Torrential rain marred the next days drive and it was just long and scarey. However, the clouds parted as we arrived on the south coast and crossed the San Remo bridge onto Phillip Island.

A rugged place, it's famous for its penguin colony but also has koalas, kangas and seals. The main town is Cowes, which has a great little island-life vibe. The one and only backpackers was full so we checked into Tropicana motel - wohoo! Great.

The reason for our stay was to see the Penguin Parade - a nightly occurence when the resident penguin population of the island return from their day at sea and waddle up the beach to their nests. At dusk we drove to the penguin colony (along with 50 million other tourists from every corner of the globe!) and on the way saw three kangas quietly grazing by the side of the road. We were delighted and clicked our cameras away as they munched and stared at us impassively. Arriving at the colony we soon realised we were not suitably dressed. Victoria was having a cold snap - a rude awakening after my last few scorching months. We managed to wrap ourselves up however, with towels and anything else from the boot of the car!

A concrete amphitheatre has been built in the dunes and everyone sits there and chats and awaits the arrival of the penguins. There's commentary and a countdown to their ETA. Gradually as it gets dark, little bodies appear in the surf and over minutes they manage to get themselves on the beach, all the while getting washed around by the waves. They huddle up into groups or 5 or 7 and you can almost sense them steeling themselves for the event ahead. It's the scariest part of their day, making them very vulnerable to predators. Suddenly one brave one will make a break for it and the others will follow, all of them getting faster and faster as they waddle towards the dunes - sanctuary! They literally are going as fast as they can and you can imagine how much adrenalin is pumping through their little bodies!

The cuteness of it all is almost to much to bear, especially when it all gets a bit too much for some of them. They can be as much as three quarters of the way up the beach, when they just seem to suddenly get overwhelmed and will turn around and slide back to the safety of the surf on their bellies. We wondered if the 500 people sat alll around them going "aah" repeatedly might have something to do with it - but they genuinely seem undeterred by humans. The lighting is very lowkey and you're certainly not allowed to take any photos at any point. The population of between 600 and 1000 penguins take around an hour to all get onto the beach and they then commence the walk to their nests. This can be up tp 1 kilometre inland and it's uphill! Some of them are heavily pregnant and they all remember the exact direction to go. As you walk back to the visitors centre, they are all around you in the grass and on the little paths they've worn themselves, chirping away to each other, sometimes bickering, sometimes stopping to preen and rub their beaks on each other.

Mum and i were overwhelmed by the wonderfulness of it all and we could have spent hours watching them. It's just amazing to see nature, doing its thing, on a mission. And the over-riding theme of the evening - stick together and you'll be alright!.

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