Phillip Island, an island indeed (but connected to the
mainland by a bridge and easily reached by car from Melbourne in 3 hours), is
famed for its nightly parade on the beach with a cast of thousands that takes
place every evening at sunset, regardless of the weather and national holidays.
The
adorable
performers are, of course, the little penguins! That's their actual scientific
name, and a very suitable one, as the cuties are only a foot tall. Contrary to
the common misconception, penguins do not live in the north; instead, they inhabit
Antarctic waters at the South Pole (those penguines are much larger and possess
a thick fat layer under the skin for keeping themselves warm) and appear on South
African and Australian shores. Our new friends, the little penguins, swim in
the sea all day long looking for fish to eat, and return to their burrows right
off the beach every night at sunset, at which time crowds of tourists can gaze
at this amazing spectacle. Penguins come out of the water one by one or in small
groups, gather in the surf, get knocked off their feet a dozen times by the coming
waves, wait until all in their party have arrived (usually about 10 members),
take a few false starts at walking out of the water and turning back, and finally
march up the shore, single-file, walk up the grassy incline and disperse to their
individual burrows. This act is repeated by penguin groups here and there on
the beach until hundreds and even thousands of birds have returned home for the
night. It's really a pity that photography is not permitted (flash hurts penguins'
eyes and can completely disorient them), and words cannot do justice to this
marvellous sight.
We do have pictures of other wildlife from the island
to share with our faithful audience. We visited
a koala sanctuary, where photography is allowed
and koala sightings are very easily managed,
since the animals barely ever move from one tree
to another, and the keepers can post signs like
"Baby koala here" and "This is our oldest koala"
right in front of the trees where you are certain
to spot the koalas in question. These creatures
certainly rival the little penguins on the cuteness
scale -- see for youself! We saw a kangaroo on the road, too, but didn't reach
for the camera in time. Our visit to the Seal
Rocks (well, not to the rocks themselves, they
are out in the ocean and closed to visitors as
a nature preserve, but you can see them from
the shore) did not yield a single seal sighting,
alas. Even looking through binoculars for $2
a glance didn't reveal any seals whatsoever.
Nevertheless, the rocks with their crashing surf
were spectacular!
Above: The only sea-like pictures we managed
to take on Phillip Island. As mentioned before,
they don't let you take any pictures of the penguins.
Below: Some pictures from the koala sanctuary -- basically all the koalas that
we could possibly cram into one webpage. By the way,
aren't
they
soooo
cuute?
