Phillip Island is rat-race refuge

By Dewi Anggraeni

MELBOURNE (JP): As more Indonesians become sophisticated world travelers, they no longer set off in search of "otherness" only. They want those places with "another world" quality which are still vaguely reminiscent of home.

That, apparently, is the reason more Indonesians visit Australia each year. It is close, the weather is relatively friendly except if you go too far inland, while the ambience is predominantly European.

If sites like Surfer's Paradise in Queensland are too touristy for you, do not despair and start worrying you are getting old. There is nothing wrong with wanting somewhere quiet yet not completely isolated for a vacation.

Prefer to go to Pulau Seribu's islands, located north of Jakarta, for relaxation? Chances are you are a busy person with a penchant for escaping somewhere quirky but quiet for the occasional recharge.

Approximately 120 kilometers south of Melbourne is an island which promises -- and usually delivers -- a relaxing holiday without having to live like Robinson Crusoe.

Phillip Island is linked to the mainland's South Gippsland by a suspension bridge, and the drive from Melbourne usually takes about two and a half hours. There is also ferry service from Hastings in the Mornington Peninsula to Cowes, the main township on the island.

You may have guessed by now that the early English settlers who named these places were homesick, and began to dream that Westernport Bay was the English Channel, hence the names Hastings and Cowes.

As the main business center, Cowes attracts most tourists, who tend to flock around the colorful shops and restaurants. They come from different parts of the world, by car from Melbourne or by chartered bus via any capital cities. These visitors often swell the population of the island to 40,000 from its permanent 3,000. Interestingly, these tourists do not appear to cause major changes to the island's ambience of an old-worldy part of the wider modern world.

From the main shopping area of Cowes, you can see clear blue sea dotted with fishing boats and the occasional barge to add to the atmosphere of the bygone era. Facing the sheltered beach is The Esplanade, where the lone pub and numerous guest houses offer reasonably priced accommodation.

What is so attractive about Phillip Island's beaches is that walking on them does not mean having to negotiate around perfectly tanned sun-worshipers, edges of towels or sunglasses. While the bodies-beautiful are no doubt there, they are sufficiently dispersed and distant that you have the choice of ignoring or looking at them, depending on your feelings about your physique at the time.

On more isolated beaches you can walk, sit, build sand castles, read or whatever else you fancy for hours, lost in the timelessness of the peaceful surroundings and the constant sound of waves gently breaking some 10 meters away.

In Cape Woolamai on the southeastern extremity, the abrupt cliffs 100 meters high are reminiscent of the southern coast of Java, except there may only be you and your group. The views are breathtakingly beautiful from the Pinnacles' lookout.

The island is also known for its wildlife. While they won't come to visit at guest houses or hotels, the koalas, kangaroos, snakes, more than 200 species of birds, seals and other creatures of God can be viewed in their natural environment in the wildlife parks.

Penguins

Phillip Island's fame abroad is due to its penguins. Every evening at dusk, these little birds come ashore at Summerland Beach on the southwestern end, marching in parade formations into their burrows in sand dunes among the bushes.

Hundreds of visitors arrive and position themselves strategically at least an hour before sunset. During this time they are continuously reminded in English, Japanese and Mandarin not to make noises, not to use flash photography and not to come too close to the birds.

When the sun slowly descends toward the west horizon, all eyes are glued on the moving line between the sand and the sea, waiting and imagining. Several minutes pass, and still only seagulls are visible on the beach. Suddenly, out of the sea emerges several groups which immediately arrange themselves into miniature processions.

Against the orange sunset, they look like a line of rather inebriated business-suited travelers stepping out of Ansett Golden Wing Lounge or Qantas Club, waddling unsteadily toward the departure gates.

This is the only place on this island where there is such a concentration of visitors, and where the idiosyncratic behavior of an ethnic group can mildly clash with another. Fortunately, no actual physical clashes have been recorded.

The penguin is an eudyptula minor, which spends most of its life at sea living mainly on small fish and squid. Due to its size, it is better known as the fairy penguin, which, according to a zoologist friend, is an incorrect name.

Sports enthusiasts can go hang gliding, apart from the obvious walking, swimming, sailing and fishing to be enjoyed.

For those who are not content unless they have traveled the whole island, the good news is it is not impossible to cover its 10,000 hectares in a weekend. For those who like a more leisurely pace at doing things, only time, imposed externally by the need to go back to work, can be an irritant. And money, of course, unless your name is Robinson Crusoe.