Yes, you'll certainly get to see the Fairy Penguins without the trek to Phillips Island. But for other lurkers, it really is a lovely day trip from Melbourne with a tour company as they take you to other wild life places to see Koala's, kangaroo's, etc before getting to Phillips Island.

The fairy penguins only come out in the dark, so as far as the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road.........are you planning on driving that road at night? It's a slippery and winding narrow road and if you're driving west from Melbourne to Adelaide, you'll be on the right side, in the outer lane. Be aware that it's a high road with the Ocean waaaay down below, lots of slippery curves and there are no guard rails. Be *extremely* careful. To be honest, I'd advise against traveling that road at night. Besides, you'll miss some of the gorgeous sites along the way as it will be too dark to see them.

I wasn't aware of the fairy penguin colony on St. Kilda in Mebourne. Thanks for that info. We'll be sure to go and have a look in January when we're there again.

Yes, please do let me know about your visit to Kangeroo Island. We're leaning towards taking it though a tour company from Adelaide for a 2 night stay. One company I found gives you a choice of lodging places, but from here they all look the same. I'd love a report from you when you return covering things like what not to miss, what's not worth the effort, lodging and restaurants on the island, etc. Many thanks for your offer to post that. :-)

I'd also love lodging suggestions for Adelaide. We were there once and stayed in the Grand Hyatt which was boring. We ate at a fabulous restaurant in Adelaide and I'll have a look through my notes and if I can recall the name, I'll post it. It had the name chick in it...the chickory....I dunno, something. It was fantastic.

Where in Tazzie will you be going? We've only been to Hobart and it's a lovely little town. Don't miss a visit to the prison, which is about a 2 hour drive from there.

Make sure you have no food in any of your luggage. The Aussies are extremely strict about not contaminating their states with any bugs from other states. They're especially strict about this in Tasmania and when you're at the luggage pick-up, you'll be surrounded by dogs sniffing out everything. I think their noses could detect a raisin! There will be warning signs in all the airports and they levy big fines to anyone who breaks that rule. I met a woman who paid a $200. fine because she traveled with her own cereal.

Candice NYC