Penguin Parade

Phillip Island is famous for the Little Penguin Parade. The Little Penguins are the only species native to Australia, and they only live in NZ and southern Australia. Every night the penguins swim ashore and come of the water in groups to waddle to their nests after a long day fishing at sea. This is the place to guarantee your chance to see them. It was as cute and amazing as we hoped! To protect the penguins there is no photography or video allowed, but this is still an experience we will never forget!

These are the smallest of the penguin species

Size comparison 

The boardwalk and observation platform are open to explore during the day

Many swamp wallabies live in the area too 

Our gourmet picnic before the parade

Ready when the gates opened to claim front-row seats. The deck was packed by dusk

These are pictures from the brochures, but a good representation. We were sitting where the people are above - great views and, although a bit chilly outside, it was worth it to hear the penguins grunting and communicating to each other, "the coast is clear," or whatever they were calling to each other as they came ashore. They were surprisingly loud, but oh so very cute.

Also on Phillip Island we saw many pelicans up close. A worker from the fish company at the water's edge comes out daily to throw the fish scraps to the pelicans and give a small talk.
 

And we hiked along a rugged stretch of coastline called The Nobbies. Loud crashing waves, mist spraying out of a blowhole, and water streaming over and off volcanic ash rocks.


Just for fun. This was a quick bathroom stop along the way. They are starting to turn Aussie...