Today we had a relaxed morning and this afternoon we are going to drive to Phillip Island, which is south of Melbourne. I first went to Phillip Island on a bus tour with my friend Karen 27 years ago when we wanted to see the Penguin Parade. Karen LOVED penguins and we thought it would be a fun thing to do! It was very physically demanding on me as we had to get on and off a highway bus however we had a great time! I have always remembered how cute the penguins were walking in from the surf and if I was to return to Melbourne, I wanted to return! That is what we are going to do today, however we are going to drive ourselves, and visit a Koala Conservation Reserve on the way! Now that our lunch is packed – thanks to Andrew – we are on our way! The drive is about 90 minutes to Phillip Island.
Once on Phillip Island, we first stopped at the Koala Conservation Reserve, as the Penguin Parade is a sunset event when the birds come in to nest for the evening. We arrived at the Koala Conservation Centre and it was a very nice building with a display about Koala’s, which some of the information we had learned from the walk on Kangaroo Island was confirmed, and then there was some more information that was more applicable to the Melbourne area.
As the koala was actually eating at the time I took short video! Here it is!
Now, after a quick visit to the loo, we were off to the Penguin Parade! I knew we were running early, however last time I was there we were on a bus and I wanted to ensure that I had plenty of time to explore the area and the displays. The drive was fairly short however nice along the fairly flat Phillip Island. The only interesting thing we passed was a Go-Kart racetrack that looks to be quite popular! While no one was racing they had HUGE grass parking lots to support the grandstands. Just before the Penguin Parade we saw a sign for Flynn’s Beach which we decided to investigate! It seemed to be a surfers beach based on the parking lot and the number of surfers that were either getting into or out of wet suites for surfing! We walked along the path (more like trudged along once it turned into sand with my walker) to the lookout point and watched the surfers in the water. The waves were not that high in my impression however there were about 20 of them out there waiting for a “wave”.
Next, the piece de resistance! The Penguin Walk! We arrived at about 5:30 pm and they were just getting set up for the evening. While the centre opens at noon each day, the doors down to the penguin viewing areas are not open until just before the viewing times to lessen the impact on the penguins. So someone did a bit of shopping and then we had an AWESOME meal at the cafe for dinner! I am still amazed how good the gluten free offerings are in Australia – I had a vegetarian burger with a gluten free bun that I could have mistaken for a gluten bun it was that good! Downright amazing! Then we proceeded to walk down to the Penguin Viewing area. I had bought Penguin Plus tickets – I had previously sat in the General viewing area with Karen however the accessible seating was not that good, so decided to pay a bit more for a smaller viewing area. That was a good decision! We got up close and personal with the little penguins as they floated in from the sea, had what my dad and Neil Dirom would call a Management Meeting and then decided to proceed up the beach to their burrows. Here are my pictures!
Again it was an amazing experience to witness. How these little penguins can go into the water and find food during the day and then come back to their nests at night to feed their family and get to the right beach is remarkable! Seeing them appear at sunset surfing in on the waves was really fun too!
Here is another video of yet another Management Meeting under the walkway as we walked back up to the Penguin Walk centre to exit for the night –
Now back at the Conservation Centre, we quickly got back into the car and turned on the HEAT to warm up after that experience! I do remember getting cold when at the Penguin Parade with Karen, more importantly I remember Karen getting very cold, however the wind was up tonight and it was a bit chilly! Of course Andrew had forgotten his ball cap so that hairless noggin was uncovered after the sun set and it got a bit chilly out there! For the first time in Australia, I had to switch from the Air Con to heat which was a bit of a strange experience! We then drove without issues back to Melbourne for the evening – Andrew doing a really great job of concentrating on the “other” side of the road and driving in the dark! I was keeping watch too just to ensure we stayed in the correct lanes…
Our plan tomorrow is to go visit Downtown or the CBD (Central Business District) of Melbourne! Lets see what we can get up to doing that – the Melbourne CBD is a fascinating area – it has all these lane ways with stores and various vendors in them – should be interesting to see what we find!