I Almost Forgot a Day

I almost forgot to tell you about our third day in Melbourne.  I didn't write about it in my journal because we didn't get home until after midnight and we had to be packed and ready to leave at 6 the next morning.  Our "Phillip Island Ultimate Eco-tour" began early and lasted all day long.  We agreed that our day, although interesting, was not an "ultimate eco-tour."  We took a bus to several other hotels to pick up customers.  After a wait at the "Ultimate Eco-tour" office of about 15 minutes, we drove out of Melbourne toward the coast.  Our first stop was a sanctuary conservation wildlife park.  Here (for a fee) we could hand feed wallabies and kangaroos.  Or (for another fee) have your picture taken with a koala. We walked around but were not impressed.  Hand fed kangaroos and wallabies are just not as exciting as wild kangaroos and wallabies.  Lunch was included at this stop - quartered white bread sandwiches of chicken or egg and ice water.  I wondered if some places added the word sanctuary or conservation to their name just to confuse the public into thinking it wasn't a tacky tourist trap. We were promised chocolate samples at Penny's Amazing World of Chocolates.  The reason Penny's World of Chocolate is amazing is the high prices of their boxes of choclates.  Our free sample was the size of a chocolate chip.  We had a quick stop to visit Cape Woolami beach which was nice.  Our last stop of the evening was Summerland  Beach.  From here we could pay to see the sea lions on a rock island via telescopes, have dinner in the cafeteria, visit the gift shop, and wait for the nightly penguin parade.  The penguins, called Little Penguins, were actually pretty awesome.  They are the smallest of all the penguins at 13 inches tall.  They are actually blue on the back and white on the front. I didn't know we had blue penguins.  From the sky their blue feathers look like water.  From below their white breasts look like the sky protecting them from predators.  All day they swim and feed.  At dusk they come in to shore, waddle up the sand and dive into their burrows to rest for the night.  But the transition from water to burrow is dangerous.  And the little penguins are fearful.  We watched them floating in the surf, riding the waves until a group would skid into shore on their bellies.  The penguins would stand up and hesitate, waiting for the brave one to be the first one to waddle up the bank.  If one penguin went forward toward the sand, the rest would follow.  If one penguin in the group turned chicken and ran back to the safety of the water, the entire group would turn tail and run.  We sat in bleachers and were amused by the little penguin scaredy cats.  The wind was blowing strongly in from the sea.  Salt water was blown off the tops of the waves into our faces.  When anyone walked in the sand in front of the bleachers, the sand blew into our teeth.  We were freezing out there watching the little penguins.  My friends headed back early because they were cold.  When I stood up to leave, the wind blew me back into a sitting position.  I had to grab the stair rails to make it up the bleachers.  As I walked the 15 minute walk back to the center, little penguins marched along side of the boardwalk toward their burrows.  Thousands of little penguins marching uphill made me feel like a giant.  We were not allowed to take any photos of the little penguins because their population is decreasing and they don't want this nesting colony disturbed.  I had time to stop in the restroom, wash the salt off my face, rinse the sand out of my teeth, and it was time to get back on the bus for a 2 hour ride back to Melbourne.