A very Unique Animal in its natural Habitat: Phillip Island

All of us are, to various extents, curious to see animals in their natural habitats.

There is something special to see a tiger in the Ranthambore national park, a lion at Gir or a Rhino at Kaziranga, rather than seeing these animals in the confines of a zoo.My personal favourite wild animals which I have seen in their habitats in India are elephants and tigers. I still wish to go to Kaziranga some day.

Outside India, a swamp tour in the US was also amazing (another blog) where we could see many different animals. 

Of course the one continent you would associate with immaculate preservation of their animals is Australia. Nowhere in the world could you come up close to animals like the kangaroo, wallabies and Kualas. Australians take great pride in preserving the wildlife of their country and its something really commendable.

I will say something about today's blog. You guessed it. The location was Australia. I had some expectations from this trip, but the reality surpassed all my expectations.

It was in Melbourne in one Australian Summer. There are great things to do in Melbourne itself, and there are two specific favourite day trips from Melbourne; one drive along the Great Ocean Drive, and the other is visit to the Phillip Island.

My blog is about the latter.

How did I book?

Same ole' website (see my other blogs!). I booked a guided day trip from Melbourne and back online.The trip costed around INR 9000. 

Where did it start?

We started around 2 pm at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne. This trip is something to be done in the afternoon. Don't try doing it in the morning as you will miss out on the fun.

The trip before we reached the place in contention.

We first stopped at the Kuala conservation centre on the Phillip Island. It was one amazing experience to see the Kualas all sleeping hugging the trees. (the Kualas are hardly awake). People also maintained great discipline in maintaining silence there, which made the experience more amazing, as the sounds you could hear were mainly sounds of nature. 

 We then went to the place simply called "the Nobbies", where we expect to see Australia fur seals. I didn't manage to see any. But the views from there were breathtaking. Im not sure what you call the ocean there, but I am pretty sure its the closest I have got to the Antarctic Ocean. It was very windy there and I was forced to buy a jacket, the famous Philip Island jacket of Santosh, which you will see in many of my photos!! (Let me clear here: I wear my jacket only for a grand four or five days in a year: there is no scope of wearing one in Hyderabad!)

We then left for the place in contention...and here it comes: the place was called the Penguin parade. We reached there at 820 pm. I was pretty excited as I thought I could see some penguins and take some photos. We were informed that taking photos were not permitted. Well then, some things are for your eyes only, I guess.

We walked around 500 meters from the gate to to the beach, and we hadn't seen any penguins yet. Was this going to be a damp squib? At the beach, there was a constructed pavilion, where at least two hundred people were already seated by the time we got there. I got a comfortable seat. An announcer came and told  us some housekeeping instructions and told to just look at awe at what would happen when the Sun set. He said the penguins would return to land from the day out at sea as soon as the Sun set.

Okay...hmmm... lets see...

The sun set. Out came the first penguin. All of us were excited and muttered to each other. Then came the second, third and fourth in quick succession. They were small penguins, not the ones you would see on TV; the ones in Antarctica. I guess their height may not have been more than one and a half feet. 

Photos are not allowed by tourists at the Penguin Parade. This photo is courtesy Nadim from the royalty free image website Pexels.

Then... the numbers grew, I expected to see at least twenty or thirty of them; I was grossly mistaken. They kept coming out in huge numbers. They walked from the beach towards the pavilion and quietly made their way towards the park, some passing quite close to us. I think we would have seen .. guess.. at least eight hundred such penguins. It was like an ocean of these small creatures all around. 

Photos are not allowed by tourists at the Penguin Parade. This photo has been taken from the website Viator. com, my favourite travel agents.

We then made our way back to the gate, but this time we were walking along with our little friends, as they used a small dug out pathway to return to their individual burrows where they would rest for the night. There were so many of them!!. I remember, a few of them had to cross the road, and the attender stopped us humans so that the royals could pass!

We reached Melbourne at 1030 pm. 

But what a day it was! I can't imagine how else it would be possible for common tourists like us to see penguins in their natural habitat, until and unless Antarctica becomes more accessible. A wonderful place, and I would surely go there again.

Guaranteed.