A day on Philip Island
Up early thanks to an early call from home and after an excellent breakfast including pancakes in the B&B off to see the sights.
First stop is the Nobbies at the western end of the island. They consist of a number of rounded rocks similar to the Needles in concept. There is also a seal colony here but you need to be up even earlier before they depart for a days feeding out at sea. We did see rather a lot of them very close up in New Zealand so it was no disappointment not to see any.

We then drove round the coast to see Pyramid Point, it looks exactly like it's name and very dramatic with clear blue water lapping the base of the pyramid shaped rock.

Next stop was the Philips Island Grand Prix circuit (not the F1 circuit but the super bikes one) The next race in the Super Bike series is here on 23rd February and one or two were already practicing which we heard from Pyramid Point. By the time we got there only one was on the circuit but it was good to watch.

Final stop was Cape Woolami at the south east end of the island. After a picnic lunch we set off for a walk to The Pinnacles and Woolamai Hill at 112 metre high hill. This meant a kilometre walk each way along the beach before climbing stairs to the top of the sand cliffs. Then a 5 kilometre loop walk looking at amazing cliff formations with azure sea below and spectacular waves breaking in places. The highlight of this was seeing a kangaroo just six feet away in the bushes and although it moved away a short distance not before photos were taken. From the hill, the highest point on the island you can see the whole island from one end to the other. A really good afternoon with mainly fine but not to hot weather for walking.

But the evening was even better. We had tickets for one of the observation areas to see the penguins coming ashore, but on arriving we were offered a half price upgrade to the next level which we took. As it turned out this was really worthwhile. It meant we were in a group of ten with a guide who was with us for over two hours explaining what was happening and talking about the little penguins, their habits and life on shore and at sea. We watched them come ashore at dusk in varying size groups and waddling up the beach to their nests. We were also treated to seeing a Wallaby bounding in between the groups coming up the hill, as if he wanted some attention too. Many of the little penguins, who are only about 12 inches tall, were very fat because it is the moulting season and they are on land until this is complete so need to have stocked up on fish to see them though this period. It was amusing watching a few face quite a challenge to make the climb. The noise of penguins calling to each other was remarkable as was how close we were able to observe them.