Down under travelling

After deciding on not renting a car for this trip, we had to decide what places we really wanted to see that would require a tour. Us not being tour people, always doing our own planning and travel itinerary, it’s not our thing to sit on a bus with a time schedule to keep to. However, “needs must” as the saying goes.

Our experience with the first tour left us uneasy about the second so I contacted the tour company to check out the details, especially when we were emailed a different location and time for pick up. I was assured the new time and place was correct and that the bus we were to travel on was actually a budget rental van, so new and better. Hoping for the best, we met all the other travellers to Phillip island that day at the pick up location and found there were actually several other tour operators picking up from the same location which produced a little confusion at first. Especially as many on the tours did not have English as their first language.

Anyway, finally we were off and taken south out of Melbourne to the St. Kilda area, which is a beach resort area. We had been driven by there by our lovely friends we’d met on the carts the previous day so familiar with it.

First stop, the famous Brighton Beach huts. Amazing that these have been there for a long time and our tour guide told us, as per the local government, there will not be any more allowed on the beach. These now are a “collector item” of sorts. When one comes up for sale, there are those that want the status of ownerships and are willing to pay (as in the last one recently sold) upwards of $350,000 AUD. Each to their own I suppose.

Next on the itinerary was the Moonlit Animal Sanctuary. Hoping to see some of the native animals of Australia.

Unfortunately it was nap time for the koalas so pics weren’t the best. We could have paid $30 for the chance to touch one but…. Well, we didn’t.

We saw a short show about birds of the area and one was quite unique I thought.

A Pink and white Parakeet that did tricks

Kangaroos

Wallabies. Very friendly and happy to be fed. We were given pellets and corn mix for that purpose.

It was a highlight for me that the little ones came over and one held on to my hand while nibbling away.

A couple of dingos, emu and ‘hanger on’ ducks, happy to eat whatever we threw their way, rounded out the menagerie.

Off now to Phillip Island. We were dropped off at Cowes for dinner.

Pretty area, seaside resort.

Still too early for the penguin parade. So off to an area called Nobbies National Park.

There was a housing estate there some decades ago. As well, foxes, wild dogs and cats were causing the numbers for the penguins to drop to the point of endangerment. There was a concerted effort to rid the area of the wild animals and after several decades they succeeded. Then it was decided to get rid of the humans too, Again, took years but the government bought back over 700 homes and returned the area to the wilds. Now it is a haven for the penguins, many wallaby and geese and others.

Saw so many just munching away along the roads and on the coastal lands.

Even penguins in their nests and burrows.

We were not allowed to use cameras at the Penguin Parade area.

As the sun went down we all waited for the penguins to pop out of the water and waddle up the beach.

They took their time…. And low numbers as it was moulting season and they don’t go to sea while in the midst of that.

We didn’t see too many where we were all looking, so thankfully a local there with a school group pointed to where there were several larger bunches of them coming in far to the left so we did what was suggested and moved on to the boardwalk where we could watch the progression up the hill.

It was so cute to listen to the babies calling out and adults calling back, in the almost dark. We could see flashes of the white on their front and see their movement as we watched them moving around.

We looked up at the sky, being on the coast with only low light we had a chance to see to many stars. Including the Southern Cross constellation, and Orion in a different place in the sky than we are used to seeing it. As we were looking I realized there was more. Many more stars and the Milky Way. I’ve always been a city girl and so never seen it. The sight of the Milky Way just added too and provided a wonderful end to a spectacular day spending time in the natural world.

As we took the boardwalk back to the centre and on to the car park, we saw shadowy movement ahead of us. A Tasmanian Devil was walking along with us. I tried to take a picture but he was quite good at staying in the shadows. We’d learned that day they are nocturnal.

Very late night, near midnight when we returned, but worth it all to experience.