Day 57: Philip Island for the Penguin Parade‏

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Spoilt by our en-suite facilities we were reluctant to leave the campsite, but thought we'd best pop over to the beach and get a picture of the black swans that filled the inlet. The rest of the day was spent driving and we reached Phillips Island at 4pm. The brochure advises to dress warmly for the Penguin Parade as its pretty cold on the beach at night, so on went the jeans, hoodies and coats! We sat on the viewing platforms (along with 2000 other people) to watch the little penguins make their way up the beach. We managed to get a really good spot right in front of where the penguins were coming out of the water (we saw about 50 make their way up the beach). The little penguin (that's their actual name) only grows up to 30cm and they have the cutest little waddle ever! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any photos on the beach, so ones in the visitor centre will have to do. We stayed at a nearby campsite so that we could get up early and do the drive to Melbourne tomorrow.

Baileys bit: We headed into Lakes Entrance information centre to pick up a map and information for the journey we had planned. Upon asking how long it would take to get to Phillip island the response was 'just over 3 hours'... 5 hours later and we arrived at our destination! (although we may have been travelling slightly slower in Maurice than she expected). The first penguin we saw was on his own, they usually come out in groups, he was easily scared by the seagulls and it took him close to 15 minutes to make the 10 metre dash to safety!

Daily mileage: 5 I read there was a track on the headland and went to explore, turned out to be a sand path so turned back fairly early. Decided to run up to a view point where you can see the artificial channel. It was fairly chilly this morning and I regretted running topless!

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