Australia Has Some Adorable animals!

The tour was fabulous….Melbourne to Phillip Island and sights between!  It was a long 11 hour day and evening tour, but it was my only time to visit the “penguin parade” since my regular tour doesn’t include this on their itinerary.  

The hotel Rendezvous in Melbourne has beautiful architecture.  It was previously an elegant Victorian men’s’ club decorated with high ceilings, egg and dart crown molding, iron railings, lots of dark wood paneling, and my room even has a stained glass window!  During its previous life as a club where women were initially totally excluded, they were finally admitted as guests but only on certain days for tea and in later years for meals.  They were required to enter through a back door and take an elevator that was screened to prevent the “more bashful” men members from seeing them!

Australia was still a British colony when gold was discovered creating a rush larger than the Alaskan, Californian, and Canadian gold rush combined.  The population of Melbourne exploded from 76,000 to 540,000 by 1861.  The Melbourne police force of 40 officers was decimated when 38 resigned to join the rush.  

Many of the immigrants were Chinese, and Melbourne has the second oldest China Town; San Francisco is first.  The current population of Melbourne is around 5.3 million.  There are two groups of original aboriginal people with the longest continuous culture in the world of 40,000-60,000 years.

We pass Luna Park, an amusement park built by the same developer as Coney Island in NYC.  The roller coaster always has one person standing controlling the brakes!  It is the last manually operated coaster in the world without electric brakes!

We arrive at Brighton Beach, an affluent suburb of Melbourne and a popular vacation destination for city residents.  Waterfront houses here now cost $3-6 million.  When it was developed in 1868, Victorian morality dictated the construction of small wooden “beach boxes” so that members of the opposite sex would not see each other in bathing suits!

    

82 of these privately owned boxes still exist owned by Brighton residents and currently costing around $200,000 for a 2’x4’ shed!  You don’t own the land, cannot rent for accommodations, and cannot install utilities such as electricity nor plumbing.  Each box has a unique bright design which cannot be changed without approval, and they must maintain the original architectural style.

We visit another local beach and then Moonlit Sanctuary which is home to numerous native Australian animals.  The wombat ignores everyone, but the Tasmanian Devil is active and probably wondering how to escape!  Native birds are abundant and colorful!

  

I use all my kangaroo food hand-feeding the numerous kangaroos and wallabies, smaller and more mouse faced cousins, both of which wander freely.  I’m trying to capture videos for the grandchildren which is difficult holding a camera in one hand, my second hand outstretched filled with food, and a container of food which I finally hold with my teeth!  

These beautiful creatures gently graze from my palm and then move along to another offered hand.   Their small front arms are held in front, but those powerful hind legs finish in a wicked long nail.  Multiple moms have “joeys” in their pouches which either curiously peek out or are evident from the movement inside.

  

A kangaroo’s gestation is only about 35 days when a thumbnail size hairless, pink-skinned baby is born.  It crawls into its mother’s pouch where it will nurse and live for another 7-8 months.  

The koalas are adorable either sleeping which they do about 20 hrs a day or eating eucalyptus which is its only food source.  There are 500 species of eucalyptus and koalas eat about 50 of these sniffing out the appropriate ones with its large nose and great sense of smell.  The “koala experience” allows me time to stroke and talk to a laid back cutie.  Their fur is so soft, but “Victor” ignores me and is totally focused on lunch!  I think the grands will like these pics!

  

Next stop is Phillip Island off the southeast coastline part of which is now a nature preserve.  In 1840, it was settled by two brothers which had to swim their livestock to the island since no bridge existed.  They lit fires to burn away the natural foliage and created farm and grazing lands.  A bridge was finally built, and in 1902, only 50-60 people lived on the island full time.  It now has a population of 7,000 yearlong residents and 3.5 million tourists visit each year.

Off the coast are “the Nobbies”, multiple rock outcroppings with the largest being Seal Rock… population about 10,000 seals!  Phillip Island has a large geese and wallaby population but no kangaroos.  Geese wander lazily into the road in front of our bus and other cars and honking horns may speed up their journeys only by a little!  

The island use to have a large fox population which decimated other wildlife including the geese, wallabies and penguins.  Several years ago the foxes were eliminated and now these former prey animals are thriving!  

Our last stop and the epitome of our tour is the nature preserve and the nightly penguin parade!  The largest population in the world of over 32,000 fairie penguins, the smallest of the species weighing a couple of pounds and about a foot in height, call this area home.  Each night after sunset, between 300 - 2,000 of these creatures swim ashore after feeding in the ocean all day or sometimes for multiple days.  Their major predator are large birds of prey so they wait until the sun has set and the birds are roosting to finally waddle to their homes either dug into the hillside or in manmade boxes.

I sit in the sand quietly waiting for the “scout” penguin to swim ashore, wander back out into the waves…once, twice, three times…before signaling the others that it is safe to come home.  They are returning from the Great Southern Ocean with nothing between this coastline and Antarctica!  Penguins have no knees so their legs, containing only one bone, produces a characteristic waddle.  However, they can climb, hop, dig, and walk long distances.

Their coloring looks black, but they are actually navy and white which is useful camouflage.  Predators below them in the water look up and see the white underbelly against the sky and predators above see navy and the dark waters below.

There is an official “penguin counter” each evening located in a stand above the beach.  Last evening over 1,400 penguins came home.  Tonight they must have something better to do in the ocean.  I only see 25+ while I watch for 30 minutes before heading to the boardwalk to see them on their trail to their boxes.  I would stay longer, but our bus is leaving, and I don’t want to walk 2 hrs back to the hotel.

Pictures and videos are prohibited after sunset due to light adversely affecting the penguins’ eyes, but of course, there are people who think the rules don’t apply to them!  These little creatures follow a trail they have created over the years, and it is fascinating to watch them in groups of 3-6.  It is currently mating season and soon eggs will be laid.  Older chicks, brown fluffy balls of feathers, attack some of the returning penguins trying to get a quick regurgitated meal even though they are not their parents.

The penguin parade was underwhelming, but the day was fabulous!  A penguin volunteer commented on the low numbers tonight, but it was still enjoyable, and I highly recommend this activity.  I wish I had pictures, but I have lots of memories!  I hope you enjoy the other pictures especially of the Moonlit Sanctuary.  Come on down to “down under” and enjoy!