The first tour I'd booked was for the Phillip Island Penguin Parade through Autopia Tours. I left the house at 10am and was picked up downtown. There were 11 of us in total and I spent most of the tour with an israeli lady named Marcella. It was nice because we were able to take pictures of each other. Another drawback to vacationing alone... lots of scenery pictures, but you're never in them.
We stopped for lunch in a little town and the guide brought salad rolls. I thought "Great! I love salad rolls. I hope they have peanut sauce." Yeah... not so much. Salad rolls are actually veggie sandwiches on long buns (some had ham). Who knew things could be so obvious? Next stop was the Maru Fauna Park, a wildlife zoo where most of the animals have been rescued. There were tasmanian devils, dingoes, koalas, wallabies, peacocks, and other random animals. You could feed the population of about 16 kangaroos which included a couple joeys that were born late last year. They would eat right out of your hand... so cool! I also found out it is illegal to touch or hold koalas in Victoria, but not in Queensland.
Woolamai Beach was next but the beach was closed to surfers and swimmers due to extreme conditions, huge waves and rip tides. The weather wasn't great so we walked up and down the huge beach and tried to determine what the clear gelatinous blobs on the beach were (they were not jellyfish but had weird purple organs). Then off to the Nobbies, a huge rock structure off the coast of Phillip Island. There is a boardwalk that twists along the side of the hill with spectacular views of the ocean and rocks, including a naturally made blowhole. All over the hill are penguin burrows and in a couple of them I actually saw chicks. The parent penguins were out in the ocean collecting food for the chicks and those were the ones we would see coming to shore tonight. There was another island called Seal Island where furry seals live. It is too far away to see them with the naked eye but there were binoculars along the boardwalk if you were so inclined to try and spot one.
We drove into the main town on the island, Cowes, for a pizza dinner on the beach. Phillip Island has a population of about 30,000 people but that almost triples during the summer months with tourists and residents with vacation property. It's a fun, little surf town... I imagine it would be a pretty cool place to live. And from there we were headed to the Penguin Parade! They post the time the first penguin was spotted (8:50pm) and the number of penguins (339) seen the night before so you have an idea of what time to expect them. After the typical tourist shop, photo op (pose in front of a screen and they superimpose penguins), cafe, and information area I walked down a boardwalk to the stadium-style seating area. There are no cameras allowed at all because people would use their flash and it would scare the penguins. Silly people.
The first fairy penguin appeared at about 9:05pm and they were so tiny! Only about 8-10 inches tall as opposed to the antarctic penguins I saw at the aquarium that were up to 3 feet tall. They come out in groups and need to avoid stalkers so it takes them a while to get up the courage. They come up on the beach a little then swim back out, come up a little further, stand there for a while, and swim back out. Finally, when they think it's safe, they scurry into the vegetation and wander up to their nests. It was so freakin' cute! Apparently the breeding season started early this year (August instead of October) so the number of penguins coming to shore is dwindling sooner than normal. They only come to shore if they are required to sit on the eggs or feed their chicks. If there are no babies, they stay out at sea where the food is.
I saw about 40 penguins before I had to head back to the tour bus but as I walked up the boardwalk there were three little penguins waddling along beside me the entire time. And when we walked out to the parking lot there were two standing right beside the walkway! Hence the signs to check under your car for hiding penguins before leaving. It was a 2 hour drive back to Melbourne and being the last dropped off, I didn't get back until after midnight. Long day......
Today has been spent relaxing, walking to the grocery store, and I'm making burgers and greek salad for dinner. The difference in prices from Canadian groceries varies. Some things are more expensive ($3.48 for one avocado... no thanks!), and some are cheaper ($1.69 for basil with the root bulb still attached). We might top it off with a trip to Costco... they have 1.5 litre bottles of Yellow Tail wine for $11.99 and orange cheese (an uncommon site in Australia).
Things I have learned about Australia:
- there aren't a lot of trucks, I'm assuming because of high gas prices and small driving lanes. Instead people drive Utes, the front half is a car and the back half is a truck bed.
- Tatts & Pokies is not an advertisement for a tattoo and piercing parlor, it's a casino. Tatts is the lottery or gambling, shortened from the Tattersalla Group Limited who runs the lottery, and Pokies are slot machines.
- penguins stink
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