Phillips Island

On Saturday January 31 we headed out on our first Aussie road trip. We headed south to Phillips Island to witness the Penguin Parade. It was about a 90 minute drive on a somewhat complicated highway system. The scenery was beautiful, pretty much what I expected of the country. A lot of vast expanse with a few trees thrown in. It was so different from the lush trees that we are used to seeing around BC. We also saw "kangaroo crossing" and "watch for koalas at night" signs. Don't see many of those in BC either.

Our first stop on Phillips Island was at The Nobbies. This really is the name! It is a group of very large rocks at the tip of Phillips Island where the seals fish. Apparently the men who fish here are generally washed off the rocks, never to be seen again. We saw some huge waves but of course once I got the camera out I never saw another.

Our next stop was at the beach at Cowes Bay. We didn't see any friendly bovines but we saw a lot of seagulls, which are just as bad for begging for food this side of the equator as the last time we were at Stanley Park. We also found a couple of these on the beach:

We picked up some fish and chips (or at least I ate fish) and ate our dinner on the beach. The girls spent most of their time in the water while diligently keeping an eye out for any sharks that may decide they're hungry. We didn't have the heart to tell them that sharks are rare this side of Australia. They like the food around Sydney better.

Finally it was time to head off to the Penguin Parade. This was the whole point of the trip although if you asked the girls the beach would be their high point. The Penguin Parade happens at dusk every night. It is the time when the penguins (known as "little penguins" as they are only 30 cm tall) come home after a day of fishing to feed their babies. They come out of the water, across the beach and climb up a huge steep hill to their burrows. What I find fascinating is that they live in holes in the hills (how many of you knew that?!) and that they can actually climb the hills with their short, almost non-existant legs. Once they find their babies, they kindly regurgitate the food so that the babies can eat. A funny sight is to see the babies chasing the adults across the ground trying to get food. The babies do not recognize their parents so they will chase any adult trying to get fed. The adults do recognize their babies and will only feed their own.

These photos were actually taken at The Nobbies. You are not allowed to take pictures with a flash at the dusk parade. The flash blinds the penguins and who needs to see a blind penguin with a white cane. It's hard enough climbing the hill on those short legs!

We didn't get home until midnight after our day out but everybody was happy. We only took one wrong turn on the way back. Not bad for a couple of newbies I'd say!