Located 90 minutes drive south and east of Melbourne, Phillip Island contains four parks: the Koala Conservation Centre, Churchill Island Heritage Farm, the Nobbies Centre and the Penguin Parade. On the bus tour I took, our first stop was the farm. It was a farm. The Nobbies Centre is made up of a few nobs sticking out of the ocean with seals sitting on them. They were too far away to see with the naked eye and the binoculars weren't working.
Next up, the koalas are most certainly cute, the way they hang in trees, munching. Just check out the baby sitting on his mother's lap in the photo. But as cute as that little guy is, it's the penguins that take home the cute prize.
The Penguin Parade
Take a waddle on the wild side
Little Penguins, also known as fairy penguins, are the smallest in the world. Thus, their name. They build burroughs in the sands near shore to house and feed their young. To feed themselves and their young, they go into the sea each day. To avoid predators, they leave their burroughs before sunrise and come home after sunset. So, they're very much like us, treading off to work each day in the dark and coming home each night. For us, a commute is hell due to the number of other people doing it at the same time. For the penguins, it's the birds of prey that might pluck them as they cross the light-coloured sand. Luckily, there's safety in numbers.
Their need to evade predators also creates a show -- or parade -- as thousands of these little guys race across the sand twice a day. To satisfy tourist curiosity, concrete stands have been built on the beach for the show. The public is permitted to watch their evening return, making this our last stop of the tour.
From the parking lot to the beach is a kilometre or so of boardwalks built high enough for the penguins to travel under. As you walk down toward the stands, the burrough holes are apparent, as are pathways around and to them.
Then, at 8:45pm, silver flashes could be seen in the sea foam. Next, a troop of about 20 penguins began their waddle towards us.
These penguins stand about 33 cm, or just up to your mid-calf. Their backs are a dark blue, their tummies white. They seem to waddle in unison as they travel, with one brave soul leading the pack.
First one group came, then another, then another.
The Penguin Rangers (now, isn't that a great job title?) do a count of these little guys for the first 50 minutes after dusk. This helps them to estimate total population numbers. The tourists... well, let's just say we didn't last that long in the cold. But we didn't have a hutch to sit in, or Canada Goose jackets to keep us warm, did we?
As you walk up the boardwalk, you realize the show isn't just down by the water.
Right below your feet and beside you as you walk on the boardwalk, the penguins charge onward, looking for their burroughs. The young come out to greet them, squawking for food. Sometimes the little little ones attack a passing penguin they confuse as a parent. The children may confuse the adults, but an adult penguin knows their young, so they march on.
Penguins walked right beside me. They followed me up and up and up, right by my feet. They don't seem to mind us being there, although once in a while they stop at sounds, look around, then off they charge again.
Some penguins were seen waddling up as high as the parking lot. Our bus had to stop for five minutes to let a few cross the road. I started to wonder why they would build burroughs so far away from the sea. Perhaps it's like our suburbs, with the rich penguins taking the seaside spots and the others having to commute. Poor things.
To protect the penguins of Phillip Island, human homes were purchased and flattened, the grounds planted with natural habitat. The roads are closed at dusk each night, so the penguins don't get run over. Scientists monitor them and tag the odd one to see how far they travel on their daytime journeys.
And us, we get to enjoy their nightly parade.
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