I made a couple of day-trips to places around Melbourne while in Victoria, the first was to Phillip Island. Phillip Island has two predominant attraction – great surf and Little Penguins. I don’t surf and photography isn’t allowed at the Little Penguin beach, so you will have to be content with pictures of empty beaches and other animals on the island.
There is lovely boardwalk around an area called the Nobbies, which is a nesting ground for silver gulls and terns. During the 1.2km walk around, we saw plenty of both, some of whom had clearly made good use of their nests!
In the waters around Phillip Island there are also dolphins and fur seals and at that right time of year whales migrate along here too. We saw some seals, but neither of the others. The coastline itself is stunning though, even without the animals.
The real highlight of the visit was watching the Little Penguins coming to shore at dusk int he Penguin Parade. This is a daily ‘show’ of the penguins choosing the safest time of day to come ashore and run from the safety of the water to the safety of the heather in which they live, across the wide expanse of sandy beach. Photography is not allowed as the flashes may put the penguins off. We got the ‘cheap’ seats, which were just fine and we saw plenty of penguins. The rangers spend their time watching the spectators to make sure we don’t sneak flash photos in and then usher us out of the nature reserve 50 minutes after the first penguin crosses the beach. Walking back to the car park was just as much fun as watching them cross the beach. It is over boardwalks covering the living quarters of the penguins and we got to see them posturing and chatting and going about every day life while walking back to our car.
Another nature spectacle was a rock hole which is being hollowed out by the waves, from relatively even low water, to such spray that it looks like steam all at the same place.
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