Up at 7am ready to begin our 4 day adventure with our rental car- a lovely red Hyundai Getz. Todays destination- Phillip Island. Once we managed to get out of the city, the 90minute journey to San Remo went really quickly. We stopped here briefly to watch the pelicans being fed before crossing the bridge onto the island. We had perfect weather to explore the small 26km by 9km island. Had a quick look at New Haven and Cape Woolamai before stopping at Smiths Beach which was really pretty. Next stop was Shelley Beach which is, guess what... made up of shells. This is where I spotted my firsst penguin sleeping in its burrow. At The Nobbies we kept our eyes peeled for seals on Seal Rocks but had no luck. We did do the boardwalk here and were lucky enough to spot a few baby penguins.

We then headed to Rhyll which was much cooler and started to do the Conservation Walk at Rhyll Inlet but we gave up after 15 minutes. At Cowes we walked along the jetty before sitting on the grass to eat a pack of biscuits while watching the sea. On the way to the Penguin Parade we stopped at Flynns Beach- notorious for its dangerous rips. Sat here for a while taking in the cool breeze . Had a HUGE bowl of chips at Penguin Parade before taking our seats on the stands at "Penguin Plus" to watch the fairy penguins return home for the night.

The Little Penguins only exist in the Southern Hemisphere. They only reach 30-35cm in height- they are tiny. Just after dusk you could see all the baby penguins emerging from their burrows to wait for thier parents. The penguins meet about 200metres from the shore and form a raft to swim into the beach together. The penguins are at most risk whilst crossing the beach so they run across it, huddled together till they reach shelter (which was 1 metre from where we were sitting) Once they got here, they'd take a short rest before continuing to their burrows. They were gorgeous and amazing to watch them help each other. Some of them would just stop and flop onto their bellies for a rest- it was so cute. They all took about an hour to arrive at the beach in their different groups. When were leaving, some of the penguins had waddled all the way to the ticket centre (over 600metres away) with only their teeny legs. It was amazing to witness such a natural, daily event. I just wanted to pick one up and take it home. In the carpark we had to check under the car to make sure that none of the penguins were using it as shelter.

The drive back to Melbourne was long as we were both tired, got to bed around 1am, ready to start Great Ocean Road tomorrow.