Penguins!!!

At the start of our 6 day trip around the Great Ocean Road, our first stop and sleep over was at Cowes, Philip Island. Our main purpose was to watch the penguin parade. And boy, was I in for a treat!

There were several categories of entry. General entry $17 where you are put in a large platform with 100s of other patrons, Penguin Plus $27 where it's an exclusive platform seating 150 people and you're close to the penguin's little houses (we took this one), and others that included a tour prior to the parade and an eagle's eye view of the parade which was high up and covered.

We wanted to go for a tour prior to the parade but by the time we arrived at the ticket booth, the tour had started so we paid for the parade and decided to kill time by looking out for some seals on a platform. But I didn't seem to see any and I wasn't willing to feed $2 into the binoculars stand.
















When we arrived at Penguin Parade, the only pic I could take was this.
















Beyond that point, we won't allowed to take any pics. I suspect it's to protect the centre's revenue cos they didn't allow video camera either. If lights were what they're concerned about, usually most tourist sites don't allow digital cameras but they do allow video cameras though.

As we were there at about 5pm, we walked around at the retail places, my dad ("the documentary man") was videotaping everything around and then we sat down for some drinks before the doors were open to the parade. The Penguin Plus ticket entitled us to a free drink each, which was good.

Initially, Phill was apprehensive about paying an extra $10 for Penguin Plus entry. But when the penguins did arrive in droves at close to 6pm and we could see them at a close distance of less than 2 metres, he ended up saying we got the best spot. The penguins were so small, cute and the way they wobble was so endearing. And they were calling out to each other and heading to their little homes. Some they had built and others were little wooden boxes built by conservationists at the centre that were similar to those the penguins built.

To me, this was the highlight of the trip and anyone heading to Australia should try and make a trip to the Penguin Parade!!! I absolutely love that night!