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Having just arrived back from Tasmania, I dropped my bag into storage and headed into town for an explore. The city is large and has a lot of traffic running through it and after all the pure fresh air in Tasmania, it felt like breathing in a smog. I was exploring with a fellow traveler who had also just arrived in the city, we met whilst waiting for the bus to our accommodation. We walked down to the water front, grabbing a drink and food along the way, it was after all breakfast time. We then walked along the water way until we ended up moving more in town. We were walking through the center when a bugle marked 11.00 and we stopped and observed the silence along with all the others in the street. Having only experienced remembrance day in the UK it was nice to see that other countries also observed the same tradition. Often at home we forget the sacrifices made by every country, not just in WW1 and WW2 but in all conflicts, we only think of the cost to our nation. While I have been travelling around Australia and New Zealand, I have seen more and
learnt more about the ANZAC's contributions.
We continued on through the city and found our way to the central town square (I think). People there were crocheting poppies in remembrance and forming a giant display of crochet poppies joined together.
We continued into a few streets covered in Graffiti, there were even people putting more on the walls. It was an amazing sight. After exploring the streets a bit more I headed back to the hostel to check in and get myself a bed. I then spent the afternoon putting pictures up, this was the first time in a while I had internet and tomorrow I was heading to Phillip Island so I wanted as much space as possible on my camera.
Phillip Island!!
It was not an early start, thankfully. I wore layers knowing it would get colder in the evening. It was a long drive to the island, we got to the island via a tunnel. The first stop was an animal sanctuary, where we could feed kangaroos and have pictures with dingoes, wombats and koalas for a price. Having seen these animals in the wild (not koalas yet, but I had held one)
I chose not to have any pictures. After a talk on koalas I wandered around before sitting and waiting for the rest of the group. Having been to these type if animal sanctuary's so often I was beginning to feel a bit jaded about this part of travel. Feeding kangaroos and wallaby's is fun the first few times, but I had now lost count how many times I had fed the animals, whats more is this animal sanctuary wanted to charge for it as well. The sanctuary had smaller areas than others for the animals and reminded me of a petting zoo. Thankfully the rest were not far behind me. We ate lunch in a picnic area just outside the sanctuary.
After lunch we headed into a chocolate factory, they had displays made entirely from chocolate, from model villages to famous paintings. They also explained how the chocolate is made, before allowing you to play old fashioned arcade games, the winnings in chocolate.
The next stop was a headland where birds nest, we had a short while to walk around the specially built walkways allowing us to get closer to the birds nesting sites. Penguins also nested in
the area, while walking I noticed there was one under the steps leading to the next level. As it was daylight and no flash required I managed to get a picture of the penguin. Once back on the bus we started heading the the famous beach where the penguin parade happens. It was while driving along we saw a nest just by the side of the road with chicks leaning out. We stayed in the bus but managed to get a quick picture of the chicks (again no flash as it was daylight, just a lot of zoom).
We entered the main building, and headed to get some food, there was a 2 hr wait before the main event and it had been a while since lunch. After a hot meal I headed down to the beach, where an area for seating had been cornered off for us to observer the penguins from. I sat as close to the front as I could, and amazingly the beach had WiFi. I took a couple of pictures before we were asked to turn all electrical equipment off. The flashes from a camera can lead to the penguins panicking and turning back
into the sea, resulting in a chick starving to death. The flash can also temporary blind the penguins making them vulnerable to attack. Basically taking a picture can result in penguins needlessly suffering and dying. No picture is worth it. (also why I have emphasized that the pictures I took were in daylight and I observed all the regulations with taking pictures, No flashes and taken from a distance with zoom. Never getting between a penguin and its nest or the sea.) We sat quietly waiting the penguins as the light slowly faded. This movement restored my faith and made me feel much less jaded. 1000's of little penguins began to waddle up the beach, not one by one, but in groups of black dots emerging from the waves. They would group together near the rocks, before the group was big enough to make a break for it across the beach to the next rock. They would break into a fast waddle, trying to run to the rock in single file. once they reached the rock they waited again for large numbers before repeating the action to reach the next rock or the grassy dunes (which ever was nearer). This
series of events continued all along the beach, some of the groups larger than others, with them making the break from the waves directly into the dunes. After watching in awe for 45 min, I got up and headed along the specially built platforms, that enable you to see the penguins move to the nests. We saw chicks run out of nests to great parents, or even to try and get food of other penguins. The swarmed on the ground below us and we could hear all the calls from around us.
The journey back to Melbourne was quite, and allowed us to nap before reaching the hostel. Thankfully I had packed this morning, as I would be leaving in 6 hrs for the Great Ocean Road.
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