Philip Island's Penguin Parade

STOP. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD!! BACK OUT AND GO READ IT. I accidentally posted this before that post.

Really...turn back now!! This is just a preview of the things you will see in the other post... This cute couple and some great views!

 

I didn't want to give to much away...so here we are again.

Ok, ok... just this once. We did stop in Snowy River. You know the horse movie. I've said to much. Get out of here and go read the other blog. P.S This is the only picture we have of Snowy River...so this was a bonus.:-) For everyone who has read the other blog don't go away!! WELCOME to our trip to Philips Island!!

Philip Island is a cute little adventure southeast of Melbourne. Weather you fly into Melbourne, or drive the great ocean road from the east coast, make Philips Island a must see! IT IS WORTH IT!

"The Claw"... Map of Philips Island

We drove into Philips Island around dinner, and headed to the west side which took maybe twenty minutes to see the Penguin Parade!! We made it intime to grab some grade tickets. I seriously advise getting the guided tour to the far site, or like we did the guided tour by the beach that includes the far site. As you can see we are all pumped up! We got our passes and were standing inline to see the parade!! If you look behind us there is a sign that says no pictures. So our pictures are limited and the ones of the beach are some they allow you to use, but are totally ACCURATE depictions of what goes on there. Eventually I will photoshop us in, but too much for the traveling Julie.

I don't know if any of you have seen penguins, but I have not. So for me it's like being old enough to stay up for new years, or getting my first bike, or seeing superman. THEY actually have a count down time to when they penguins will arrive. Apparently penguins are super organized and systematic. They always do the same thing every night, at the same time, in the same order...etc etc. How do they know this? they have chips in the penguins and can tell when they are entering or leaving. Why do they have chips in them? Well they saved a ton of them from an oil spill and put chips in them to monitor their health. They are doing fine! There is a lot of fun information about the penguins...that I will let Curtis add as we go....

Here is a quick tangent to show you just how cool the grass looked!

I know it kind of reminds me of how I in-vision Ireland.

Cute walkway to see fur seals

Volcanic formed rock...

Cute Couple

Another Cute Couple

And here...we have a baby penguin. :-) Yes, this one is our photo graph!!! We were so close and not in a no camera zone!!!

If you look closely you will not be able to spot us, but imagine for a moment if you will, and we are on the left side of this photograph all the way to the front left hand corner!!!! AND the water was actually hide tide during our visit so it is only about 6 feet away from us!! What makes this so exciting is that it put the penguins even closer to us on the beach. Don't worry about not getting a close enough view if you buy a ticket to the other side, left of this picture. You will be close and see tons of penguins. The great thing was watching the penguins come in. They give you binoculars and you can see huge groups of them out on the water. I will let Curtis tell it...

THIS is so thrilling to see. Aren't they precious!! They just waddle right up to the beach. Little babies are out trying to find their parents!! It's amazing.

And there we are! Imagining still..... This is the far left side of the photo I was talking about. it is amazing. TONS of penguins just cruise through here.

They are the smallest penguin.

Anyway, it was thrilling and magical and I'm so glad there was a count down. I think this was one of my favorite things in Australia. You get what you paid for is how I feel. There were great guides and it was so much fun. It does get kind of chilly so we brought our jackets. They provided seats and gear. We slowly made our way out of there, and were lucky enough to find a caravan park on our way out of town. Great guy runs the place. I will have to find the name. They had a convenient store open with fresh fruits and veggies, and so I am somewhat bias, but good spot to stay for a night. Sorry if I forgot anything, but ask questions and I will be sure to post the answers!