Week 512 · Koala Walk · Penguin Parade · Philip Island
Philip
After we swapped Annelise for Mary, the pace quickened. Mary and Sharon went to Sydney and we were supposed to do the Great Ocean Road tour on the next Saturday. But it rained — so we changed the plan to go to Philip Island and Wilsons Promontory.
Mary booked two tours — one was a koala walk (which was great — saw a lot very close) and the other was a penguin show and parade.
Philip Island is home to a thriving koala population that has benefited from conservation efforts since European settlement cleared much of the mainland's habitat. The Koala Conservation Reserve opened in 1986 and protects over 130 hectares of manna gum woodland — the koala's preferred food source on the island. Koalas sleep up to 22 hours a day to conserve energy, as eucalyptus leaves are low in nutrition and contain toxins requiring significant energy to detoxify. The island's koala population has been the subject of ongoing management research due to the animals' impact on local manna gum trees.
I was expecting some worn-out penguins in some guy's above-ground pool beside the road. I was way off — this was a full 1,400 penguins coming out of the ocean with several thousand people there to observe. So — if you ever go to Philip Island — go to the Penguin Parade and upgrade to Penguin Plus (no need to go the full underground experience). No pictures from there — they can't trust that people aren't idiots and use flash and blind the penguins.
I was expecting some worn-out penguins in some guy's above-ground pool beside the road. I was way off. This was a full 1,400 penguins coming out of the ocean with several thousand people there to observe. Every evening at dusk, the world's smallest penguins — Little Penguins, standing just 33 cm tall — emerge from the Bass Strait and waddle up the beach to their burrows.
Upgrade to Penguin Plus. No need for the full underground experience. And no pictures — they really can't trust that people won't use flash and blind the penguins.
"If you ever go to Philip Island — go to the Penguin Parade and upgrade to Penguin Plus. I was expecting some worn-out penguins in a pool beside the road. I was way off."
The Little Penguin (also called the Fairy Penguin) is the world's smallest penguin species, standing around 33 cm tall and weighing about 1 kg. Philip Island's Summerland Beach hosts the largest Little Penguin colony in the world, with around 32,000 penguins. They spend their days at sea diving for fish — typically anchovies, pilchards, and squid — then return to land at dusk to feed their chicks and rest in burrows. The Penguin Parade has been a formal visitor attraction since 1928, making it one of Australia's oldest eco-tourism operations. Flash photography is strictly banned as it can temporarily blind the birds and disrupt their navigation.
