Phillip Island - 18th December

Well we survived the night in our less than luxurious B&B and I have to say it felt great to get in the car and drive away from the experience.

Today we were going to Phillip Island which is famous for its Penguin Parade where around 2,000 'little' penguins swim back from the ocean at dusk and waddle to their nests to feed their chicks. We'd booked on the tour and had even upgraded to 'Penguin Parade Plus' which meant we got to sit in a stand to view the penguins with 250 people instead of the bigger stand which seats 4,000 people.

We didn't really know what to expect from Phillip Island but we were expecting it to be busy. Firstly it was a Saturday and secondly again we'd try booking accommodation online for Phillip Island and had found little if nothing available.

However when we crossed over the bridge we couldn't believe how quiet the place was. It seemed almost isolated. We went to watch some surfers – there were none, we went to do a walk at a nature reserve – no one else was doing it and again we saw vacancy signs everywhere. This made us really pleased we had a 90 minute drive after the parade to our booked accommodation in Dandenong!

We finally saw people visiting the Phillip Island Wildlife Park and so thought we'd go there. On arrival we were immediately handed a paper bag with oats for us to feed the animals. Feeding, stroking and holding the animals seems richly encouraged in Australia with most parks offering a hands on experience.

The park was quite good and we saw koalas, ostriches, dingoes, gallas, wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, snakes and tasmanian devils to name a few.

Emma Do-little

Mum and Joey

A Wombat

A Tasmanian Devil

Andy also saw a rather worrying notice in the toilets...not sure how often this had occurred to require someone to print a notice??

We had some dinner in Phillips Island's main town Cowes before heading first to the Nobbies (two rock stacks on the coast) and then Penguin Parade. This is when we finally met all the people as there were hundreds of people trailing along the boardwalks of the Nobbies before heading over in convoy to the Parade.

At the parade we were really pleased we'd upgraded to 'Penguin Parade Plus'. Not only was there better access to the viewing areas but you got a free drink AND a free headset with commentary on the parade. The parade itself lasted 1 hour and did not disappoint. The penguins swam to shore in groups and we saw them build up the courage to come ashore, shake themselves off and waddle up the cliffs. It was amazing how they all knew exactly where their nests were. We then saw the battle as two youngsters would fight against each other for the regurgitated fish their parents had caught that day. We weren't allowed to take photographs at the Parade but we have one of 2 chicks we can show you from the Nobbies.

The parade finished at about 10pm and we drove to Dandenong where our hotel was booked. This turned out to be far nicer than the accommodation of the night before and we rolled into bed at 12am.