Today we were going on a trip to Phillip Island on a wildlife tour. The highlight of Phillip Island is the penguin parade each night. We'd watched the 'Penguin Island' documentary by Rolf Harris a few years ago and were both excited to go to the island which is a colony for around 50,000 little penguins!

We set our alarm to get up early-ish, and after breakfast stopped at a nearby internet café to print some stuff out that we needed. At 11:20 we were picked up for our tour, and found that we were the only 2 English-speaking people there! We were joined by a girl from South Korea, two Taiwanese girls, and a group of 14 Malaysians in a group together. Luckily, the tour guide spoke English! Our guide, Yvette, told us about what we would be doing and where we would be going - it was going to be a long day, we weren't due back into the city until Midnight!

Our first stop of the day was not far from the city, at a colony of flying fox bats on the banks of the Yarra river, where we took a few photos from the viewing platform. As it was Sunday afternoon, it was quite busy with families having a day out and there were kids kayaking and swimming in the river. Next stop was a small town where we got some food at the fish and chip shop, and then ate sheltering from the rain! Back on the bus, we were told that our next sop was a boutique winery that had stunning views out to Philip Island, and their wine wasn't sold anywhere but there. We weren't really in the mood for wine, but never say no to a free tasting…

When we arrived, we were greeted by the owner who seemed a bit annoyed about our large group descending on him. He set out glasses for everyone, and poured the first tasting. There was a bit of confusion between him and one of the Malaysian girls who was trying to tell him that he didn't need that many glasses as 2 people in their group were underage. He thought she was telling him off for serving underage people, but the two kids were sat with the guide at the other side of the room. Then he seemed to think that some of the Malaysian group were laughing at him, when really they were chatting amongst themselves. Anyway, he went off it and starting shouting that there would be no more wine for us, as he was sick of people coming to his winery and laughing at him!? Noone really understood what was going on, so we all left, and explained what happened to the guide. She range her boss, who spoke to the crazy old man. I don't think they'll be visiting that winery again on their tours!

The next stop was Manu Wildlife Park and we got to spend more time than planned there after the winery incident. Here we got to see koalas chewing on gum leaves - apparently we were lucky to see them awake as they sleep for 23 hours per day! We also got to feed emus, which nearly bit one of the Taiwanese girls thumbs off when she left it in the way of the food, and kangaroos, some of which were used to climbing up and holding onto your hands while they feed. One of them grabbed a bit too hard, but wouldn't let go until it had finished its snack! We wandered past some sleeping Tasmanian Devils and wallabies - the animals really are unique here!

After that, we drove to a chocolate factory for a quick sample, which was good enough to persuade us to buy a bar (although we're not exactly tough customers!) before heading to Cape Woolomai and its beautiful surf beach. We stood and watched the surfers for a while - apparently this is where they hold a massive women's surfing competition each year, whereas the men's competition is held at Bells Beach in Torquqay - been there too! There were one or two good surfers, bu the waves were pretty small so we didn't see many tricks!

By this point, we were heading towards the Penguins and we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking Pyramid Rock, where we would see the penguins swimming in from later on. Then we drove to a place called the Nobbies(!), where we got our first sightings of the baby penguins in their burrows, waiting for their parents to come in from the sea to feed them. Our guide told Dave and I to walk with her as she was going for a personal penguin spotting record, and we ended up counting 16! As we told her, if we'd wandered around on our own, we probably wouldn't have spotted any, so we're glad she offered! We also spotted a lethal copperhead snake curled up in the sun - Yvette was very excited!

Our final spot was the highlight of the day - the world famous penguin parade itself! On our way in, we drove past a penguin wandering along the side of the road, and Yvette slammed on the brakes, jumped out and started directing traffic away from the stranded and disorientated penguin. She then summoned a ranger who came hurtling along from the centre with a towel and a box, and we left her trying to catch it before it got run over or attacked by a snake (which was also lurking nearby in the bushes!). We were half-expecting Rolf Harris to jump out of the bush with a film crew but it never happened!

So it was finally time for the Penguin Parade… our guide had already told us the best places to sit, but we still managed to sit in the wrong spot! Luckily, she came along and led us to the place she had told us, at the bottom of the grandstand, almost on the beach. We had about a half hour wait until the sun started to set. The ranger told us all that there was to be 'NO PHOTOGRAPHY!' - fair enough though, as it can blind the penguins. Soon we spotted the first 'raft' of penguins heading for the shore. They come in groups to protect themselves from predators and as they reached the shore, they all waited until every bird in the group was on dry land. Apparently if they get too scared they'll turn around and head back into the sea and start again! But this group were brave and scrambled over the seaweed to the sand, where they waddled up the beach right past us as fast as they could towards the safety of the sand dunes. They waited there for a few minutes, resting and preening themselves, before heading up the hill to their burrows.

They were followed by several more rafts, some containing hundreds of penguins and we sat and watched them come in for about half an hour - we didn't get bored! Then we headed up the hill, and followed the penguins as they headed for their hungry chicks. We both had a tiring but fantastic day - well worth the money for all of the stops along the way.

After a 2 hour return coach ride, we headed back to the apartment for a good sleep!