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Published: September 29th 2007
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I went to Phillip Island last Sunday. I have been so excited to go since I first saw pictures of street signs with penguins underneath cars nearly 2 years ago after a friend from work had returned. If you don’t know, I have been into penguins since I was a kid. I’m not really sure how it happened but people have been buying me stuffed penguins for a long time. The ultimate penguin gift was given to me from my brother this year when he presented me with adoption papers of my very own live penguin who lives on Phillip Island. A picture of this little guy is now hanging up in the office I’m working in where people are submitting names. The winner (chosen by me) will receive a bottle of wine from the CEO of our company. (Both Karl and George are on the list, Dad)
So I booked this trip through a hostel in St. Kilda. It was a bus tour catering to young independent travelers but when I got on the bus I was slightly surprised. It was mostly Asians and a few European couples. It looked like I was the only one flying solo. I
did meet up with one guy named Robbie on his own I’ll talk about later.
Our first stop was this place called Maru park. This was a strange place. It is in desperate need of some tourists money. The “ranger” must have been new because before her talk her supervisor ripped her hands out of her pockets. Obviously a policy she had forgotten. (The hands returned to the pockets a few moments into her introduction). Anyway, don’t judge a park by the appearance of the rangers cause this place actually rocks. They have like 6 Koalas and 25 Kangaroos. As well as a few wombats, wallabies, dingos, and a little pony. I loved the Kangaroos, and was very excited to feed them my $1.20 bowl of grass clippings.
After some time with the animals we all climbed back on the bus to head down to Bass Straight. This is supposedly some of the roughest water on the planet as it is the spot were 2 oceans come together. (Pacific and the Indian I think) It is obviously a very hot spot for surfers and seems like the conditions were perfect for wave riding the day I was there.
We walked down the beach and then got back on the bus.
Our next stop was a place called the nobbies. The nobbies are supposed to be home to the largest fur seal colony in Australia. However I did not see any. As seals are a natural enemy to the penguins I wasn’t to disappointed. The nobbies are beautiful in their own right. It really reminded me of Ireland or what I think Ireland looks like. There were also a lot of seagull around.
So after the nobbies we made our way to the other side of the island for the penguins. It was like going to penguin heaven. I couldn’t believe there is a whole park devoted to the little creatures. I was so excited! Turns out this is Victoria’s number one tourist attraction. And to me it’s no wonder why. Who doesn’t love the little penguins? I ran straight to the gift shop like a middle schooler will run to a best buy after the release of halo 3. There were 2 gift shops all chalk full of every possible penguin trinket you could possibly imagine. I made some mental notes but knew I needed to
claim a good spot for the main event.
Now I knew they outlawed flash photography so before I left Nashville I scoured the pages of craigslist for a cheep video camera just for this occasion. As I made my way to the boardwalk I was greeted by a ranger who informed me there is a strict ban on all photographic equipment. Including video cameras. I was slightly disheartened but realized they do it for the penguins so it’s for the best. The ranger did help me find a great spot for ultimate viewing. I was right at the corner on the beach. Seeing my excitement Robbie decided to join me in this penguin exhibition while we were waiting for the penguins to make there debut Robbie and I struck up a conversation, he is from India and is a CPA who does IT stuff but used to work for Ernst and Young. So we talked about fun accounting stuff, and then government and Indian politics. I won’t bore you with that but just find it interesting that there are so many nationalities in Australia I really think it’s more of a melting pot than our own country.
The
penguins were awesome. Even better than I expected. I wish I could have video taped them cause I really can't describe it too well.
Be prepared for my next entry as I went down the Great Ocean Road today and have some exciting news to share...
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LS
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New jacket?
Dude, do we need to send you a jacket that reads "Nashville" - perhaps one embroidered w/ rhinestones, etc.? C'mon, Mase, represent!