We had never been to Melbourne or that area of Australia, so we did some sightseeing too. Instead of renting a car we opted for bus day tours—one along the Great Ocean Road and the other to Phillips Island, where we watched Little Penguins waddle and petted a koala.
The Great Ocean Road follows a portion of the southeastern coast of Australia. Built by returning soldiers after World War I, it is a gorgeous drive with spectacular ocean views. With every turn of a bend, oooks and aaahs would erupt at the sight of waves crashing onto rocky coastlines, or at beaches stretched far into the distance with the sands playing off the clear blue water. Our goal was a view of The Twelve Apostles, very photogenic rock formations, best seen at sunset.
On the way, we stopped in Kennett River to see koalas in the wild and in fact we did see a koala being a koala. Here he is sleeping in the crook of a tree.
They are very, very tired most of the time. This has to do with their diet of eucalyptus. The leaves don’t provide much in the way of energy (no carbs) so they are just zonked most of the time. You can tell he just fell asleep in the middle of a meal. His back was to us, so the pic is not great. But damn it, we saw one that was not in a zoo or sanctuary.
We also stopped at Loch Ard Gorge, part of Port Campbell National Park, for some views of spectacular cliffs and roaring ocean.
Hurrying along, we bolted down dinner in Port Campbell before racing off to see the Apostles at sunset. At this point, there are only four stone pillars left, others having eroded and fallen into the sea. I am not sure there ever were twelve. To hear the tour guide, the name Twelve Apostles was a marketing gimmick. No matter what they are called, it was hard to resist taking dozens of photos from every last angle.
In a separate tour, we headed to Phillips Island. First stop was Moonlit Sanctuary, home to native species, conservation efforts, and where we had a photo op with a koala. They are absolutely adorable and soft and easily distracted by eucalyptus leaves.
Next off to the Little Penguin colony and the nightly Penguin Parade. The colony is situated in a cove surrounded by rolling hills. Unlike the penguins of Antarctica who nest on rocky beaches, the penguins here nest in burrows that dot the hills. The penguins pair up to produce offspring and every day, one sticks around to guard their home and the egg or chick, the other swims off for dinner. At dusk, the swimmers come home after a hard day at sea. They wash up on shore in large groups. After a careful look around, they make a mad dash across the open sand. Trying to avoid being picked off by a predator, foxes or large birds, there is safety in numbers. Once across the sand they spread out, following trails that crisscross the hills leading to home. They call it a parade but it is more of a penguin rush hour with hundreds of penguins waddling through the dunes.
On this night, it was cold, really cold, and the wind was blasting off the ocean. We sat huddled on risers waiting for their return. The penguin parade path is lit with a type of light that allows us to see them, but they cannot see us. I would imagine they could hear us, but they seemed okay and quickly walked their path hurrying along, anxious to get home and into cover. Adorable. Just cute as can be. Unfortunately, to make sure the penguins are not startled by flashes, photography was prohibited. So we have no photos. They gave us stock photos instead. This does not do any justice to what we saw.
Aussie Little Penguins are distinct from the New Zealand Blue Penguins.
A Yank Among the Kiwis 