The little Phillip Island south of Melbourne in southern Victoria is mostly known for its penguins. But there are also some great nature and rock formations like the Nobbies and the Seal Rocks, a large seal colony, a koala conservation centre and the Grand Prix Circuit. Here is some Phillip Island travel information, and in the end of the page is one of the Phillip Island maps.
How to Get to Phillip Island There are two ways to get to Phillip Island. One is to drive south from Melbourne to Mornington paninsula, and catch a ferry to Cowes via French Island. The other way is to drive the south Gippsland Highway south-east and then the Bass Highway south to Bass and San Remo and cross a bridge across the Narrows.
Eastern Phillip Island Australia If you come this way, first on your left hand side there is Woolamai Waters and the Cape Woolamai. In Woolamai Waters there are a few surf beaches (also known for rip currents so swim between the flags) and the Woolamai Surf Life Saving Club. In the Cape Woolamai there is a fauna reserve and different bushwalking tracks around the cape and the rugged red rock formations called the Pinnacles.
Central Phillip Island Australia As you continue northwest along the Phillip Island Road, you’ll come to the Koala Conservation Centre, where you can see koalas really close from a treetop walk. It is a good opportunity for close-up photos where koalas look as if they were in the wild. The Koala Conservation Centre is in the Phillip Island Nature Park. If you want to stay here, there is the A Maze’n Things caravan park.
Northern Phillip Island: Cowes Further north-east is Cowes – the island’s main town where you have shops, post office, tourism information centre, a Heritage Centre and a Historic Homestead. There is also a surf shop, and plenty of accommodation like Isle of Wight Hotel , Amaroo Park YHA, and Anchor Belle, Kaloha, Bushy, Islander, Seaview, Boomernag, and Beach Park Caravan Parks.
Southern Phillip Island Australia On the southern coast of the Phillip Island is the basaltic rock formation called Pyramid Rock, and some of the island’s best beaches such as Smiths Beach and Berrys Beach. Between the two is the Grand Prix Circuit, that hosted the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix in 1989. There is a visitor centre there and you can even go on tours.
Phillip Island Penguins West from here is the number one tourist attraction in Victoria – the Penguin Parade. Every evening just at the sunset, Little Penguins – the smallest penguins in the world – come out of the ocean at Summerland Beach and walk into their nests in the Spinifex, totally ignoring the crowds of people who are watching them from a specially built boardwalk. It is an amazing experience to see them, despite the fact that on busy nights the crowds get too big to really enjoy it. The ticket money goes towards Little Penguin conservation.
Seal Rocks and The Nobbies North from the Penguin Parade is the Shelly Beach, and west are the Nobbies – a rugged coastline in the western cape of the island. Behind the Nobbies are Seal Rocks, where you can see Australia’s largest seal colony of about 7000 fur seals. Despite the fact that Kangaroo Island in South Australia is more famous for its seals, the populations here are bigger.
Here's one of Phillip Island maps where I have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
NOTE: This website is written in British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all correct in the language used in Australia.
