P-p-p-pick up a Penguin

So!  Yesterday the big Phillip Island trip.  We had a leisurely morning because we were getting picked up at 12:00 for our trip which was very nice.

We got on the bus at 12:00 and drove off first to a wildlife reserve.  We saw lots of stereotypical oz animals and it was brilliant.  We saw dingos, koalas, wallabies, kangaroos and taz devils!  We even got to feed some of them.  Mr Koala was a little grumpy cos apparently they sleep 19 hours a day.



And to be honest, I don't blame them in this heat and he was probably the most papped koala that side of Melbourne.  He looked like an Ewark.  I looked for wires and a puppet master but neither were there.  I suppose I found it a strange charming beast that felt like a Jim Henderson puppet.

Amy was particularly excited about the feeding of the wallabies.  She is 28 but in her mind, about 8 years old...  :-)

Then it was off to Churchill Island to see a still working, old methods farm.  We saw a little sheep get sheared which I've never seen before.  The shearer was particularly Australian and pretty bitter about the demise of the wool industry in Oz and pretty much told us he earns no money now because of the synthetics taking over.

We drove over to Phillip Island where we went to what felt like Summer Bay (re: Home and Away) and had a brief sit in the sand.  Next stop was the Nobbies which are some rocks near the Penguin Parade beach.  It was beautiful.  These purple flowers had just come out.

You can't take pictures at the penguin parade because as our guide said camera flashes blind the penguins then they stumble about aimlessly and die.  Talk about laying it on with a trowel!  So one of the main reasons to stop at the Nobbies was to look for penguins in the light so you can take a pic of them.  We found one in its burrow sleeping.  Pretty impressed.

So as the sunset, it was time for the main event.  Me and Ame had chose
to do the private penguin experience which involved having your own guide who broadcasted to a headset so he could whisper facts to you and you could sit on the beach.  At first I was thinking that we'd been ripped off as he took us to the same area as everyone else at first, however we got to sit at the front in the sand and when the first penguins waddled right by us we realised how lucky we were.  At first you think "I'm gonna miss all the penguins...  They are too far away" and then suddenly you're absolutely surround by the little buggers (and I mean little - they could only be about 20cm tall some of them).  I had an absolutely lovely day.

As a side note, we were doing the trip with about 24 other people all about our age.  Majority where girls travelling on their own.  Me and Ame made a real effort to be social and friendly and had some good conversations but no-one really seemed confident enough to socialise.  It seemed a fairly sombre traveling experience to me.  That's why I feel I'm very lucky to be doing this with Ame because (among other things) I like to share these experiences with someone... (ahhhhh)