Penguin Parade

Earlier this week we had a great day on Phillip Island, just under 2 hours' drive away to the south east. It's a fairly unspoiled place despite being Australia's most popular place for visitors.

The main attraction is the Penguin Parade, when at dusk hordes of them come in from the sea, assemble at the shoreline, and gallop up the beach together to their burrows in the dunes - apparently they need safety in numbers as they are vulnerable to attack by predatory birds. They only have to cover about ten yards but as they hardly move like Usain Bolt I can understand their concern.

The penguins are less than a foot high so it's not easy to see them in the sea in the fading light, but there are 'penguin-friendly' lights on poles to assist us. The whole thing is vaguely reminscent of the landing site scene in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'... with the added excitement of wondering if you will see the little boogers before pneumonia sets in as you wait an hour in rapidly falling temperatures.

We all sit in a man-made amphitheatre constructed to view them, while burly Aussie naturalists remind us over a tannoy that no photography is allowed - sadly. We then walk back over boardwalks to the massive visitor centre accompanied in near darkness by the little pingus squawking as they head to their burrows to sit on their eggs.

There are empty beaches around the whole island, though in high season they will get busier I'm sure. I did photograph some pelicans near the entry to the island. The main hamlets are called Cowes and Ventnor, so the whole place is really just a small pastiche of the Isle of Wight.

Other attractions are a Grand Prix circuit (now used for bike races) and a chocolate factory, which contains a chocolate model railway and a one tonne block of the stuff. We only called in to sample the wares rather than go on a tour.

At the south west are The Nobbies (photo above): rugged mini-islands with thousands of seabirds and a seal colony. All in all, a memorable day.