Phillip Island and Cute Cuddlies

We decided to go to a place called Phillip’s Island on January 28th.  This is an area in the State of Victoria that is about 100km south east of Melbourne.  We started the day by driving south to the Mornington Peninsula.  The area has long been a city-escape for Melbournians, and consists of several small, seaside towns.  We stopped in the town of Mornington to have lunch and see the ocean. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here, we headed across some pretty farmland toward the Island.

The area is super-popular with families and day-trippers, and there was a 30 minute traffic line-up to get onto the island.

Our first stop on Phillip Island was the Koala Conservation Center.  We saw Koalas, both in the fenced, protected area, and in the wild woods around it.  We also got to glimpse some cockatoos and wallabies.  David’s first Aussie animals!  They really are different from animals in the rest of the world.

 

Next, we headed to the Nobbies.  These are a set of rock formations in the ocean that are home to a seal colony, and many nesting birds.

Finally we headed to the beach to see the March of the Penguins. This is quite the production, complete with popcorn available at the entry building. The Little Penguin is a penguin found only in Australia and New Zealand. They are warm-water penguins, and so would not survive the Antarctic. And they are really Little! You pay to sit in a set of bleachers to watch as the penguins come out of the water at night. They start coming after they have been fishing all day, at dusk, and it is adorable. They are petrified that a bird is going to swoop down and make them into dinner, so they come out of the water slowly, look around, wait for a few friends to come alongside, and then work up the courage to make a break for it across the beach. Apparently the beach is their scariest place. Sometimes the whole group makes it. If something comes overhead, including a seagull taking off, they will all run back into the water and disappear. It's really endearing when the group is halfway across the beach and some decide, for reasons unclear, to go back into the water and others look around, contemplate, and decide to make a break for it all the way to the grass. After you watch them leave the water for a while, you can go along the boardwalk and watch them make their way to their nests and families. You can hear them calling out to one another all around. It's wonderful. Unfortunately, there are no pictures allowed, to protect the penguins from idiots using a blinding flash, and so the pictures here are from the internet, but are accurate.