Philip Island
Our second trip as a tourist in Melbourne was again dedicated to viewing some more nature and wildlife of the country. Through a one day tour at Philip Island we got to see koalas, kangaroos and of course the famous pinguins at the pinguin parade.
First, the tour brought us to the Moonlit Sanctuary, where we got the chance to see and even feed kangaroos and walibis. This was really amazing and I had no idea how friendly these creatures are! At first it was a challenge to make them come to you, but once you convinced them to eat from your hand, they just stayed with you and layed their little paws on your hand. They sure love their food (who doesn't right?). Of course, I couldn't leave without taking a picture with my new hopping friends. Which isn't as easy as it sounds, as they will not pose for you. So taking a picture will take a few rounds of practicing and convincing them you will give them some food in return ;).
After feeding and posing with the kangaroos, it was time for the next round: cuddling a koala, which mostly meant posing with the koala for a picture. Of course this couldn't be resisted neither, because how many can say they have a selfie with a koala?!
After meeting our new furry friends, the next stop took us to Churchull Island, where we got to see the old farm land and even a sheepsheering demonstration. After this, our guide took us to a Koala conserve, where we could spot these little furry animals in the wild. Lucky for us, this day it wasn't as warm and we actually spotted some Koalas awake! After our walk through the Koala conserve (where I bought myself a nice souvenir in the form of a Koala stuffed animal) we went on to our final stop: the Pinguin Parade. We had seen kangaroos, walibis and koalas and now it was time to see the little animals where Philip Island is mostly famous for: the pinguins coming to the shore at night.
Because the pinguins are protected wildlife, this time it wasn't allowed to take pictures. However, this didn't decrease the experience at all, as now we could fully focus on watching the little animals come from the sea and walk to the shore. As it was dark, you really had to focus in order to see them. At first, the pinguins are still scared and hesistating to come out of the water, so often they run back into the see again, looking for their mates for back up. However, ones the first few brave ones made it, you see more of them coming and making their way to the safe shore to get their night sleep. Once we walked through the board walking towards the exit, all the pinguins that already came to land were walking besides the board walk which created a really closed up and good view of the little animals as they walked by.
This was the end of a perfect day, filled with a lot of fun experiences and wild life viewing of this awesome country. I am glad that in between the research we also had time to be a tourist for a few days and if I had to say one thing I liked most about Australia is the wildlife (not counting the big spiders everyone says will kill you). Next stop is spotting the elephants in Sri Lanka. Can't wait!
Janine Liolios
