THE PENGUINS ARE COMING!

At last our day with the Little Penguins has arrived.  The day started out with a bit of misadventure, the driver was late picking us up because of a ½ marathon that closed down road and made some of the other accesses to the city quite slow.  We were fine but I think he was very frustrated and kept apologizing for something that was quite beyond his control.  After we had picked up the last passengers, our group was 7 in total and we were off. 

Our first stop was at a winery.  In my opinion (not actually worth much) it was all bad.  Not one of them suited me.  I always thought I like shiraz – wrong at this winery.  Just for my daughter Pam, I tried the Pinot – nope that didn’t taste good either.  So I just moved over to the cheese and crackers.  They were all good!  A fruited cheese, a blue, a crumbly cheddar, a creamy herb – they were all delicious!  After the winery stop, we went to a chocolate factory.  There were samples to try and buttons to push and knobs to turn.  It was delicious and a bit kitschy but the samples made it all worthwhile – now on to the wildlife park – what a treat!!

Little Joey

Lots of Kangaroos

Me and my friend with the baby

This park on Phillip Island, has so many native animals in a very natural setting.  There were lots of geese, pee hens, kangaroos and wallabies walking about.  We were given a bag of food to carry with us, but had to keep away from the emus and the geese as they would have grabbed the bag and devoured the lot!  So off we went walking.  It is 50 hectares or something and it wasn’t long before the roos, some with little joeys, and the wallabies were hopping all around me.  Somehow in all my excitement and joy, I lost Laureen.  It was all quite a delight.  It took a bit of courage to offer some of the feed in my hand to the first ones that approached me.  I started off with the wallabies as they are so much smaller, but then the roos came and I just had to be a bit brave.  They like to hold onto your hand with their paws but they were extremely gentle.  It was great fun.  Sometimes the mother kangaroos would bend over to get some off the ground and the little joeys would pop their head out and have a munch too.  They were so cute.  I whistled to get the attention of one and he went into the pouch so fast and I never saw him poke out again!

Tas

There was a pen with two very active Tasmanian Devils that were each running a their own circuit in opposite directions.  Each time they would meet up, they would growl and each other and continue on.  This went on for as long as I stood to watch and probably are still at it.  It wasn’t always a circle – it went into their den and out to the water hole etc., but always with what sounded like a noisy grumpy greeting.  Probably saying get out of my way a**h*** I should have taken a video, but was so trying to get a good still of them, that I didn’t think of that.  It all made me laugh.  I did get a good still though...

 

Dingo

There was a good sized pack of dingoes with about 7 young.  They were interesting to watch.  I never heard the noises that they can make – I guess it starts around sundown and we weren’t going to be there that long. I really liked walking around this park.  There was so much to see.  The admittance fee here was only $10 and was included in our day’s excursion and was glad to have picked this add on.  We had about 1.5 hours here so I never felt I was rushed in seeing the animals and birds.  This was a good visit with more Aussie wildlife.



So dinner was next in Cowes at a restaurant called the Fat Seagull.  I had some calamari and Laureen had pasta and we shared some of each and enjoyed a delicious meal.  After our sumptuous repast, we were off to see the Little Penguins (not called Fairy Penguins - Little penguins is their proper term)

Rocky Beach

Waiting

The Little Penguins are the smallest of the Penguin species standing only 12 – 13 inches tall and only weighing about 1 kilo.  It was very cold and windy at the shore waiting for these little fellows who only come out of the water at dark to make their way across the beach to their dens.  Staying in to water until after the sun is well down ensures that they are safe from predator birds.  Eventually they were spotted and my goodness this penguin parade truly lives up to its name.  They start by gathering together in a group and when they feel there is the safety in their number, they lumber across the rocks and the sand and then to the grassy area to continue on to their dens.  There were some babies about so you could hear them calling to their parents from the dens while waiting for their dinner.  It was a great time.  There is lots of viewing area – and we were about 3 feet away from them on the boardwalk as the parade made its way along.  There is absolutely no photography, even without flash so there was no chance of a picture - the picture I have posted here is one I gleaned from the internet.   This memory will last forever.  

Little Penguins - picture from the Internet

 

This was such a perfect day until...we got back into the van to make our way back to the city, our driver Brian pulled over hopped out of the car grabbed the floor mat and slapped it down on the road outside.  I wasn't sure what was up and then he sputtered ... I heard the words, "bloody hell...dog shit!".  I had a giggle until he grabbed something from the back of the van and then did a lengthy continuous spray of some obnoxious room freshener and now the air in the whole van was saturated with a cloying scent I called poopouri.  I don't know what was worse - the smell of the stuff on his shoe or the mixture of that and the room freshener.  But I still laughed on and off all the way home and it was still a great day!