Jan 9 - Phillip Island

I am -FINALLY- going to see my penguins today!!! But first we stopped at San Remo to check out the scenary. Ah yee said you can feed the pelicans here usually but we're out of luck. No pelicans in sight when we got there. Oh well, can't win them all. I still have my penguins. :)

Stopped at the visitor centre at Phillip Island first to get a lay of the land. The penguins come back at sunset so we had a few hours to kill. Stopped at the shop and got some chocolates then headed to the wildlife park. We purchased some animal feed so we could feed the wallabees and kanagaroos.

Ah yee feeding a cassowary
Koalas are nocturnal animals so everytime we see them (which is during the day), they're always sleeping. They have a mysterious way of sleeping rather precariously in a tree without falling off. Very impressive!
Sleeping koala
Fed wallabees, kangaroos. Saw a few joeys in their mamas' pouches.
Roos!!
Mama with her joey
Wallaby
Nom nom nom
Tasmanian devils
Dingos?
Almost got attacked by the swans a few times. They're aggressive!
Saw a few kookaburas. "Kookabura sits on an old gum tree-e..."
1 Kookabura
Many kookaburas
Stopped in town (Cowes) to walk around. Most of the shops were closed but we strolled around anyway. Got some fish and chips for dinner (da bao) before we headed to see the fairy penguins come back home. We stopped at I think it was The Nobbies and walked on the boardwalk to see The Blowhole. Ah yee said she always sees penguins under the boardwalk when she comes so we started looking for them. Sure enough, there was one. I even helped him take a selfie. How else can you take a picture of a penguin standing essentially under the boardwalk from you? Along the way, we could see the penguin nests and some of them were inhabited too. They're soooo small and so cute!
The blowhole. The waves weren't rough enough that day to see how the structure got its name
Ah yee and I
Can't remember what that rock behind me is called
That rock whose name I cannot remember :)
Penguin selfie
Lots of penguin nests
Can you see it?
Peek-a-boo
Finally - la crème de la jour! I can finally catch the penguins waddle home.
Just follow the penguin sign
Keep following the penguin sign
They said no pictures but I assumed they meant of the pengins since the flash would bother the little guys but I sneaked a few clicks before the penguins swam back onto shore.
Oh yeah, I was eating my fries and suddenly one of the seagulls swooped in and stole it from me!!! Grrrrr
Almost sunset ... almost time for the penguins to come home
So what happens is that at dusk, the penguins would group together offshore and wait for the sky to get dark. It's a safety thing as their prey can easily see them as they waddle on the shore if there is light. So we "see" them in the waters and wait for darkness. As it gets dark, the first wave of penguins come onto land and immediately they "run" (waddle obviously) for safety in the rocks. It's really hard to see them at first since they're only about a foot tall. But in a group, it's much easier.

Once a group has gathered by the rocks, they make another dash towards another set of rocks getting them a little bit closer to home. At this time, another group has made it to shore. Once they feel it's safe, they dash off toward their nests and we get off our butts and walk back to the parking lot. Along the way back, you can see them waddle towards their nests and sometimes they stop and appear to get their bearings. When we got back to the car, we were told to look under the car to make sure there aren't any little friends underneath and run over them. :)

Height check

Day 3: Cairns