The penguin colony at Philip Island is big business with hundreds of tourists turning up every evening at dusk to see the Little Penguins return to the colony after, up to two weeks at sea. There are huge stands built on the beach to accommodate the spectators and as visitors have been watching the parade for almost one hundred years the penguins don't know any other way and we are assured that they are not bothered by all the people. In fact, the penguin population in the Philip Island colony has risen from just eight thousand to over thirty thousand in the last decade so they must be happy penguins.
Alison's daughter Emma used to work in the tourisum industry selling penguin tours and she has advised us to upgrade from the basic ticket. This means that we end up with front row seats on the beach just meters from the sea. We also have a ranger who tells us all about the penguins over an ear piece and a pair of binoculars.
It is breeding season which means that on the way down to the beach from the visitors center we see some babies, covered in downy feathers emerging from their nests in anticipation of their parents coming home with dinner. They are unbelievably cute, especially when spooked and the do a little run which is more of a waddle back to their nests.
We settle on the beach just after 9pm and there is anticipation in the air as we wait for the little ones to make their appearance. Down the beach the first penguin emerges and there are hundreds of eyes on him as he waddles about the shore trying to decide when to make the dash to the dunes. Back and forth into the waves a number of times and eventually he is joined by another. More back and forth for both of them and you can feel the hole crowd willing them to make a break for it. By the time they do there are are a few heads bobbing around in the shallow in front of us. One by one settling on there feet to think about the walk ahead. As with the first two the all seem to return to the waves a few times, before setting of in grouped of up to 10 towards their nests and chicks in the colony. You can't help marvalling at how a creature who looks so awkward on land are so graceful in the sea.
We walk up the boardwalk and stop hundreds of times to watch the penguins slowly walking towards their chics in their nests in the dunes. The stop occasionally and have a preen or a power nap, bracing themselves for the chaos of the hungry chick.
We weren't allowed to take any pictures so I borrowed them from their website http://www.penguins.org
