Day Trip to Phillip Island 15/2/3
We went on a day trip today to Phillip Island to see the nightly Penguin Parade across one of its beaches. Phillip Island is about 2 hrs drive to the South-East of Melbourne, we stopped at various places along the way including a Winery for some wine tasting and BBQ then a small Aussie wildlife park. They had various kinds of Aussie wildlife, Koalas, Kangaroos, Emus, wombats, Cockatoos, a crocodile (couldn't get in with it though) and some wallabies.
To start off our trip to the park , we saw 'Cliff' -a born and bred Aussie sheep shearer shear a sheep. Then we went out into the park and found you could go in and feed the Kangaroos.
A Wombat in the Nursery. We all sat there stroking it, then on the way out, we saw the 'CAUTION WOMBATS BITE - KEEP HANDS CLEAR' sign. Oops.
We got back on the bus and headed on for another half hour or so until we got to Phillip Island. This part is called 'The Nobbies' and is a bunch of scenic rocks that have a big coastal walk round them. The boardwalk was constructed so people don't trample all over the penguins that nest in the hills here.
Heres a pic of my traveling posse for this part of the journey in front of 'The Nobbies'.
From left to right its Tony Cristofoli who I know from Senior School. Note the crutches... He broke his ankle playing rugby just before coming away in November. He's basically tried to do too much on it while he's been away and had to go back and get it re-plastered on Friday. They were even talking about putting a pin in to fix it.
Then theres Mel Holt who Joe and Tony met in Sydney and is now living and trying to find decent work in Melbourne.
To my right (behind) is Daryl. Any Romfordites may spot he was in the year below us at Senior school and just happened to meet Joe and Tony in Sydney. His birthday is also the same day as mine which is a bit freaky. One for astrologers there...
And then finally theres Joe Hurley, my other mate from senior school who I came out to meet. (There is a third mate but he's in Tasmania at the mo, we'll hopefully all meet up in Adelaide in a few days.)
Introductions aside... heres a small penguin under the boardwalk at the Nobbies.
The Penguin Parade itself happens every night just after sunset when loads of small penguins come in from the sea in 'pods' of between 4 and 10 penguins. They then waddle across the beach and up the hill to sleep in the undergrowth. Big concrete stands have been set up so people can watch it happening without disturbing them. Flash (and non-flash) photography is prohibited (I tried anyway but they came out a bit crap as the Penguins came up the other end of the beach) so click here for more info.
The surprise highlight of the slightly lackluster Penguin Parade (it was moulting season so there weren't many parading) was the woman in front of us who obviously thought she'd let out as sneaky fart in the open air and no one would know.
The resulting rip-snorting Bobby Dazzler seemed to echo off all the concrete, and caused about half the stand to fall silent and stop and stare in her direction... just as she was slowly leaning back back to normal sitting position as if nothing had happened. Personally, I was laughing well into the night and it still brings a big stupid grin to my face thinking about it now.
It really is the simple things in life....