We had great plans and hopes for Sunday. We planned to rent a car, pick up our “smart visitor cards” (where you pay 1 price that gets you into a lot of places and saves you money) then go to church, drive down to Phillip Island and see the cute Australian Animals.

Yeah. We got off to a rocky start. We stepped out of the hotel and it was FREEZING! Wind was whipping all around us and since I’m a super smart person, I packed a wrap dress. Trying to walk, while pushing the stroller and hold my dress closed was super fun. It was a bit of a wait at the car rental place, then we almost started panicking when said they were out of booster seats. With the weird English there (like calling a pack n play a cot) we thought Brit wouldn’t have a car seat–not ok. But, it was worked out and we made it out. Mark was a little unsure of driving on the wrong side of the road, but he did well. There wasn’t time to stop for the discount cards, so we headed straight to church.

When we got there the gate was closed and 1 car was in the lot. We checked the time the night before. For the THIRD time while on vacation we’ve tried to go to church and it’s been stake conference. (We’re assuming that was it, since we can’t see any other reason no one was there). Like, seriously? So, after trekking back to the hotel so some of us could change, we picked up the cards and headed out for the island.

We’re pretty sure that Brit gets car sick. He’s puked enough times now that we don’t think it’s an accident. Unfortunately, he was wearing his super cute new Rocker Roos outfit. This is the best pic I have, but there will be more coming soon.

After cleaning up the poor baby, driving through a torrential downpour of rain and possibly breaking our contract with the car company for driving on a non-paved road, we made it to Churchill Island. It’s the site of the first European agricultural pursuits and has been farmed since the 1850s. Today it is a historic working farm.

Sadly, after the koalas we couldn’t take any more pictures. We went to the Penguin Parade and there were no pictures allowed. They’re the smallest of the penguins and after swimming all day, they return to their burrows at night that are just up the beach.

We made our way down to the beach and got what we thought were great seats. It was soooooo cold! We even bought blankets. And, we were especially bummed we couldn’t have the camera because the sunset was beautiful, and the waves were huge and a really cool color of blue-green.

When they started coming ashore they came in little bunches and would ride the water in and out for 5-10 minutes before they were sure it was safe enough to cross the beach to their homes.

It looked kind of like this. They’re soooo cute! After a bit we went to watch them on the paths and as they walked home. Some lived far up off the beach–like 100 yards or so. They were very noisy calling to each other, and they all sounded different.

It was a long day, but totally worth it. We got to see lots of things unique to Australia and despite the day’s unplanned beginning, it turned out to be a lot of fun!