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Published: December 20th 2009
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Tour
The most common type of bus in Australia. We had spent a couple of days in Melbourne, and were ready to take in some of the major sights. One of which was the Penguin Parade down on Phillip Island. Supposedly this is one of the most famous attractions in Australia, and once we witnessed it, it was easy to understand why.
The tour started like any other. We got up at a decent time, and were picked up at our hostel. There was a bit of driving at first, but eventually we stopped for lunch (which was provided by the tour company). A bit of a bummer though, since it was first come first serve, I got stuck with a vegetarian sub (which basically included a roll and some lettuce leaves). Not the best way to start things off. We then went to Fauna Park, which was a small wildlife reserve. Felt a lot like an open-area zoo. Kangaroos, koalas, emus, dingoes… Fairly basic stuff. After seeing most of it in the wild, it can be hard to be as impressed when the animals are blocked off with a small piece of land.
After the park, we finally made it to Phillip Island. The weather was pretty
Fauna Park
Before getting to Phillip Island, we stopped at a small wildlife park. chilly, which was weird since Melbourne was hot. We were told that on any given day, the temperature on Phillip Island is usually 5-10 degrees cooler than Melbourne. We checked out some beaches, and made our way to the Nobbies. This was an area where seals could be spotted, along with penguins and plenty of seagulls. Unfortunately we didn’t see any seals. The rocks where they like to hangout are a fair distance off the mainland, and none of the seals can be viewed with the naked eye. Talk about a shame. Dinner afterwards on the other hand was great. Pizza was included with the tour, and there were plenty of varieties to choose from! Yum!
But finally to the main event, the Penguin Parade! What is the Penguin Parade? Well, every night once it gets dark, there’s a penguin population who returns to land after feeding at sea. This is the biggest penguin (Little Penguins) population in Australia, and in peak months upwards to a thousand on any given night can return to their burrows. Unfortunately, due to the sensitivity of the penguins’ eyes, no photography was allowed. It was however an amazing experience! The cute little penguins
Fauna Park - 02
"Who you lookin' at?" started gathering in small groups in the water around dusk. Once it’s dark enough, and when they’ve gathered their courage, the penguins make a mad dash for the grassy area! However, they’re penguins of course, so they waddle as fast as they can. They do this in the dark to avoid predators. The funniest moments are when you see a group of penguins charging the beach, only to get spooked off by a harmless seagull, and see them running back to the ocean for safety!
After the penguins, we returned back to the hostel. It was a long tour day (and in my opinion had a lot of filler), but the top billed act of the Penguin Parade made the whole thing totally worth it!
Monday was the next day, and we were ready to see more animals! We spent the day at the Melbourne Zoo with some of our friends from previous tours. It was a huge zoo, and definitely kept us busy all day. We saw plenty of gorillas, elephants, tigers, lions, monkeys, birds and even butterflies. The orangutan area was one of our favourite places, where the school kids were glued to the window watching
Fauna Park - 03
This guy had just gotten his snack, but seemed ready for more. the primates play around. Finding the red panda was a cool moment, mostly because it was so hard to find in the first place. Luckily Hillary and her keen eye spotted the little guy way up in his tree. Watching the platypus swim around his pond was really cool too. They can only hold their breath for a few minutes, but their food is at the bottom of the body of water. It almost seems cruel. And of course, no zoo would be complete with a bit of rain. Lol Luckily it was nothing more than a tiny shower!
Kevin
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