We have seen different types of beach huts but not the colourful ones. On our sponsored trip to Victoria Australia earlier year, we stop over at Mount Martha Beach near Mornington Peninsula only for one reason. The beach huts.

Why colourful beach huts?

As I was told, this beach huts are rented by vacationers who kept their boats inside the huts. To identify their huts easier, they coloured the huts differently.

Thus, it naturally becomes a tourist attraction of Mornington Peninsula, how convenient!

We left Mount Martha beach for Frankston and back to Melbourne CBD.

If you see me if such a big belly, you know that I had great time in Victoria, Australia. 
How to get to Mount Martha?

It is located 60 km south east of Melbourne’s CBD (Central Business District) and south east of Port Philip. It is recommended to self drive there.

Check out my other Visit Victoria 2011 9 Days experiences by clicking the link below:

Visit Victoria Day 1: Causeway 353 Hotel, Federation Square, Chinatown, SouthBank, Eureka Skydeck 88, Tutto Bene and Crown Casino

Visit Victoria Day 2: Dandenong Ranges, On Puffing Billy, Olinda, Sassafras, Miss Maple’s Tea Room, Yarra Valley, Domaine Chandon, Sebel Lodge Hotel and Balgownie

Visit Victoria Day 3: Global Ballooning, Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley Dairy, Rayners Stonefruit Orchard, Giant Steps, Koala Conservation Centre, Waves Apartments and Phillip Island Nature Park

Visit Victoria Day 4: A Maze N Things, San Remo’s Fisherman’s Co-op, Heritage Farm at Churchill Island and Dinner at Taylors Waterfront Restaurant

Visit Victoria Day 5: Panny’s Chocolate Factory, Mornington Peninsula, Max’s at Red Hill Estate, Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm, Gordon Studio Glass Blowers, Brooklands Best Western and The Rock

Visit Victoria Day 6: Horse Riding at Gunnamatta Equestrian Centre, The Baths, Ashcombe Maze & Water Gardens, Peninsula Hot Springs and Dinner at Hotel Sorrento

Visit Victoria Day 7: Sand Sculpting Exhibition, St. Kilda, Dinner onboard the Colonial Tramcar, Bar tour With Michelle Matthews of Deck of Secrets.

Visit Victoria Day 8: Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar, Coffee Tour, Shark Walk, Victoria Market and Chinatown

Visit Victoria Day 9: Gold Class Limousines and Goodbye Australia

Krabi has been one of the popular tourists spot in Southern Thailand in recent years. A favourite holiday destination by the Scandinavians, Krabi is considered as the next best thing after Phuket Island.  In Aonang, streets are filled with motels, hotels, bars, restaurants, massage centers and tourists. Aonang is a better option than Krabi town as the jetties are located there and there are more hotels and restaurants to choose from. One of the best part of staying in Aonang is the beautiful sunset that can be seen along the busy the main road.

There are a few popular island tours in Krabi. One of them is the four islands hopping tour or also known as the “Unseen Island Tour”. The tour was inclusive of Tup Island, Chicken Island, Poda Island and Phra Nang Cave. The published rate was around 1200 baht (around US 40) per person with the speed boat. This rate is based on peak season rate. Most of the tour operators in Krabi are selling the same tour packages, the difference will be the type of boat and the pricing. My friends and I had pre booked the tour with the long tail boat, we should have booked it in Krabi as it’s cheaper. The tour was inclusive of one English speaking guide. There are three popular island hopping excursions in Krabi, the four island tour, Phi Phi Island Tour and Hong Island Tour.

The tour van picked us up in early in the morning from our hotel and the jetty which is roughly 15 min drive from Aonang. There, we were assigned to our boat. As everyone had their safety vests, our boat was ready to go.

The long tail boat was not really a bad option. Though it was slower but we can enjoy the breezes of the wind and also a great chat altogether.

The Tup Island was the first destination. From far, we could see there was a beautiful sand pathway in the middle of the island. As we went closer, we can see through the sea bed through the clear sea water. It was like a picture of the postcard, the color of the sea was turquoise and the clear blue sky. It was a perfect day for photography and sunbathing.

We walked around the island, having fun taking pictures with beautiful island as the backdrop and dipping ourselves to the sea.  We spent an hour relaxing there as we proceed to the next island. We wished we could spend more time on Tub Island but we have 3 islands to go.

Next, we went to the Chicken Island. There were no chickens on the island and there’s no hero named chicken died on the island.

The Chicken Island is named such way due to the shape of rock formation that looks like a head of the rooster. However, I felt it looks like a camel to me. The rock formation can be visibly seen from far. Well, that was not the reason we were there, the actual highlight of Chicken Island is to snorkel near the island, the water there is like Tub Island which is crystal clear. The snorkeling gears were provided by tour operator.  There’s nothing beat the moment of diving in to the cold sea for snorkeling, it was refreshing!

Snorkeling around Chicken Island was nothing particular spectacular, there were lots of tiger fish and there quite a number of sea corals as well. I reckon places like Redang Island has more variety of fish than here.

Then, we sailed to Poda Island for lunch. Our tour was inclusive of lunch which is a packet of mixed rice and a bottle of mineral water.

If you are wondering, everyone else was having the same lunch box.

Poda Island was slightly different from the earlier 2 islands. The island was slightly bigger and has the backdrop of a small rock island. As we walked around the island, we spotted 2 long tail boats offering food. Like the food stall, the 2 wooden boats were selling from fried chicken to Thai fried rice. It was an eye opener. They were also offering baguette and fruit shakes. There is nothing beats a good fruit shake under the hot sun!

The food and drink price in the range of 40-60 Thai Baht which is less than USD 2.  Slightly expensive than the stalls in Krabi but on an island like this, it’s worth it. We spent an hour lying down under the shady coconut trees after our lunch and fruit shake. Then, we went to the last island on the island hopping list, the Phra Nang Cave Island.

The first impression of the Phra Nang (Princess) Cave Island was packed. So who is Phra Nang? There are different stories on the legend of Phra Nang.

One legend mentioned that an Indian princess was killed in a shipwreck and her spirit occupied the cave while the other story was the wife of a local fisherman who lived out her life in the cave waiting her husband to come back.

Phra Nang cave has also become associated with fertility. Believe it or not, the lingams placed here are the actually carved wooden penises. Many fishermen will pray here for safe journeys with flowers or incense.

The island has a landscape of a huge rock hill and small resorts. The island is also very popular for its rock climbing activities. It is one of the top destinations for rock climbing in Thailand. Many rock climbers from all parts of the world went there to test out their skills. There was a few young climbers practicing at the lower part of the hill while the rest were seen climbing the hill from various locations. As we walked to the other side of the island, many climbers were seen getting ready on their gears. At least dozens can be visibly seen climbing the rocky hill.

As we walked back towards our long tail boat, we saw a stretch of long tail boat food stalls that we seen earlier at Poda Island. The beach side was parked by a long stretch of the long tail boats, it was really quite an effort to trace our boat if our guide wasn’t there. We left Phra Nang and reached Krabi in the late afternoon. The island hopping tour took more time than we anticipates, it will be shorter if we had the speed boat tour. We reached Aonang around 4pm.

We went for massage after that and then to dinner and shopping till late. Life in Krabi could never be better.

Overall, we enjoyed island hopping tour. Snorkeling near Chicken Island wasn’t that spectacular but we had great time there. Tub Island was beautiful and Koda Island was really relaxing. We enjoyed looking climbers stretching their arms and legs near Phra Nang Cave. Not forgetting, the clear turquoise water and the beautiful Andaman Sea. This is one of the reasons you should be going to Krabi for your holiday.

Stay on for Phi Phi Island Tour stories on the next few days!

The first time I visit a fish market in Australia was in 2001 in Sydney. The Sydney Fish Market is one of the popular attractions in Sydney and many would travel there for fresh seafood. On top of that, there are also pelicans around the area.

My recent trip to Victoria courtesy of Tourism Victoria brought me to San Remo near Philip Island. There is similarity on both places such restaurants serving fresh seafood, both are located at the seaside with a jetty and there are pelicans wandering around.

Pelican View is one of the most popular restaurants in San Remo offering fresh seafood.

There were so many to choose from, cooked seafood, burgers, chips (French fries) and seafood. It is self-service by the way.

We ordered the Flathead fillets (beer batter 4 pcs) for A$ 6 / US$ 6.10 / RM 19. Freshly deep fried with a coating of batter, compliments well with tartar sauce or tomato ketchup. No chili sauce, this is not Malaysia.

The Grill seafood came with 3 grilled prawns, 2 scallops, 2 calamari pieces with chips, tossed salads and tartar sauce for A$16.50 / US$ 16.80 / RM 50. The calamari pieces were not batter coated or deep fried, it was pan fried.

Lastly, we ordered the Salt and Pepper Calamari (6 pc) with chips, tossed salad and tartar sauce for A$ 15.50 / US$ 15.80 / RM 47. It was not the deep fried version that we familiar with but it was seasoned well with salt and pepper.

In general, the food there was fresh but slightly dry to my liking. The view was fantastic and this place is a great short stop if you are driving to Philip Island from Melbourne. It is located just at the entrance of Philip Island (beside the main bridge).

Pelican View Address and Contact:

190 Marine Parade, San Remo, Victoria 3925

Phone:03 5678 5206

Fax:03 5678 5401

http://www.pelicanview.com.au

Visit Victoria Day 1: Causeway 353 Hotel, Federation Square, Chinatown, SouthBank, Eureka Skydeck 88, Tutto Bene and Crown Casino

Visit Victoria Day 2: Dandenong Ranges, On Puffing Billy, Olinda, Sassafras, Miss Maple’s Tea Room, Yarra Valley, Domaine Chandon, Sebel Lodge Hotel and Balgownie

Visit Victoria Day 3: Global Ballooning, Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley Dairy, Rayners Stonefruit Orchard, Giant Steps, Koala Conservation Centre, Waves Apartments and Phillip Island Nature Park

Visit Victoria Day 4: A Maze N Things, San Remo’s Fisherman’s Co-op, Heritage Farm at Churchill Island and Dinner at Taylors Waterfront Restaurant

Visit Victoria Day 5: Panny’s Chocolate Factory, Mornington Peninsula, Max’s at Red Hill Estate, Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm, Gordon Studio Glass Blowers, Brooklands Best Western and The Rock

Visit Victoria Day 6: Horse Riding at Gunnamatta Equestrian Centre, The Baths, Ashcombe Maze & Water Gardens, Peninsula Hot Springs and Dinner at Hotel Sorrento

Visit Victoria Day 7: Sand Sculpting Exhibition, St. Kilda, Dinner onboard the Colonial Tramcar, Bar tour With Michelle Matthews of Deck of Secrets.

Visit Victoria Day 8: Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar, Coffee Tour, Shark Walk, Victoria Market and Chinatown

Visit Victoria Day 9: Gold Class Limousines and Goodbye Australia

Our stay at Beach Terrace Hotel Krabi was a joyful one. We enjoyed the convenience, their affordable room rates as well as their good services. We will be going to Krabi again next month and will be reviewing another resort.

Beach Terrace Hotel Krabi Address and Contact:

154 Moo.2, T.Aonang, A.Muang, Krabi Thailand 81000.

Tel: 66 (0) 7563 7181 – 3

Fax: 66 (0) 7563 7184 – 5

Email: info@krabibeachterrace.com, booking@krabibeachterrace.com

Website: http://www.krabibeachterrace.com/

Malaysia has some of the best and finest scuba diving spots in the world and it will be a shame if we don’t see it for ourselves. We have heard and seen so many great scuba diving adventures and we felt it was time for us to learn and experience it ourselves. The first step is always the hardest, we wanted to learn scuba diving for years and only lately we decided to learn with a recommended scuba diving instructor. Many might think scuba diving is tough and hard, but trust us it is easier than we thought. However there is also health risks involved so having a strict and mature instructor is very important. We learnt from Lo Kean Leong (lkeanleong@yahoo.com), an experience scuba diving instructor with many years of diving and teaching experience. Thus, for our PADI Scuba Diving test, we decided to do it in Pulau Tenggol (Island) in Terengganu via Dunggun town.

We drove to Dunggun from Kuala Lumpur and it took us around 5 hours with legal speed limits. Drive to Karak Highway and follow the sign to Kuala Terengganu, exit near Kuantan and pass thru Cherating. In Dunggun town, ask around for the jetty as the road signs are quite confusing. The jetty is located near the huge bridge in Dunggun and it is a private jetty for Tenggol Island Beach Resort only. I am not sure whether the other resorts are sharing the same jetty. We parked our car at the private jetty.

We were told that the tides were high and sea was rough so we had to keep our bags inside the boat compartments to keep it dry.

Without even 15 min sailing into the sea, we were treated free splashes and sea water. I always wanted a sea-salt spa but this was not I expected. This was the effects or tail of typhoon Ma-on which hit Japan, Taiwan and Philippines a few days earlier. We got wet and cold due to the strong winds but we liked it.

After an hour of sailing, we reached Pulau Tenggol, the southernmost island in the state of Terengganu, Malaysia.

The water was crystal clear and you can see clearly how strong was the sea waves.

This picture looks similar to many postcard pictures available out there. This picture is not taken from Maldives, Fiji or Mauritius, this is Pulau Tenggol in Terengganu Malaysia.

While many can afford to pay thousands to visit exotic countries, we can have experience similar beauty in our home country, Malaysia.

Pulau Tenggol is very laid back and popular for scuba divers. The real reason we chose Pulau Tenggol for our PADI Open Water exam is there are more diving sites around and also the beach is just next to the resort. Thus, we don’t really need to walk far with our BCD and tank behind our back. Since we are beginners, let’s do the thing the easy way.

The Tenggol Island Beach Resort is a small resort with a few wooden chalet rooms with a coffee shop.

With a book or coffee, many would enjoy the breezing winds and the sun at the resort.

There is also a hammock there were often guests were caught taking a nap in the afternoon.

Right after we reached Pulau Tenggol, we prepared ourselves for our first open water diving. That’s me with the tight suit.

That was us before our virgin open water dive session.

Before we go to the sea, we went for our first open water diving at Turtle Point near the island. We practise there until the instructor is satisfied with our progress only we can proceeds for our first sight-seeing or leisure dive. Hence, before this we had two scuba diving lessons in a swimming pool in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

Why is it better to learn in swimming pool first? Rachel is a good swimmer but I am not. In addition, I can’t “stand” in the water surface properly so I did have some fear about the whole scuba diving thing.

Before I start, I talked to a few season divers and they agreed that it is the best to learn at the pool first rather than doing the whole thing on the beach/island. We had a long discussion with our instructor before we start the course and he gave us a lot of explanations and details about it. After two lessons in the pool, we did great and we had the confidence before the real dive.

My first drop to the sea was anxious but fun. As expected, I took quite a number of deep breaths but I wasn’t panic.

We practise all the exercises we did in the pool at Turtle Point. The feeling is similar but the environment is different. We can dive in to 18 feet and practise our “hovering” there.

We also practise all the steps we needed as from the PADI license requirement. The first dive was unexpectedly fun.

Though we were practising but we were still able to see the underwater sea life like never before. We were on our own and we were at a different “universe”. All the stress and the unhappiness can be well forgotten here as it is dead silence down there. No sms, no Internet and no calls. It is just you and your buddy diving underwater, it is your world!

The first dive was good and promising. However due to my physical size, I was having trouble taking my fins off.

We did two dives on the first day and we took break in between and this is a must for scuba divers to prevent decompression sickness. A person can do a maximum of three to four dives a day based on the depth and the duration of each dive.

Pulau Tenggol Island Beach Resort offers three meals and a tea time a day. The tea time is in between lunch and dinner and usually served with delicious Malaysian desserts. All the meals are cooked by the Malay staffs.

The sunset view at Pulau Tenggol was a beauty. We had our dinner with the backdrop of the beautiful sunset. We took the PADI written exam and I managed to finish it within 20 minutes. The max time for the written exam is one and half hour. The passing mark is 75% and I scored 90% and Rachel scored 80%. For the practical exam, our instructor will initiate all the steps and evaluate us during our dives. Yeah, we passed our exams and now waiting for our PADI license.

The second day we did four dives, three dives near the island and one leisure dive. We went to Turtle Point, Five Sisters and Gua Rajawali. Both Five Sisters and Gua Rajawali are deeper than 10m so we had to make sure not to go deeper than our limit. We did get the chill when we couldn’t the bottom but with our practise dives, we had no problems. With the guidance of our instructor, there was not even a single bad incident during the whole trip.

On third day, we left Pulau Tenggol with a few new friends. They are seasoned divers Ahmad Zaki and Amardeep. Thanks for sharing the amazing scuba diving stories as well as those magical underwater pictures.

We departed Pulau Tenggol with a heavy heart and we are looking forward for more diving trips in the near future. Our instructor Lo Kean Leong (lkeanleong@yahoo.com) went to Sipadan after that and planning their next scuba diving trip to Christmas Island.

For those who wants to learn from an experience PADI certified scuba diving instructor like us, please contact Lo Kean Leong (lkeanleong@yahoo.com).

For all the pictures of our Pulau Tenggol Island trip, please click HERE.

About PADI

The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) is the world’s largest recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson.

We celebrated our 2009 Christmas in Thailand with our friends. It was a five days four nights holiday and you can read about our adventure holiday below:

Krabi Trang Holiday Day One: Ku La Ka Sai Restaurant, Tham Le Cave, Pak Meng Beach Resort

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part One: Pak Meng Beach, Koh Chuak Island and Koh Mah Island
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part Two: Koh Kradan Island, Emerald Cave (Marakot) at Koh Mook Island and Sunset Pak Meng Beach

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Three: Krabi Duck Noodle, Tiger Cave Temple, Krabi Fisheries Research Center, Aonang, Azzurra Italian Restaurant.

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Four: Four Island Tour Excursion and Visiting Krabi Town

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Five: Breakfast at McDonalds Ao Nang and Goodbye Thailand

It was our last day in Krabi and we had four fantastic days holidaying in Trang and Krabi, you can read them as below:

Krabi Trang Holiday Day One: Ku La Ka Sai Restaurant, Tham Le Cave, Pak Meng Beach Resort
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part One: Pak Meng Beach, Koh Chuak Island and Koh Mah Island
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part Two: Koh Kradan Island, Emerald Cave (Marakot) at Koh Mook Island and Sunset Pak Meng Beach
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Three: Krabi Duck Noodle, Tiger Cave Temple, Krabi Fisheries Research Center, Aonang, Azzurra Italian Restaurant.

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Four: Four Island Tour Excursion and Visiting Krabi Town

We decided to skip our complimentary breakfast in the hotel and walked around in Ao Nang. The Aonang beach was already busy with tourists hopping on to their boats for their island excursions.

The shops in Ao Nang were already preparing to open during the early hours of the day. We thought of having our breakfast at some of the local restaurants but we ended up in McDonalds.

The difference of McDonalds in Thailand with McDonalds in Malaysia is they served pork burgers. Hence, please take note that McDonalds in Thailand is NOT HALAL. Thus, it is even more expensive than Malaysia.

Most shops were already opened after breakfast. We managed to shop around last minute and we bought ourselves hats. The hats cost around 200 Thai Baht each (US$7).

Then, we checked out and waiting for our flight at Krabi International Airport with our friends. We were heavy hearted to leave Thailand as we enjoyed our holiday there. Goodbye Krabi and Trang Thailand and till we meet again!

Our holiday in Krabi on day four will be only on two agendas, the four island tour excursion and visiting Krabi Town. We had three days of adventure and fun and you can read it at

Krabi Trang Holiday Day One: Ku La Ka Sai Restaurant, Tham Le Cave, Pak Meng Beach Resort
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part One: Pak Meng Beach, Koh Chuak Island and Koh Mah Island
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part Two: Koh Kradan Island, Emerald Cave (Marakot) at Koh Mook Island and Sunset Pak Meng Beach

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Three: Krabi Duck Noodle, Tiger Cave Temple, Krabi Fisheries Research Center, Aonang, Azzurra Italian Restaurant.

Four Island Tour Excursion of Krabi

TheThe Tup Island

We started our day four with the newest attraction in Krabi, the Unseen Four Island Tour Excursion. The excursion will take almost the whole day and we went on four islands. It was the Tup Island, Chicken Island, Poda Island and Phra Nang Cave and the activities include snorkeling, island hopping and beach activities.

You can read our full experience of the Four Island Tour Excursion at The Four Island Tour Excursion of Krabi. Thus we also publish this story on Gaya Travel Magazine as Krabi’s Four Islands Tour.

The four island hopping excursion was worth every penny. We recommend first timers to Krabi to take this tour.

We went back to the hotel and had a short nap. In the evening, we hired a van for 2000 Thai Baht for four hours. We decided to venture Krabi town which is 30 min drive from Ao Nang.

Krabi Town

If you are looking for authentic local Krabi food, Krabi town is the place.

There was a wet market where you can buy ready-made Thai food and products and the other was an open-air night market.

We spent almost two hours walking around the night market. They had local food like ice sticks, skewers, Thai snacks and Thai desserts. Thus, you can see their creativity on their food with combinations of colours and flavours.

There were also Thai made clothes, products, apparels and even paintings available in the night market. That’s why we spent our whole evening venturing the market.

This was our last night in Krabi, we will be flying back to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on the next day so we had the drinking game again in the hotel. We were so wasted. We enjoyed our holiday since day one. Trang and Krabi are amazing places for holiday!

Our Krabi Trang Holiday Day Three continues with us going to Trang town for their local famous food. There is a recap what we did on the first two days, Krabi Trang Holiday Day One: Ku La Ka Sai Restaurant, Tham Le Cave, Pak Meng Beach Resort, Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part One: Pak Meng Beach, Koh Chuak Island and Koh Mah Island and Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part Two: Koh Kradan Island, Emerald Cave (Marakot) at Koh Mook Island and Sunset Pak Meng Beach. It was for the crispy pork, swiss rolls and pastries. You can read our full review at Trang Famous Food.

Krabi Duck Noodle

After the quick bite, we were on the road again, this time traveling back to Krabi. We stopped at the Duck Inn Resort for their famous duck noodle. This is one of their local delicacies in Krabi that is not to be missed. This place is usually packed with loads of tourists.

Krabi Duck Noodle Contact:

Tel: 075-663185, 081-4776002

Tiger Cave Temple

Next, we went to the Tiger Cave Temple. It is called the Tiger Cave temple because of the rock outgrowth nearby resembling a tiger’s claw.

There is a beautiful temple sits at the bottom of the hill. The pagoda influenced temple is visited by hundreds of visitors daily.

Monkeys were straying around the temple compound area. Please beware of your belongings if you are near the monkeys as they can be quite playful. Venturing the top of the hill is an uphill task with 1,200 steps in between. We were told the view from the top is breathtaking!

Krabi Fisheries Research Center

Then, we went to Krabi Fisheries Research Center, one of the newest attractions in Krabi. This project is initiated by the Thai government to research and to breed the marine life.

The centre breeds endangered species in large salt water lakes next to the coast, for research and conservation – most fish are eventually released back into the sea in order to boost local populations. Popular fish such as clown fish are breed here.

We went back to Ao Nang in Krabi and check in at Beach Terrace Hotel.

This was a typical sunset view at Ao Nang beach. The scenery is one of the reasons why Ao Nang is so loved by tourists in Krabi.

Azzurra Italian Restaurant

For dinner we went to Azzurra Italian Restaurant in Ao Nang, an authentic Italian restaurant in Krabi since 1998. Ao Nang is also a popular shopping district with dozens of bars, pubs and restaurants. There are also food stalls along the Ao Nang main road. Some of the food is HALAL and cooked by Thai Muslims.

In Azzurra we had Cozze alla Marinara, Scalopping di Maiale al Lime, Gnocchi al Pesto, Zuppettina di Mare and Tiramisu. It was not cheap but we enjoyed the authentic food. The owner is an Italian who married a local. The restaurant was packed during the evening.

Azzurra Italian Restaurant Address and Contact:

142/1-2, Ao Nang Beach Rd,

81000, Thailand

Tel: +66 081 8938817, +66 075 637848

Email: francoazzura@hotmail.com

Website: www.ristorante-azzura.com

After dinner, we went back to hotel and rest. We need all the rest because we will be island hopping on the next day!

At first, I was supposed to blog about a few recommendations on two restaurants in Philip Island. However, I felt it is better to blog about the accommodation in Philip Island first before I proceed with the dining places.

I have been encouraging people (friends and readers) to stay on Philip Island since my traveling experience there in January. Many people think of Philip Island as the Penguin Island where the truth is there are more things to see, to do and to eat!

The best way to travel to Philip Island from Melbourne is by driving. The accommodation that I am going to recommend is the best for group travellers whether traveling with your family or with your friends.

The Waves Apartments is located at the Esplanade Cowes, close to shops and restaurants and it is seafront.

Why Waves Apartments? Firstly, they are new, modern and best located on the island and most important of all affordable. Please check out their website for their latest rates and packages.

I was given the key to my apartment (I did not know it was an apartment as I thought I was just another hotel room) and to my surprise the apartment is insanely huge.

Mind my word but that is the proper word to describe the apartment, insanely huge!

There is a single bed with the dining table at the back section of the apartment near the entrance.

Yes, they have a kitchen there as well. It comes with induction hobs, microwave, kettle and a fridge.

There is a wardrobe on the corridor to the front section of the apartment.

There you have the bedroom and the living room. The huge King size bed that can fits two to three persons.

The living room comes with two comfortable two-seater sofas.

The working table with the LCD TV and Internet Access point. Please ask for internet access when you book the apartment.

I stayed two nights there, loved it. At night time, I could see the stars clearly as it is quite dark on the island. For that, I stayed on an hour outside of the apartment took a few pictures of the dark sky. Check out the picture HERE.

My apartment I had was facing the sea, I have no complains of the view.

Lastly, if you intend to stay in Philip Island with your friends or family, do consider The Waves Apartments. Great location, convenient and good room rates are the things that you can consider for. Oh yeah, did I mention that they gated parking spaces for guests?

The Waves Apartments Address and Contact:

1 The Esplanade Cowes
PO Box 108
Cowes Vic 3922

P +61 03 5952 1351
F +61 03 5952 3144
info@thewaves.com.au

http://www.thewaves.com.au

Check out my other Visit Victoria days experiences by clicking the link below:

Visit Victoria Day 1: Causeway 353 Hotel, Federation Square, Chinatown, SouthBank, Eureka Skydeck 88, Tutto Bene and Crown Casino

Visit Victoria Day 2: Dandenong Ranges, On Puffing Billy, Olinda, Sassafras, Miss Maple’s Tea Room, Yarra Valley, Domaine Chandon, Sebel Lodge Hotel and Balgownie

Visit Victoria Day 3: Global Ballooning, Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley Dairy, Rayners Stonefruit Orchard, Giant Steps, Koala Conservation Centre, Waves Apartments and Phillip Island Nature Park

Visit Victoria Day 4: A Maze N Things, San Remo’s Fisherman’s Co-op, Heritage Farm at Churchill Island and Dinner at Taylors Waterfront Restaurant

Visit Victoria Day 5: Panny’s Chocolate Factory, Mornington Peninsula, Max’s at Red Hill Estate, Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm, Gordon Studio Glass Blowers, Brooklands Best Western and The Rock

Visit Victoria Day 6: Horse Riding at Gunnamatta Equestrian Centre, The Baths, Ashcombe Maze & Water Gardens, Peninsula Hot Springs and Dinner at Hotel Sorrento

Visit Victoria Day 7: Sand Sculpting Exhibition, St. Kilda, Dinner onboard the Colonial Tramcar, Bar tour With Michelle Matthews of Deck of Secrets.

Visit Victoria Day 8: Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar, Coffee Tour, Shark Walk, Victoria Market and Chinatown

Visit Victoria Day 9: Gold Class Limousines and Goodbye Australia