The most touristy thing we did on our trip to Australia was to travel to Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade. This island is 90 minutes from Melbourne ( or 7 hours from Port Fairy, which is the route we took!). You arrive at the tip of Phillip Island an hour before sunset. There is an information site that tells you all about what you are going to see. You then head to the beach and wait. The night we were there was in July which is Australia’s winter season. It was chilly, about 9 degrees Celsius, and I hear it can get quite cold. They have sets of bleachers set up on the edge of the beach and that is as close as you can get to the water. As dusk hits we all strained to see the water to watch for the Fairy Pengquins, or Little Penguins as they are know, to exit from the Southern Ocean. All of a sudden out the pop. They are in groups – 8 , 20, 5. Slowly they watch the shoreline and then they scurry to their nesting area. They are so funny, they travel faster than their feet can carry them so they end up falling over each other. It took about an hour for all of them to leave the water and head into the nesting ground. They live in pairs in burrows in a sandy area with low level vegetation. The parks group have set up a board walk back to the information centre. As you walk along it you see the penguins, preening, playing, fighting and generally getting ready to settle in. The noise they make is quite hauntingly beautiful.
This was such an amazing event. The pull of nature has these penquins doing the same thing, every day just like clockwork. Well worth the trip.

Melbourne, Australia

David & Karen Barrett