On the way back from the Coorong I stayed the night in a town called Murray Bridge, which had the first bridge over the River Murray. It was very hot, the temperature hit 37 degrees that afternoon.

I left Murray Bridge in the morning and it was 38 degrees at 10am but windy. The temperature dropped rapidly, to 23 degrees by midday and 16 degrees by late afternoon. I drove to the coastal town of Goolwa, on the Fleurieu peninsula. From there I drove across the bridge to Hindmarsh Island, then to the Murray Mouth. I found myself on a vast beach with a wide shallow channel to each side, meeting in the middle and hitting the sea. A man dressed in shorts and t-shirt left his shoes on the beach and waded really far out into the water but it was only up to his knees. Two ibises were eating dead fish on the shore and a group of pelicans were sat elsewhere on the sand. There were some sand islands covered with birds and a big group of cormorants and gulls on the sand. It was so vast and wide and quiet, just me, the birds and the man in the water.

I drove along the coast to the nearby town of Victor Harbour. I went to the visitor centre and overhead a staff member telling a man that there were only two people booked on that evening's penguin tour so I decided on a whim to book onto it. The penguins are on an island just off the coast called Granite Island, connected by a pedestrian bridge and a horse drawn tram. It's about a 10 minute walk. When I left the visitor centre, I realised the wind was quite cold and it was threatening to rain and I started to reconsider my decision to book onto the penguin tour. I took a walk around Granite Island but it was very windy and starting to drizzle. I headed back to the car and drove to the neighbouring town of Port Elliot, where I was staying.

As I was driving back to Victor Harbour, the rain really set in heavily. I considered just not turning up but I didn't have a number to call to cancel. They had my number so would call me if it was cancelled. I was kind of hoping for a call. The walk across to the island was unpleasant, with the wind blowing the rain into me and my trousers got soaked on one side only. Once on the island I saw a tiny gecko sheltering next to a light. I got to the meeting point to find the other four people were there already with the guide. Luckily the guide had a large umbrella which I shared with another person on the tour. The guide was very knowledgeable. In 2000 they had 1600 little penguins there but now they only have about 24. We saw a couple which had just arrived back from the sea straight away. The guide explained what they were doing as they were shaking and preening themselves - removing salt and covering themselves with waterproofing oil. Elsewhere we saw some young penguins who weren't yet old enough to go out to sea pestering their returning parents for food and some male penguins who were trying to attract female partners. We heard the penguins barking and calling each other. As we were walking back, I saw two brush tailed possums. I'm glad I went, it was very worthwhile. Penguins don't like bright light and only come on land at night so I don't have any decent photos of them.

This morning it was still showery but I woke up early and decided I had time to visit a wildlife park. While I get more excited by seeing animals in the wild, it is nice to see them up close and get photos. The wildlife park had lots of kangaroos and wallabies hopping around and as it wasn't hot, they were quite active. I love feeding wallabies and small kangaroos, they have soft fur and they gently put their paws on your hand to stop you going anywhere and steady themselves while they eat out of your hand. I also saw a variety of Aussie wildlife including dingos, a sleeping wombat, koalas and lots of birds. They also had reptiles and I like the lizards of various sizes but the snakes make me feel uncomfortable. I think the one I saw while driving is one of the most dangerous ones in the region, a red bellied black snake. Or it could have been a tiger snake, which is even more dangerous. There were some peacocks wandering around the wildlife park and a white peacock and a regular one were having a face off. They both displayed all their feathers and shook them and slowly walked round in circles. Then when they put them down, the white one made one lunge towards the other one. It was quite comical to watch as they're so polite about their posturing and fighting to be the alpha male peacock. There were no peahens in sight. There were some emus with chicks, the chicks are so cute.

Next stop Sydney. I've visited before and I really enjoyed it so I want to revisit my favourite places and see a few that I missed out on last time.