Day 36

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Day 36
We got up at a leisurely pace and went for brunch in the shopping centre about 11! We had a little wander around a few streets before coming back to the hotel lounge!
At 1 o'clock we were picked up by Brett to start our penguin parade and koala trip!
We made our way over to Phillip island and stopped for afternoon tea at the Churchill island farm shop! I had An almond muffin and the boy had tea and a raspberry muffin!
We then looked around the farm a bit and saw all the animals including 2 gorgeous peacocks!
We then got into the bus again to go see the koalas in their semi natural habitat! Their were 10 of the 35 in the area within the public area and we saw all 10! 2 of which were awake!! Quite good considering they sleep for over 20 hours! Lazy toads!
I also learnt a bit of trivia on this trip! The crest of Australia has on it and kangaroo and an emu! This is because they are the 2 creatures that inhabit Australia that can't go backwards, which symbolises Australia is always going forward! Very cool!
Anyway back to koalas.... There is no romance for lady koalas (what's different to humans I hear you say lol) the boy koalas just holler -in actually a very low grumble for an animal so small when he's ready to find a lady friend! If a nearby lady ISN'T ready to find a man friend - she screams! Lol we all found that quite amusing!
After the koala place we went over the road to dinner, we both had beef pie chips and salad! Very nice it was too!
An American lady who was also on the trip was showing us all the things they had done and giving us a few tips, so we have a few things to add to our to do list tomorrow!
After woofing down our pies we headed out to the penguin parade 😊 at Phillip island!
Phillip island is a not for profit nature park home to the 'little Penguins' and the penguin parade!
The penguin parade has been something people have loved to watch for over 80 years! In 1940 when the suspension bridge that joined Phillip island to the mainland was built the increase uncontrolled human activity caused untold damage to burrows and the penguin habitat! To reduce the constant damage viewing platforms and fences were built during the 1960's!
These have since been upgraded and developed in 1988,95 2005&15!
To further protect the Penguins some 200 homes were bought by the government in the penguin area and demolished! Hence no photography is allowed at all at the penguin parade!
The Penguins leave their burrows at dawn to go fishing for their babies, then at dusk they return - they gather on the beach and then a few at a time they all walk up the beach and the cliffs in a parade to get back 'home'! They are called the little penguins as they are only about 30cm tall! After watching the parade and trying to get a few sneaky illegal no flash pictures of the gorgeous 'little Penguins' my lovely hubby had to buy himself a new penguin - as his is a little bit old and very loved! (The new one called Phillip!)
We headed back our bus and got back to the hotel about midnight!

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