Penguin Parade

To Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia

Australia unquestionably has some of the worlds most beautiful and colorful birds. On the way back from my run, I passed by the camp bird feeder which a woman had just loaded up with seeds. There were scores of insanely bright rainbow lorikeets huddled in the trees and around the feeders. They are really something to behold. I sprinted back to the campsite to get Meg and the kids. In addition to the appropriately named lorikeets, there were a dozen of the pink and grey galahs, a few white corrella parrots and a one of the famed kookaburra -- a modest looking kingfisher with a distinctive laughing-monkey call. Wow. They are amazing to see, and none of them are particularly rare.

A common, yet stunning Rainbow Lorikeet

The ubiquitos Galah

A Long Billed Corrella

The famous Kookaburra

We explained our plan to go to the nearby Westfield shopping mall under the guise of wanting to look for a gift for Helen and Shane, who we’d be stopping to see in a couple days. With Dex and Kylie happily camped out at a bookstore, Meg and I rushed off to find some gifts -- a new pair of shorts and a watch to replace his broken one. The third item was unexpectedly crossed off the list when Dex texted to say he’d found and bought a book on Australian birds. Doh! Oh well, that gift would be less of a surprise, but nevertheless, shopping mission accomplished.

Post shopping Vietnamese food

With our shopping chores accomplished and a tasty lunch of Vietnamese pho and spring rolls consumed, we got on the road, south to Phillip Island. Once settled into our new camp. we walked to the beach. Dex and Kylie spent the time there spying an animal they seen just off the beach. They were a little wary at first not knowing what was in the bush, so they picked up sticks thinking maybe it was a dingo. Ironically, Dex whacked his stick on the ground to scare it off, which was exactly what the potential predator -- a kangaroo -- did, thumped its supersize feet on the ground in warning.

For the evenings entertainment, we decided to get tickets to the well advertised Penguins Parade. Phillip Island it turns out is home to the world’s smallest penguin, the Fairy Penguin. Every evening at sunset the little birds return home from a day of feasting and march onto the beach and up the grassy slopes to their nests. Boardwalks and bleachers have been built so spectators can watch with minimal impact. To my dismay, minimal impact included not allowing photos - even without a flash. As a result I've contented myself with a few googled photos, below.

In all honesty, the viewing of the penguins from the overcrowded bleachers was somewhat underwhelming. Arriving in groups of a half dozen at a time, it was a somewhat comical to see the tiny penguins take a few tentative steps, spot a dozen equal-sized sea gulls, and the scamper back to the safety of the water.  Eventually they would build up enough nerve to brave the gauntlet of sea gulls, and then were suddenly out of view. Nothing parade-like about about it.

Waiting for sunset in the bleachers

Last surreptitiously taken photo

As we were wandering back in the dark along the boardwalk, we noticed people lining the railings looking off into the clumps of tall grass. We could now just make out one or two of the little guys, which explained where they had disappeared to. As we walked farther on shore along the boardwalk we continued to see more and more of the diminutive penguins waddling on the well worn dirt to the side. Ah, now this was pretty neat to see them just a foot or two away on the other side of the short wire fence. We had inadvertently stumbled upon the promised penguin parade. Very cool.