Day Ninety Three - October 7th, 2013
Torquay to Cowes, Phillip Island

We waved goodbye to the Great Ocean Road at Geelong, and bypassed Melbourne and its impressive skyline to head straight to Phillip Island.

We crossed over onto the bridge, and followed signs to the Moto GP circuit to have a look around. Unfortunately, renovations were being done and we couldn't get very close up views, but it was cool to see all the same. We then headed to the Penguin Parade to reserve our tickets for tonight - the very reason we'd come to the island! We opted for the 'penguin plus' package at $44 each, which allowed us to be on a small viewing platform which is adjacent to the little fairy penguins normal route back from the ocean at night to their burrows. It included a souvenir program and hot drink each, which we'd pick up when we came back later on. We had a wander round the visitors centre and saw a few little penguins in their burrows!

We found a Subway for lunch and checked into a slightly shabby caravan park for the night. It had a rec room, where Elly beat me at table tennis using his right hand (he's a lefty). Self esteem, soaring. We were turfed out of the rec room by a group of seniors on a golf tour. Back to the tent it is!

We wrapped up warm and packed a blanket and headed off to see the little penguins! We sat on the boardwalk and watched the penguins 'raft', where they collect together in a group on the surface of the water before braving the beach. They then waddle along together in a pack so as to look like a large animal from the air to deter predators. They hopped and waddled along towards us, scrambled up the bank and then tackled the creek separating them from the hill where their burrows are. It was a magical experience watching the amazing little guys make the journey. I'm so glad we paid extra for the view up close - we could have reached out and touched them. There are 60,000 penguins living in the colony, but they can spend 6weeks at a time out at sea, so we saw only a fraction come home. It's mating season, so they were very noisy! We weren't allowed to take pictures, as a flash can damage a penguin's eye permanently, causing blindness. The guide told us they'd allowed non-flash photography up until recently, but people couldn't seem to follow the rules. Therefore I sneaked a few pics of the cutie critters with no flash whatsoever - they were too sweet to resist!

We had a quick supper of beans on toast in the freezing outdoor camp kitchen and then back in the tent for a very chilly night and early start.