Penguin Rookery Reserve

Having wandered around Cowes, at 2:00p we returned to the shuttle drop off point where Ray, from Tour Local, was waiting to pick us up for our afternoon and evening adventure.

Our small group tour set off to explore Phillip Island … but first, we crossed over to San Remo for a short stroll along the waterfront. Then, as promised in the tour description, we continued on to explore some of the places only the locals visit … as well as a few popular attractions visited by everyone.

In addition to stops at surf beaches for phot ops, our tour took in two spots operated under the auspices of Phillip Island Nature Parks … both dedicated to conservation of species. Between those two sites, which I will write about below, we stopped at the Phillip Island Winery for a cellar door tasting and dinner. We had a marquee dedicated to our group, which was nice as it gave us a more private setting. This tasting was accompanied by food … and plenty of it … from a charcuterie board, to a salad, to a variety of pizzas. All served family style. We were stuffed by the time we left.

After dinner, Ray took us on a scenic drive of the Nobbies, where not only did we see amazing scenery from an overlook, but we saw hundreds of wallabies browsing in the fields and a whole lot of grey geese (aka Cape Barren Geese) … all free roaming and not paying even the slightest attention to us. At the Nobbies, we had a brief opportunity to stroll the boardwalk as we awaited the sunset. No colors today … but we did get to have sparkling wine anyway to celebrate a great day of touring.

OK … onto the conservation facilities I mentioned.

The first was the Koala Conservation Reserve. Here we followed a path through Australian bushland to elevated boardwalks that take visitors to eucalyptus groves where koalas sleep, eat, and sleep some more … high in the trees. Surprisingly — for koalas — there were a couple of younger ones that were rather active, climbing up and down trees. That the koalas in the reserve are free-ranging, coming and going as they please, made the experience all the better.

The second Phillips Island Nature Parks facility we visited was the Penguin Parade ... with the monies raised from the ticket sales going towards conservation and research. It was definitely the highlight of our day.

The place is very much a tourist attraction. But it is also very carefully operated so as not to impact the Little Blue Penguins that are protected by the reserve established in 1955. Some of the safety measures are … terraced viewing stands that control access to the beach where the penguins come ashore at nightfall after a day of foraging at sea … special infrared lights to allow viewing of the penguins without impacting their activities … a photography ban (QR code available to download photos instead). Thanks to these measures, and a huge buy-back program in which the government purchased all the homes built in the area, the penguin population that was once decimated to only 300 individuals has rebounded to over 30,000.

We arrived at the site around 8:00p, an hour before the penguins were expected to come ashore. I had upgraded our experience to Penguins Plus, which meant that we were at the stands closest to the beach … next to the “Penguin Highway” — the dirt path the little critters have naturally created as they travel to/from the sea and their burrows.

Although the stand was already filling up when we walked down from the visitor center, we found seats in the very front row … with a perfect view of the “alley” through which the rafts of penguin waddle up from the beach on their short legs. It was really thrilling to see the cute penguins suddenly appear from behind the vegetation between the beach and the stands. Those with chicks waiting to be fed, kept going towards the “highway” … some deviating right up into the hills.

In front of us was a wide area of beach sand where some of the penguins stopped to groom themselves, allowing us time for a closer look. The more curious younger penguins stayed in the open area awhile, giving us the impression that they were checking out the visitors standing inside the underground viewing platform below us. (I opted out of that upgrade as I had read that it was quite crowded and claustrophobic in there.)

The penguins came up in “waves” of rafts. Because it is molting season, their numbers were smaller … maybe 10 to 30 at a time. I don’t know how many penguins came ashore tonight, but there were 1,382 of them returning from foraging last night.

After 20 minutes or so, we left our seats to slowly wander back to the visitor center and meet up with our group. Along the way, we stopped to watch the penguins that were waddling up the “highway” in ones and twos … heading up to their burrows to feed their chicks. In a few instances, the impatient chicks had already made their way down to greet their parents … running after them, begging to be fed. It was funny, because still in their fluffy coats, they seemed much bigger than their parents.

With the last tender back to the ship scheduled at 11:00p, we had set a meeting time for the wheels of the midi-bus to be rolling at exactly 10:00p. We wanted to beat the tour buses back to the tender pier. And we did. Our tender was just pulling away from the pier at 10:30p when the first of the five or six busloads of ship’s tours arrived at the pier.

A great day on Phillips Island … lots of fun. I’m glad we were able to tender ashore.Read more