Phillip Island

The Nobbies.

and the coastline.

Churchill Island.

Bikes in Cowes for the Grand Prix.

The set up in town.

The storm troopers arrive....

Saturday, October 22^nd

Today I decided to revisit Phillip Island because I was talking to our caretaker at school, Jim, who is a motorcycle enthusiast and he told me that the Australian Grand Prix was there this weekend. I had been to Phillip Island back in April and found it to be a really pretty place. The weather today was predicted to be terrible, windy, rainy and very cool, but I decided to go anyway. So I put my bicycle in the car and set off. Along the highway I saw lots of motorcyclists riding through the rain showers and battling the wind. I talked to a couple of them at a gas station and they were pretty cold and miserable.

When I arrived the weather cleared for a bit and I drove first to Ryll, a small town on the north east corner of the island. Then I drove across the top to the Phillip Island Nature Park where the fairy penguins come out every night and to the Nobies, which are a landform off the coast. It was really windy here with showers and short sunny breaks. I hid from the weather inside the park building here, and discovered that they had completed an exhibit called 'Antarctica'. I thought about it but since they were asking $20 and I had already attended the Antarctica exhibit in New Zealand I decided not to go. Instead I had hot chocolate and waited for better weather. When it cleared briefly I walked around the boardwalk trying not to be blown off.

When I left I took the more scenic dirt road back and passed the concrete stands where I had sat in April to see the fairy penguins as they emerged from the sea to spend the night in their burrows.

This is the weekend of the Australian Grand Prix motorcycle races on Phillip Island. There were a lot more people here than the last time I visited and it occurred to me as I drove around and saw a really nice bed and breakfast with a No Vacancy sign that I was going to have difficulty finding accommodation. So, when I saw another b&b without that sign, but a sign that said 'First Class', I drove up the long dirt driveway to the top of a rise with a great overview of the island. I was met by Graheme who showed me around. The place was a long bungalow with a large livingroom with an old pool table, kitchen and two pianos. It was obvious that the place had seen better days. The carpet needed cleaning and things looked like that hadn't been tidied or updated in years. However, I decided to take the room as I figured I didn't have a lot of options. It was raining outside so I sat and talked to Graheme for a bit. He is in his late sixties or maybe seventies and his life is etched in his face and teeth. Turns out, his wife left him ten years ago (which explains all of the above), he is living here and raising a herd of beef cattle, and he has a son who is taking care of his piano business in Melbourne. He is a lonely guy who has been searching the internet for another woman. I really felt for him. When I asked if taking care of the farm was hard, he said it's much easier to take care of beef cattle now as all they do is spray them with poison every year to kill all the worms and ticks before they go for slaughter.

I talked to Graheme until the rain let up and then I went for a drive. He had given me a map of the island with the things he thought were worth seeing, so first I drove to Churchill Island. This was just a nice little drive across a bridge to the heritage farm on the island where they had highland cattle amongst other animals.

Later I drove to Cowes, the main town on the island. I walked around looking at the bikes and the bikes related kiosks that had set up. It reminded me of Port Dover but on a much smaller scale. I found a little restaurant and had dinner watching the bikers and the large picture screen that was set up in the street and was showing highlights of today's races. I walked around town for a bit and saw a group of bikers all dressed as Storm Troopers from Star Wars.

Then I phoned Jim, our caretaker, and got the address where he was staying. I drove there and had a beer with him and four of his buddies. Jim and one of the guys both ride vintage Honda 750's from the early 70's. They told me lots about the racing and the ones to watch. This is an international race and most of the riders are from Europe or South America.

I headed back to the B&B for the night. When I got there there were two guys here to watch the racing. They were friends but one lived in Auckland and the other in Brisbane. We all sat and talked for a while before getting to bed.