Long Live the QUEEN!

We had a long weekend this past weekend to celebrate the Queens birthday!  I never thought I would be celebrating her birthday but any reason to get off a day of work!  haha  I actually think the Queens birthday is in April, but whatever :)  We found out pretty late that Brian would have off Monday so didn't plan a big trip but still made time to take a day trip to Phillip Island.  It is only about a 2 hour drive, its an island off the coast, near the bay that Melbourne is on.



I drove out there and I really think I'm getting better at the Louie Driving!   Once we got on the island we grabbed a nice lunch the went to the tip of the island to an area called the Nobbies-- I have no idea why its called that!  It was beautiful coast with bright green grass, black rocks and blue water.  When it is warmer out there are seals all over this area but it was a little too chilly out this weekend!!

One of the main attractions is the Penguin Parade!  Hundreds of little penguins live on the island and every evening at sunset they all come out of the ocean and waddle back to their burrows.  They are only about a foot tall and are so cute!!  Around 4:30 we headed down to the beach and sat in stadium seating.  We wanted to get good seats so sat in the front row.  Unfortunately, it was so cold and we had no one to block the freezing wind coming from Antarctica!  The moon was really bright that night so the little guys came out even later than normal.  We ended up sitting frozen on the benches for about 2 hours before the paraded up the beach (stormed the beach as Brian put it!)  We could take any pictures so I just took these from the website...

The next day we went to a fantastic BBQ with some new friends :)  Happy Birthday to the QUEEN!