I could sing the theme song with all it's faux Hollywood twang. Most of you probably wouldn't know about Green Acres, a show I caught on the second time around. It's about a couple who leaves New York City for the pleasures and ridiculous escapades of farm life. Tuesday, I was reminded how dearly I love farm life. But that's not half of the adventure…
Monday, after playgroup, we jumped in a Subaru (wo)manned by a howeveroldshewas retired school teacher and principal. Her name was Leslie and she is the best traveled person I've met to date. Among her list are Bhutan, Japan, China, Russia, Zimbabwe, Iceland, Canada, USA, Greece, Scotland, New Guinea, the list goes on… Never married, she spent her life teaching kindergarten and later, traveling. She has a holiday house on Phillip Island, which is an island southeast of Melbourne. It's used by her nieces and nephews and all of their kids, and she wanted to take us.
My island experience has been almost exclusively confined to what could be classified as tropical islands. Philip Island broke the trend. It's covered with paddocks (Australian for pastures or fields) which are in turn covered with cows or sheep. Our first stop was Surfer's Beach, near Woolamai. Talk about some pristine beaches. Wowza. It was beautiful. Next we stopped at the house and ate some sandwiches before piling in the car again and heading off to the Koala Conservation Center, where we made Jeff Corwin and Crocodile Hunter inspired videos. We also saw some wallabies and a kookaburra.
Back into the car and off to the Nobbies, a gorgeous set of rocky cliffs/formations on the west end of the island. There were rolling hills covered with tall grasses, tumbling down into jagged cliffs right into a sapphire sea. The banks were swathed in a pink succulent and speckled with sea gull nests. I felt like I was at the white cliffs of Dover, except that these weren't white. I just didn't expect Australia to look like this. It's a contender for the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
Fun fact, Phillip Island is home to only one species of snake, the copperhead, which has no specific antivenom. And WE SAW ONE! We drove over it in the car. I don't know if we actually hit it, but it was wriggling across the road when I looked back. It was long and horrid.
Having (again) been worn out by an old person, we stumbled into bed when we returned to the house that afternoon. We revived ourselves for a quick dinner and were off again!
We waited with great anticipation. Hundreds gathered, donning hats and coats for the occasion. The sun set, and they came. I'm not referring to Santa and his elves, or aliens and their spaceship. I'm talking about the Penguin Parade! We descended the boardwalk to the ocean's edge and garnered 5th row seats on the beach bleachers. After much waiting, the penguin parents coasted in to the beach, gathering in groups called rafts to cross the beach before dispersing to their burrows among the sand dunes. We saw penguins in the WILD! God is such an amazing creator. Wow.
The next day, we went to Churchill Island. Now there's a way to spend a morning, galavanting through paddocks, and roaming over hillocks. The island is set up as a kind if historical working farm, with old homestead buildings still intact. There were towering draft horses, lots of sheep, a couple very loud peacocks, chickens, and COWS. And we got to milk a cow. Oh, friends, that is my happy place. Head leaning against the warm stomach of a cow (just like Almanzo in Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder) listening to milk hit the side of a tin pail. To top it all off, it was a Jersey, which happens to be one of my very favorite cows.
After that bit of euphoria, we romped a bit in the paddock. There weren't any signs telling us otherwise, so we just went through gates and trod the sod. There were giant lavender beds, a windmill, and barbed wire. How could anyone live in the city?? While I doubt I would ever farm for a living, I absolutely love country life.
Much love,
LMS
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