Today we planned to go down to Phillip Island, which is just south of Melbourne, to see the Penguin Parade. This is a daily event in which the last Fairy Penguin colony on the island (down from ten) comes ashore after feeding and goes to their burrows. Since it is a sunset activity, we needed to occupy ourselves and the kids during the morning, so we walked out to a nearby pitch near Mia and Jai's school to play with the toy airplanes that the kids got for Christmas, and to practice a little bit of cricket.
The planes flew quite well, after the kids learned the best method for launching them.
Jai and John were showing us the ropes on a cricket pitch. We needed to use some equipment since we were playing with a real ball, and it can hurt a lot if you got hit.
Looking good!
Trent bowling to Cathy. There is actually supposed to be grass on the field, believe it or not.
Home run! I mean... Six!
Bad form. I start off trying to think cricket, but my arms turn it into a baseball swing
The balls are hard to hit once they start bouncing
Avery lets one past her.
After some good fun and exercise, we of course earned some ice cream treats, and what better ice cream treat than a Golden Gaytime! It was... not what I expected...
After we were done cricket and gaytimes, we came back to the house and I checked directions to the Penguin Parade. What was normally a 90 minute drive was now 2 and a half hours for some reason, so we figured we had better leave soon.
The reason it was an extra hour was because everybody wants to go to the Parade, and there is a single lane bridge to the island, so it was an hour of sitting. Google was correct by about 2 minutes, which is pretty impressive.
We had tickets to a behind-the-scenes tour, but due to the traffic, we missed the entry, so we took our time, had some dinner (I'm not sure how half of Australia can get away with calling meatloaf on a bun a hamburger), and wandered out to where the penguins parade.
There are a couple stands set up for people to sit and view, or you can sit in the sand at the front. We opted for the sand, since closer is better. We tried to find ways to kill some time waiting for the sun to set. There were more shenanigans (we got into trouble for using a pylon as a sandcastle mold), but after a certain time, they start to enforce a strict policy of no cameras to protect the penguins, so I have no evidence of our crimes.
As the sun set, all eyes started scanning the waves to see the penguins come ashore. They started very cautiously in groups, watching for Sea Eagles (not "sea egulls or seagulls") to swoop down and carry them to their dooms. Once or twice they got spooked and ran back to the water, but as it got darker they got more courage and started waddling towards us. They were so cute! There were a few groups across the beach, but one main group would come right at us, and turn the corner and walk past. Trent and Avery were right at the front, and they could have reached right out and touched one, if not for fear of the rangers there enforcing the rules.
Inspired by their courage, I had my camera in my pocket with my low-light lens on so I could try to get a shot in the dark with no flash. I snuck two shots as they walked by. Excuse the lack of focus and artistic tilt.
Here is a better (legit) video of the whole thing
It was a bit of a late night, but very worth it. So cool to be so close to these cute animals. I hope all the efforts to keep them around pay off!
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