Day 6 - No one ever says no to tiny penguins

DAY 6 (Thursday 5th March 2015) 

My maiden voyage to Vegemite territory has me coming over all perky and cheerful :) I don't know if it is Australia in entirety or just Melbourne that is supremely health-oriented but as such I felt compelled to forego the morning chocolatey pastry with sprinkles, that I so desired to get my chops around. To think I chose an orange, carrot and ginger juice over choccywoccy is UNthinkable! Though now I've got a taste for it there's scope for me to become a hoochie for the juicy, so long as the fruits are pulverised for I have a dislike of chunks. 

Made a fellow British buddy from my hostel - Hollie and as it happens she was booked onto the same tour as me to Phillip Island. We were miffed that we weren't taken to the chocolate factory which was one of the reasons I booked through a particular tour company as it was on their itinerary but then I was joined with another group. I would have PAID our tour dude to take a tour detour! It had a chocolate waterfall inside like in Willy Wonka and I wanted to do a Vicar of Dibley and dunk my face in the middle! :D 

We all had to introduce ourselves over the microphone to the 20 or so of us on the mini bus. This is where I took the opportunity to confirm whether or not there would be a choc stop as our tour man hadn't listed it on our schedule for the day. What a kick in the teeth to learn that my teeth wouldn't be overindulging on confectionery delights! A poor poppet from Japan couldn't keep her pain inside either that she was desperate to use the WC! We had to break the news that we were over an hour away from getting out of the vehicle. 

A VALUABLE LIFE LESSON WAS LEARNT: Never wear a dress that will keep flying up in windy, breezy places without leggings it is most unladylike! I had to resort to tying my rain gear around my legs to spare everyone the humiliation of me flashing!!!!!!! On the plus side, I was going to fit right in with the penguins as the tight fastening meant that I waddled like one. 

Maru Wildlife Park is small so we were only there approx 30 mins to see: 

* The pretty koala, all doped up on its drug of choice - eucalyptus. Hahaha I'm sure it was thankful for the grub but pulled a 'see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya' scaling down the tree to do a runner!! 

* Albino kangaroos which are 100x cooler than the regular roos

* All the kangas which couldn't be cuter if they tried. Feeding hoardes of them was a treat :) they have hopped and skipped their way into my heart. The sweet little things clasped my hand with their paws, some squeezed that tightly I was frightened my palm would break. One of the larger Skippies would puff up its pouch and square up to me in a way that intimidated me, to chase me down for more tucker! 

* A donkey snatch the plastic tub of grub directly out of a lady's fingers!! Ooopsy poopsy, she is the worst feeder in the whole world for allowing it to take that and chow it all down. 

Later on, we spotted swamp wallabies merrily bouncing along the hilltops. Yo Skippy, how about you kickbox for the spectators? Normally that would be suuuuper fun for them but no deal on that afternoon. Wallabies are not show ponies after all. 

We torpedoed through Churchill Island as a brief pit stop, overlooking stunning vistas. This charming, historic isle of only 50.7 hectares is tres beau! Yet, I did not see it as a time for unwinding or to take a leisurely stroll (though we had one - the short but sweet lavendar walk) as I was too fearful of the dress situation. I made a mad dash for the only store in the vain wish that they would stock shorts, so that I could wear them underneath. No joy :( 

I withstood about as much blustery force as my outfit could take at Cape Woolamai beach before racing inside. Hollie and I were smartie pants and thought to buy a blanket from the store - which served a duel purpose for me -----> warmth (as by this point it had turned incredibly chilly beside the seafront) and to preserve my modesty!! 

After dinner and a hot choccie we took our seats at Summerland beach, ready and waiting for the penguin parade. We were told that the low tide and cloud cover made for excellent  viewing conditions particularly as this made it darker. Little penguins are afraid of light and foxes - so the picture police patrolling the penguin paradise are immensely strict on absolutely NO photography. With that being said, all images of the penguins on my blog have been pinched from the world wide web *no copyright intended* 

The pinguinos of joy and love took their sweet time to rock up, out from the ocean. The count from the previous night was above 400 so similar was expected again but I don't know what the grand total was. We all made amazed sounds when the primary penguin surfaced with his penguin pals! They were tricky to spot during dusk at heights of only 33 centimetres, plus they are nifty movers. 

Awwwww, I was close to tears as watching these tiny, huggable aquatic birds waddle along the beach in their small groups was beautifully moving. Some from the colony would nearly fall and several would return to the water before deciding it was safe to depart. Sadly, our vision was often obscured by seagulls wanting to steal the limelight and halfwits in the congregation who would stand up blocking everything! My mouth was itchy to shout out for them to sit the hell down but the guards were straight onto it. 

Tell me being here wouldn't cheer up even the most miserable of mankind. We had to be back at our bus for a certain time so I had to tear myself away but watched on fascinated as I walked back on the boardwalk. Here, we got to witness hundreds of the penguins making the start of their 2km journey to their burrows for moulting and to lay chicks. This would take them an hour to get there before their penguin party could kick off :) It was lovely to see them more up close and hear the cute albeit creepy bleating bark noises they produce. Experiencing the phenomenon in full 'bloom' was BLOOMIN' magical in the moonlight. I could have stayed for hours taking it all in.