Melbourne & Philip Island

After an hour flight we arrived at the tiny Avalon airport just outside of Melbourne city. We'd hired a rental car in advance, as we planned to also drive the Great Ocean road while we were here and loop back round to the airport before leaving. We had a bit of an issue when we came to collect which was that they'd changed the car from a manual to automatic and had no manual cars available. I have never driven an automatic before and didn't really want to try in a new country, in a rental and certainly not on the Great ocean road which I really wanted to enjoy driving. The lady said we could drive to Melbourne's other international airport to pick up a manual, which wasn't a massive detour so we thought we'd do that. I did have a little go with the automatic but just felt I wanted to be comfortable for this part of our trip so we drove on.

On arrival we experienced a pretty horrible guy at this office who not only was incredibly rude about the whole situation, but we discovered later he had forgotten (couldn't be bothered) to add me as a driver! Which obviously was the entire reason for the extra effort. We wanted to share the driving, share the experience, clearly! Later we saw him finishing for the day as we left so obviously he couldn't wait to get rid of us so he could go home. Safe to say we were frustrated by now. But we got it sorted and got to our airbnb and collapsed. Later we popped out to a supermarket and got some pasta, sauce and a huge tub of ice cream which we ate back at the house later. It was quite nice to have a simple cooked meal and to have some comfort food after all the stress. FYI it was a 1 litre tub of chocolate ice cream, I'm not even ashamed.

The following morning we wanted to go into Melbourne itself, and via another car rental office we got me listed as a driver and thankfully were able to get on with our day quickly. We parked by some cute gardens and proceeded to wander around the city. When we pulled up we did try to use a ticket machine but some locals told us it was free... being a Saturday that was somewhat surprising but with barely any signs and a machine not working, we figured that must be correct. I'll come back to that later...but no prizes if you're anticipating what is coming...

Anyway, we wondered down the river and through the parks, the tennis open was starting over the next few days so the place was a buzz with setting everything up for it. We got to Federation square (similar to Trafalgar square) and wandered around this area, also popping into one of their museums and enjoying some very interactive exhibits about the history of film and TV. Phil even got to try out his inner Matrix with recreating the classic slow moves in this special machine. What a big kid, he loved it!

After wandering around we started looking for affordable food places and discovered a crammed street full of small shop fronts and tiny cafes. It was packed, but we got a little table and enjoyed some freshly made crepes, and an ice cream after of course! We then hopped on their free tram service to head back to the car. We had some big plans for the afternoon.

Imagine our horror as we arrive at the car, yes a parking ticket! With some cryptic message of what rule we'd broken. We were so annoyed because we had tried to pay and felt tricked some how. Plus is was $78 dollars, over a half days budget. Gutted! We think we'll appeal it as there was little to no signage but if not I guess it's just something you have to learn from. But seriously talk about car issues over a 24 hour period!

Anyway trying to not let that dampen our day, we hit the road for a 2 hour drive to Philip Island, where a very special natural phenomenon happens. This island has the largest colony of 'Little penguins' that breed and nest on one of the beaches there. Every night there is a 'penguin parade' at sunset where all the adult penguins come home to the shore. This colony has thousands of penguins so can you imagine this sight? We knew we wanted to see it. The area is very protected but you can buy tickets to sit and watch their arrival and walk over wooden boardwalks which are raised over the land where they nest. We purposely got there early to land good seats, you could pay extra for better viewing areas but being quite pricey (and largely fully booked) we just went for general admission. We were several hours early so went down the road to another nature reserve called the Nobbies where there are also penguins, and seals. It was a bright sunny day but down there the wind was unbelievable and we were genuinely pushed around, which is probably why we saw no wildlife here at that time, I couldn't blame them with wind like that! The scenery was pretty stunning though and seeing waves like that was pretty jaw dropping.

We went back to the penguin parade area and looked around their information exhibits until the doors opened at 7pm. As soon as they opened I flew down the boardwalk and knew exactly where I wanted to sit, and would you know we got right down on the front row, right on the edge, which usually has the best view of the tickets we'd selected. It was still 2 hours til the penguins were due to arrive but the beach itself was stunning. We ate our picnic dinner and chatted to an Australian couple next to us, so it was hardly a chore. The viewing lasts 50 minutes from when the first penguin hits the beach but they recommend you also walk around the boardwalks to see them greet their babies at their nesting boxes.

Suddenly we saw some small shapes in the water and there they were, a group of about 15 tiny penguins nervously running in with a wave. The first thing I noticed was they really were tiny, the size of a 30cm ruler! It was quite dark now and there was only low lighting so we had to carefully watch them to see. We'd already learnt that this is their most vulnerable time and they are very scared running back home because of predators like eagles, so they would keeping running onto the sand, then would get spooked and run back into the water, sometimes 3 or 4 times. Oh my god it was adorable. They'd also hide amongst the rocks halfway across and try to gang up together in bigger groups ranging from 3 to 30 of them together. Honestly it was magical!

At first we were seeing them from quite a distance, but then they'd come closer and closer. You could see them hop across the rocks as they made their way up the dunes into the bushland where their nests were. You also started to hear their babies high pitched calls and when they'd commit and run the last bit it was lovely, you were really rooting for them. Groups of them kept coming and coming from all directions, you didn't always know where to look.

Surprisingly lots of people left really early on into the viewing so at one point I went down onto the sand and 3 penguins came running towards me and around me to safety, amazing.
After this we went up to the board walks to see them up close. They were everywhere, and would you believe there was probably only 30 people walking around now (it can hold 3000 visitors!) Crazy that so many people left so early; too early. Their loss! We'd kneel down on the path and they would be right there in your face, but completely oblivious as they wandered around and fed their young. In fact one mummy fed her fluffy tiny baby right by me. So sweet... even if she is throwing up fish into it's mouth from her belly! Even as we slowly made our way up back to the visitor centre with the rangers they were running along side us. The ranger confirmed that we'd seen 727 that evening. There were even some viewing holes where we saw nearly hatched penguins with their mothers, they were only the size of my palm.
Truly it was an absolutely magical sight and the only place in the world you can see so many. I think I've found my new favourite animal...

There was strictly no photography or video to be taken but you can see a professional pic below to get an idea of what it was like.
After this, as walked back to the car ready for a late and long drive back something moved in the tree behind the fence. We walked over and suddenly this massive possum appears on the fence right in my face, after the initial jump it kept staring at me and I was in such close promixity I was a bit worried it was about to jump on me, but I was frozen to the spot. They are very cute but have massive claws and teeth so dared not touch, but how great to see them wild and so close too.

As we pulled away Phil spotted a snake on the side of the road, what a wildlife haven (although I did hit the gas with that final discovery!)
We arrived back at 1am and crashed out, ready for a morning flight onto Sydney!

BethRead more