Penguins on Parade

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The rain continued to fall all the way to Phillip Island. I was starting to get down heartened and was hoping that I had made the right decision to come to Phillip Island instead of heading straight for Melbourne. Phillip Island was definitely a fine weather destination. Luckily as if by magic as I went over the bridge that links the island to the mainland the clouds began to lift and the sun started to peak through.
The hostel was again quiet although a German cyclist turned up quite late so I did have one person sharing the room, and oh my god he knew how to snore. Anyway before all that I headed off to watch the Phillip Island Penguins. Every night these Little Penguins (the smallest in the world) come ashore at the end of the island. This happens every night like clockwork just as the sun begins to set. It has been a tourist attraction since 1929 and now viewing platforms have been constructed to hold 4,000+ people every night. Even now, out of season well over 1,000 turn up every night!!!

While waiting for sunset I went for a walk around Swan Lake and caught sight of my first wallaby.

Paying just that little bit more I got myself into the sky box, so while everyone else was shivering down on the beach board walks myself and 4 others were sat in the warmth of this box waiting for ‘the event’. When I went to see the penguins in Dunedin in New Zealand I saw 3 on the beach and one came jumping out of the water, this was considered good. The rangers here count how many penguins come ashore every night in the first 50 minutes and last night 1,337 came out of the water and headed off to their burrows - that beats New Zealand!!

After 50 minutes the lights are turned off and the tourists sent away so the penguins can go about their business on their own. Over 60,000 penguins live on the island, taking it in turns to collect food at see. On the board walk back up to the car park the surrounding dunes and grassland were now covered in penguins all calling to each other. While none came up onto the boardwalk, hundreds would walk beside it letting us get within inches of them.

Today I stayed on the island and went exploring checking out some of the coves and inlets. I also visited the centre of the island which is home to the koala. I spotted 10 of them but they were all high up in the trees sleeping. Koalas sleep for about 20 hours a day and spend the other 4 hours eating. They use all the energy they get from the leaves to actually eat hence the reason they have no energy left and must sleep for the rest of the time. I also saw the biggest ant in the world. It’s called the Bull Ant and can get to 3 inches long. It carries a whopping bite as well.
I then went and walked Wollamai Point. A sign said that it was a haven for birds. On the 5km walk I spotted well over 100 dead birds and that was just on the track. It turns out they are killed by cat predators, whatever the hell that means. Maybe the sign should have said bird heaven as plenty of them met their maker.

To finish the day off I went for a walk along Cowes Beach. Just before I got their a women accosted me a offered me a ticket for a free cake in the bakery I was just passing. They really should have known better than to offer me free sticky buns. So free cake in hand I continued to the beach. I ended up walking for miles along this beach, which was really nice. The walk back along the road to the hostel was not so nice as it seemed to take forever (or at least an hour).
Luckily tonight the German has moved on so I have the whole place to myself again. Tomorrow morning I start making my way to Melbourne.

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