March 4 – Melbourne & Phillip Island

March 4, 2016 – Melbourne and Phillip Island
I saw the rest of the group off to the “Koalas and Kangeroos in the Wild” Tour at 8:30am. After packing my pack for the day, I set out to walk through the 2 parks across from the hotel. In Fitzroy Garden there is a miniature Tudor Village and a Fairies Tree. The tree has carvings of many Australian animals and symbols.
I caught up with 2 other contrarians from my group. We all boarded the #35 tram. This tram is free and circles the downtown area with a commentary of what there is to see. The cars are all the old style trams with no A/C but windows that open. Jim and Eric got off at the wharf but I rode the complete circle.
The bus for my penguin tour picked me up at 12:40pm. We went to three other hotels and picked up 4 more people. I wondered if this was it but we went to Federation Square and picked up 18 more people from the main office. We finally got underway at 1:15pm.
The bus ride took about 2 hours. Phillip Island is Southeast of Melbourne. On our way we stopped at Maru Koala park for an hour. This was very different than the Sanctuary we visited in Tasmania. The enclosures were small,and the kangeroo food looked like sawdust with a few seeds thrown in. Six tour buses had stopped so it was very crowded and people were just throwing the kangeroo food at any animal they saw. It was sad to see. There was one kangeroo with a joey in her pouch. They dive in head first so all I could see was 2 legs sticking out.
It felt extremely hot and the driver told us it is currently 104° outside.
We drove onto Phillip Island which is bigger than I thought it would be. It turns out it is a big holiday spot for Australians. The penguin parade is popular but there are great beaches for swimming and surfing. There are many wallabies as we drive down the roads. The penguin parade is on the far side of the island and won’t start until about 9pm. We stopped at the Nobles Ocean Discovery Center for 45 minutes. It has boardwalks that take you down towards the ocean. There are supposed to be sea lions but I didn’t see any. They are probably out swimming around.
Next up is dinner in Cowes before we go to the park to wait for the parade. On the drive to dinner we were told that we aren’t allowed to take pictures of the penguins – Bummer! A flash startles them and they throw up all the food they spent the day collecting. They also think it hurts their eyes. It doesn’t matter that some of us know how to turn off the flash. The rule is no cameras. I paid extra for a guided ranger walk before the parade and a special spot to watch. It will be harder to sneak in a picture I think. I’ll probably end up buying some pictures.
We got to the pavilion by the penguin parade starting point at 7pm. There was an exhibit and, of course, shops. I met up with the ranger at 7:45 pm. There were 10 in my group. We were outfitted with binoculars, headphones, and a portable seat with a back. We walked to a private area just above the beach area where many penguins come in. We were told they would start coming out around 8:15pm. At 8:17 the first wave of about 100 penguins came running out of the sea and started climbing the hill near us. Over the next 45 minutes 6 more groups came out of the sea. There is a raised boardwalk along the penguins path so we ended by walking alongside them. They walk about 2 km to get to their burrows. It was a great excursion.
I’ll get home about midnight and our bus to the airport leaves at 8:15 so I’ll be getting up early to pack. We are off to Adelaide for 2 nights.