how many cities I have visited, about how many amazing people I have been able to meet.
So, what to say, realizing to have seen animals you can only see in this part of the world makes me realize how lucky I am, and how rarely I stop to think about how beautiful my life is, about how many things I have been able to do, about how many places (and animals) I have been able to see, about how many cities I have visited, about how many amazing people I have been able to meet.
