1 WEEK IN PHILLIP ISLAND - TOP THINGS TO DO IN PHILLIP ISLAND, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Are you planning a visit to Phillip Island in Melbourne, Australia? If you have a week to spare, we've got the perfect itinerary to make the most of your time on this beautiful island.
We spent one week in Phillip Island for Christmas, and honestly really loved it. After spending the years apart from my family over COVID-19, since our family all live around the world, we decided to come together and meet for Xmas in Phillip Island.
So here is our 1 week in Phillip Island, our top things to do.
MELBOURNE / URBAN SURF
We were finally back visiting Australia, since covid. First, we flew from Lombok- Bali - to Melbourne. Our journey began with a bit of airport drama as our flights got canceled, rescheduled, and then delayed. We were supposed to arrive in Melbourne at 9 p.m., but we ended up arriving in Melbourne at 11 a.m. the next day.
We rushed to grab some food, on the way
Luckily we made it just in time to meet our friends from Lombok, Kat and Matt, who we had booked to try out Urban Surf, for Matt and Coco’s birthdays. Urban Surf is a wave pool in Melbourne. It's for all levels to help surfers of all ages, genders, and abilities to surf more.
When we arrived, Coco and Matt had a briefing, put on their wet suits,
and got in the water, the sessions lasted for 1 hour and you got about 10 waves. Kat and I decided to leave the surfing up to them and have a beer on the side watching and catching up. The boys loved the experience and said it was really great.
After urban surf, we headed straight to St Kilda beach for sunset, to a restaurant/bar called
Republica, to meet my family for dinner. We were so lucky with the weather and got an insane sunset too. St Kilda beach is beautiful, and a great vibe for drinks and sunset.
It was a great day to start off our trip!
DAY 2: WINERIES ON THE DRIVE DOWN TO PHILLIP ISLAND
On the second day, we hit the road to Phillip Island. we stopped at a couple of wineries on the way down. The drive from Melbourne to Phillip Island is approximately 2 hours. But we drove about 1 hour and stopped at Dromana Estate Winery to eat some food and try their wine. It was so beautiful here and definitely worth a visit! I liked how traditional it looked, It was exactly how I imagined a classic country winery would look.
We then drove another hour and got to PT Leo Estate winery. This was a more modern take, with wine tasting and an art gallery. We paid $10 and got the wine tasting and pass to view the art. For the wine tasting you could choose from 3 types standard, red, or premium all 10-25 dollars, and the charge of 10 dollars is refunded when you purchase any bottle of wine. It was so insightful and interesting. Then we went for a walk to take in the view of the coast, grapes, and art.
We really loved both of these and the contrast of both being so different.
Then we made our way to Phillip Island, we had booked an Air BnB in Cowes.
That evening was the day before Xmas Eve, so we just headed to the supermarket Coles and stocked up on lots of food and drinks for the next few days, over Xmas.
Christmas Eve! GO KARTING AND WILD LIFE PARK
On Christmas Eve, We went to try the Go Karting at Phillip Island Go Karts, this is at the location of the Moto GP track and the track is a replica of the real one.
In the afternoon, we visited Phillip Island Wildlife Park, where we saw kangaroos, koalas, emus, and more in spacious, natural habitats.
And we got to hand feed the kangaroos and get up close to them.
Coco was like the kangaroo whisperer, they were all drawn to him
We even picked out some fun presents to take home for Coco’s family.
The evening was spent celebrating Christmas Eve with family and friends.
Christmas Day and Beach Fun
Christmas Day, Christmas morning we all woke up and headed to the beach for a dip in the ocean, It was freezing!! But refreshing! After we went home for some christmas lunch,
cooked the meat in the slow cooker, with vegetables, and Coco and I cooked up an Indonesian Tempeh dish with sambal for the vegetarians.
On Boxing Day, we fired up the barbecue again and headed to the beach for some cricket. Kat and Matt re-joined us, and bought their electric skateboards, so we had some fun on those and started planning our surfing adventure for the next day
Surfing the Phillip Island Waves
The next morning, we were on a search for some waves. Phillip Island is known for some awesome waves, and we could not wait to check them out. We had gotten some info on the surf spots from a friend who grew up around there, so we had an idea of where might be working, and checked on Magic seaweed for the conditions.
Then we headed to The ISLAND surf shop, in Smiths Beach, where you can rent wetsuits, and surfboards and do surf lessons. We picked up our wetsuits.
(It is 10aud for an hour or 30aud for the day!).
We explored various beaches and finally found the perfect spot for intermediate and advanced surfers.
We chucked on the wetsuits (which was not as easy as we thought)
This beach was so beautiful and almost empty. The waves are perfect for Intermediate/Advanced.
MARKET COWES BEACH
That afternoon, there was a market and concert happening at Cowes Beach. We walked around a bought a couple of little things, they have everything from Art, clothes, jewelry, to food and handcrafted cider and wine. We picked up some nibbles and enjoyed the live music. It was such a fun atmosphere, seeing the community dancing and enjoying themselves while watching the sunset.
COFFE AND SKATE
G’day Tiger was our favorite spot for a morning coffee.
The time had gone so fast! For our final day in Phillip Island, we went into town with Kat and Matt before they had to head back to Melbourne, and had some fun on the electric skateboards
and then we took the dog for a walk to the dog beach
DRINKS IN TOWN
We then had some drinks and Shaka Bar, there are some fun bars and pubs around town, with a great atmosphere.
MELBOURNE
Then the next day we headed back to Melbourne and went for a walk and some food down Smiths Street In Melbourne city. Melbourne is such a cool city, with lots going on.
Our Final Thoughts…
We loved Phillip Island, and definitely recommend going. Just a short trip from Melbourne, there is a lot to do and we loved the chilled-out surfer vibe of this town. You will need a car or some form of transport and we recommend staying in Cowes, close to the main street.
Lots of people head there in the summer and accommodation books up fast, so be sure to book ahead. We really had the best time and wish we had longer to spend there!!
If you like surfing, there are waves to suit all levels. And check out the wineries on the drive down. We wish we would have had more time here because there are so many cool things to do and see…
Here is a list of other activities that we wanted to do, like the penguins, walking trails, strawberry picking, and other beautiful beaches.
MORE ACTIVITIES TO SEE AND DO:...
The penguin beach - one of Phillip Island's main attractions is the penguins which come up at Summerlands beach at sunset. A few of us had seen them before, so we decided to give it a miss, but definitely recommend it.
Forest caves (at low tide)
Pyramid rock
Pinnacles walk
Nobbies boardwalk
Kayaking
Strawberry picking
Antarctic journey
Amaze n things
Clip n Climb
As well as many lovely beaches to visit, maybe for a picnic or surfing. Check out Cat bay, Flyns, Woolmie, Surfers, Summerlands, Smiths, and Silver leaves.
We hope you enjoyed this vlog and if you are heading to Phillip Island we hope you have the best time!
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