Day 18 (part 2): finally on to the Parade of Penguins

Part two of the bus tour to Philip Island.

Now back in the bus to Cowes, a seaside village near the penguin parade. This is the dinner stop for all the visitors. We get a nice veggie pizza at an "Italian" pizza place. It's Sri Lankans working here, but the food is good. We notice many other buses are large with working AC. 

Maybe there are penguins at the end of the rainbow? 

Now on to the penguins! We arrive there about 8:00p with an expected viewing at 8:45 or 9:00p. Finally I learn what's going on. I thought that little penguins was just a descriptor, but it is actually Little Penguins we will see. As in, THE Little Penguins. (Apparently one tourist complained at the end of the evening that he had only seen the babies. Where were the adult penguins? No no, those were the adults. The babies are even smaller!)

Stock photos: 

Because they are so little they have predators. To compensate they are colored sea blue on top, to blend in with the water when viewed from above. Also white on the bottom, to match the bright sky when viewed from the deep. When at sea for a long time they can power-nap for ~4 minutes several times in the day to get enough sleep. Amazing animals! 

The penguins spend the day at sea, up to 4 days. They leave in the morning before sunrise and return at night after sunset. To avoid predators. On their return they wash up in the surf, congregate on the beach, then waddle 50-300 yards into the grassy scrub on the hills fronting the beach. 

The conservation group has three grandstand bleachers built into the beach hillside for viewing. The viewing stand is reached by a long (100s of yards) boardwalk, after passing through a large giftshop/visitor center/ticket office/display center.

About 1500 visitors watch the penguins each night, with a recent nightly penguin count of about 2000. Their photos are here: https://www.penguins.org.au/attractions/penguin-parade/photo-gallery/ As they prohibit photography to avoid light flashes scaring the penguins they recommend using their images.

After the penguins' return, we visitors walk back up the boardwalk to watch penguins waddling to their nests, feeding chicks, and other penguin behaviors.

We get the seats our guide advised, then settle in. The sun has set but now darkness is falling. Soon we actually see penguins body surfing to the beach and clustering in groups of 2-3, then 5-10. Soon another 20+ arrive and they hit critical mass, so they take off towards the hills and waddle toward home. More arrive at the main landing points on the beach, group up, and waddle up off the beach.

Before leaving I see a wild animal I cannot recognize. It has a pointy face, copious fur, walks on all four like a predator (not like a kangaroo). The guide tells me it is a brush-tailed opossum, one that comes out each night to eat leftover food from the visitors. It looks so different than the North American opossum. (Btw 90% of the world's marsupials live in Australia!)

As the total darkness settles we eventually walk back up the boardwalk. Yes, more penguins waddling home. Penguins feeding the chicks. So many penguins! Very cool.

Then as we are watching penguins I see a small, light colored animal hoping along the hillside. Size of a boule loaf of bread, light colored, hops like a kangaroo. I'm told I've just seen the Eastern barred bandicoot, a very endangered species that's bred and released here to help rescue the species. Hooray! 

My illicit penguins photo.

Eventually it is 10p, time for the bus ride home. We assume our positions, the outdoor temp is now low enough for the AC to work, and eventually we're back at the meetup point and able to walk home. Phew, what a day!

During the ride home we check on weather for Cairns QLD (barrier reef city). Still looks like rain, but also thunder and lightning. Hmmm. We learn that on Sunday it rained two inches, Monday three and a half, additional two inches expected Tuesday with rain continuing. At one point on Monday visibility in the boat was 5 meters. As it's out on a reef the anticipated wind will certainly make everyone seasick. Hmmm.

Home and in bed by 1am. Quite the day!