The morning started with a trip to the cinema to watch THE AVENGERS, both of us were so excited we almost wet ourselves (literally!) the film was amazing but we could not get used to their closed caption provision - a little machine that you stick into the drinks holder and the words come up on a little screen in a 1980's computer font! We much prefer the British way, subtitles ON the screen :) even if it means annoying hundreds of hearing people.

We then hit the road, to Philip Island, a 100 sq km island south of Melbourne, (where sexy Chris Hemsworth is from - not that you needed know that...) to watch the world famous penguin parade. We arrived, got our tickets, learnt a little about the penguins and soon the waiting area was filling up with Japs with their camera's even though there was a sign that clearly says 'no photography' (in Japanese.....). When the doors finally opened this was Helen's cue to sprint for the best seat in the house (apparently on the side of the seating area as advised by the lovely lady in reception).

We then waited, waited and waited....there was a group of seagulls putting on an impressive flying display but....the stars of the show were the first group of little penguins splashing out of the water. They were soooo tinnnnnnny - only about 30cm tall and before we knew it, we had the best seats in the house...

We watched the penguins waddle out of the water in groups of tens and occasionally the waves would drag them back out. They would waddle up the beach into the rocks, hop over the rocks with some difficulty and then search for their burrow where their mate would be waiting for them. We saw a penguin all on its lonesome, and obviously Helen felt very sorry for it, so we decided to watch it until it started screeching and shrilling - it obviously knew its mate was near...their greeting dance was very aggressive. We decided to give them some peace and privacy and hit the road once again.

We had planned to stay in a hostel on Philip Island but when we arrived at the hostel there was a notice advising us to call them if we wanted a room...charming...So, we headed back to St Kilda.....where we stayed overnight again...