Well we're off to Adelaide today! Looking forward to it as not much to do in Melbourne, I only wanted to see the cast of Neighbours and it was fully booked! We did enjoy the comedy night though (it was free!) and we got to see Mark 'CHOPPER' Read. It was the real deal as well I was pooing my pants, lol. Then we went to an old gaol (prison) pretty boring but we did see a real gallows, death masks and Ned Kelly's armour. Yesterday I had a wildlife packed tour, was amazing! I got to see wombats and their babies, lots of koalas really close which wouldn't happen in the wild and then a bought some food and got to walk round a field being chased off hungry kangeroo's and wallabys! but it was fun. What I liked even better was it wasn't a zoo, it was a rescue centre so any animals that had been orphaned 'cause their parents had been killed on the road were rescued and they get released back into the wild when they were old enough. But some of them have babies while they are there so sometimes they release whole families into the wild. We visited a winery which was good, loads of free wine, I especially liked the port! We stopped at a few beaches for little breaks and the waves were massive, they were also holding the women's ROXY surf competition. We drove through a few little towns on Phillip Island that were named after places on the Isle of Wight as Prince Phillip said it reminded him of the Isle of Wight. We went to see the 'Nobbies' and 'Seal Rock' where you can't really see any seals as it's too far out to sea (therefore I recommend the 'optional' helicopter flight over the rocks) but on the walk back up the boardwalk we seen lots of 'Little Penguins' in their burrows and hiding under the boardwalk, which got me all excited for the Penguin Parade later that night! Around 6pm we drove to the penguin centre and after looking round the information boards and seeing some penguins with their chicks or eggs it was time to walk down to the beach. We got there at 8.15pm and the little dudes didn't start arriving until 9.30pm when it was pitch black. I suggest you take a sleeping bag or blanket if you go as it gets very cold just sitting and waiting! It was pretty surreal as you would see a little group of 5-6 penguins emerge from the sea (and the seagulls were on full alert lined up along the beach). As they started to walk up the beach from the sea they would all huddle together, probably to intimidate the seagulls! but some would lose their nerve and run back to the sea to re-emerge with another group after a couple of minutes they had crossed the front line of seagulls and were legging it up to their burrows in the sand dunes behind the beach. All along the beach you could see little white bellies come out of the water either on their own or in groups of 2 to 100+! At the far right end of the beach you could just see a constant stream of penguins right up until we left. However you had to pay an extra $40 to be up close and personal with them ones. The boardwalk back to the entrance was definately the highlight, I would tell people to leave plenty of time to walk back as it is better than seeing them come out of the ocean. It was truly overwhelming to see the amount of penguins hiding up in the dunes in their burrows or feeding chicks, some mating, fighting, singing, sleeping, etc. Also the amount that were walking up the side of the bridge, to get home, just waddling past you it was funny as. I wish I could of stayed longer. An excursion worth doing in my eyes, deffo in my top 10. They are actually called little penguins, they only grow up to 30cm and weigh up to 1lb! Take care everyone love & peace Ellise xxx