November 20, 2022
This morning we had a late start for our tour so we took time to find a breakfast spot where we could fuel up for the day. We found ‘The Hangar’, a restaurant in the Southern Cross Station, a very nice place with very good food. We were able to walk across the street to catch the tour bus to Phillip Island where we would see the Penguin Parade. The Island is about 1.5 hours away from Melbourne. On the way we stopped to see the ‘Brighton Box’, beach houses which are an attraction since they have been there for more than 135 years. The highest price paid for a bathing box was $ $320,000 and only bayside residents can buy them. These colourful huts were set up so ladies could change into their swimwear in privacy. They are made out of timber, weatherboards, and with corrugated iron roofs and don’t have running water or electricity. Residents are not being able to sleep in them, use them for advertising purposes or rent them out.
We continued on to the Moonlight Sanctuary where we had a firsthand look at Tasmanian devils, dingos, frog mouth birds, kookaburras, wombats, snakes and kangaroos. We saw some demonstrations by conservation workers who told their story and stressed the part everyone can play in conservation of habitat. We stopped at several wild beautiful beaches with the perfect surfing waves curling in from Antarctica. Last stop was the penguin conservation area.
“Phillip Island is home to the largest colony of little penguins, with over 32,000 breeding penguins found on the Summerland Peninsula. Adult little penguins from Phillip Island can spend over 4 weeks out at sea fishing in the Bass Strait and Port Phillip Bay. Penguins can eat about 25% of their body weight daily. Once the little penguins have finished hunting for food, they return to their burrow on land, a central place to feed their chicks and mate. Before coming to land, little penguins gather offshore in groups called ‘rafts’. They wait for dusk before crossing the beach. The cover of darkness enables them to hide from predators such as birds of prey like pacific gulls and sea eagles. They waddle across the shore in groups and follow familiar tracks back to their burrows in the darkness. In Summerland Peninsula, numbers of little penguins were on the declined due to established housing estates, along with unmanaged tourism and introduced animal species. In 1985, the Victorian Government initiated a 30-year scheme to buy-back all the houses and land within the Summerland Peninsula. This was called the Penguin Protection Plan. The last house was removed in 2010.”
https://www.penguins.org.au/assets/Virtual/Nature-Notes/Little-Penguins.pdf
We braved the wet and windy weather sitting on the stands by the beach watching the little penguins sweep in on the waves and out again. Finally, after multiple tries they trudged up the hills to their burrows on the windy hillsides. We were back at our hotel at 11:30 PM.
Colleen & Cathy -- Following your trip daily. Today's entry took me back to ten years ago when Cathy, Leah. Iain and I visited Philip's Island to see the little penguins. It was a wonderful visual experience to watch the penguins emerge from the water in waves, waddle across the beach and walk up various well worn paths to their nesting area and home of their chicks. Instinct is a beautiful phenomenon to see in action! Continue to enjoy your journey as you struggle to stay warm in that tropical country
ReplyDeleteYou sure are chasing lots of adventure, Cathy 1130 is mighty late for your bedtime, you have become a tropper
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