19th Feb Philip Island and Penguins!

I'd booked a hire car for 4 days and by 11am was heading SE out of Melbourne. Well, after a few stressful moments caused by the positioning of the indicators on the right hand side resulting in me putting on the windscreen wipers rather than indicating! The gears were sticky and I'd forgotton to ask the speed limit so have to figure it by seeing at what speed I get consistently overtaken. The map's also not the best but soon I'm on the correct mainroad and after passing a series of ugly retail parks I'm on a long straight, empty road cutting through countryside along the coast and can relax a little and listen to the radio as the sun starts to come out.
Philip island is connected to the mainland by a bridge and can be driven across in about 30 minutes so is pretty small. I'd planned to surf but was advised that it would be better next morning so instead I headed to the South West of the island walked around the coast to the Nobbies, some rocks where seals like hang out. None visible from shore (and I was feeling too mean to pay $2 for a telescope) but some Little Penguin chicks were hiding under the boardwalks and the scenery was stunning- with a carpet of succulents (spineless cacti) covering the cliffs oh and the perfectly blue sky and sea!
At the hostel I have a dorm to myself which is rather nice and swim in a tiny pool before heading to the Penguin Parade as the sun goes down.

This is, in the guidebook's words, "horribly commercialised" but necessarily as a conservation effort to control the visitors and protect the penguins. As twilight drifts in I sit with a large crowd in an auditorium facing the sea, glad of a fleece as the air cools, and wait for the penguins to emerge from the water. They wait for darkness and so we see them by dim spot-lights crossing the beach in small groups for safety (they get preyed on by eagles etc). Away from the beach the view is actually better as you can see them from boardwalks head home to their burrows. Everyone loves penguins- how can you not when they move so commically! These Little Penguins or Fairy Penguins are the smallest species of Penguins and they live year rounds in Australia, swimming impressive distances to fish by day and having quite an arduous walk home each night! The cool air is filled with their calls and clicks, it sounds like they're catching up on the days' news and having the odd argument! The funniest sight is the penguins who are fattening up for moulting when they're confined to land, they double their body weight from 1kg to 2kg and can barely walk having to stop for frequent lie-downs!