Day 17 - The Magic Bus

After a long and comfortable night's sleep, we are off to see the Blue Penguins, Koalas, and other native creatures near Melbourne on Phillips Island.

What a day!!! If this day is any indication of things to come, we are in for a great time in Australia.

Maddi and her Wallaby

Patricia and her Koala

First stop was an animal reserve where we saw the following: Koalas, Kookaburra, Emu, Wombat, Pukeko, Dingos, Cockatoos, wallabies , Tasmanian Devil, Barking Owl, Gray Heron, Cape Barren Goose. Upon arrival at the Reserve we were greeted by a gentleman with a snake, which Pat had wrapped around her. Cool. Pat also had the treat of petting the Koala, see picture on Facebook as well as here. We both petted a wallaby. Soft and furry and cute.

Our first kangaroo

Cute little Wallaby

From the reserve we went to the Koala Sanctuary where the Koalas are free (more or less) and you walk on a boardwalk and look in the trees for them. And they were there, balls of fur up in the trees. They sleep 20 hours a day high up in eucalyptus trees. We saw at least five of them.

Moving along down the island there was a visit to what looked like an old wild west town. There was a demonstration of herding dogs, sheep shearing and whip snapping. The sheep shearing was pretty interesting and there were several animals to photograph.

Next stop was an overview of an area of fur seals and penguins, of which there were none, but a beautiful view of blowholes, the sea and sunset.

Wonderful Shoreline - but no seals

Finally, the piece de resistance. It's called the Penguin Parade. At dark, the Little Penguins (Blues in New Zealand) come marching out of the sea to go to their burrows for a few days rest. They are the smallest penguins in the world, about 12 inches high and weigh about 2 pounds. They have blue backs and white bellies to protect them from predators. When they swim their blue backs camouflage them from flying predators and the white fronts make them blend with the sky when viewed from below. They are very social within their groups but not so much with people. There is no photography allowed because it disturbs the penguins. The guide told us that the penguin population in the area doubled when they stopped the flashing and clicking of cameras. One would need to use flash, which probably wouldn't work anyway, they are pretty far away when they come out of the water.

We waited sitting in stands at the beach. At first one or two penguins came out of the surf, stood at the edge of the beach near the water and seemed to be waiting. All of a sudden there were 10 or 15 more on the beach. (this happened in several spots along the water's edge) They gather together like a group hug and march off across the beach towards their burrows. They know which burrow is theirs and their mates are either with them or will be arriving soon. These little guys mate for life. Once they marched off the beach, we followed them from a boardwalk as they walked towards their burrows. It may have been one of the coolest experiences of our travels.

Off to Adelaide tomorrow and The Ghan, which is a train that runs from Adelaide to Darwin in the north. We are only taking it as far as Alice Springs and Uluru (Ayres Rock). We will be out of computer range for a day or two, but look for us at Uluru for some images of the rock at dawn.