Phillip Island tour

On Thursday we have scheduled a tour to the Philip Island. They weren’t picking us up until 11, so we went for a walk to the (flea) Market. It was nice to sip my coffee while walking through the aisles watching locals as they were setting up their tables. The day started foggy, but quickly cleared up and was really nice, sunny and warm.
Our tour bus took about an hour picking up people around the city, which gave us an opportunity to see different areas. Then it was about an 1.5 hour to the first stop, a winery. The wine testing was just about 15-20 min which was fine with me. Then we went to a wildlife park. It was much smaller than the one we went to two days before, and more limited. We were not allowed to pet a koala; apparently there is a law in Victoria against touching the koalas. They only allowed us to pose for a picture they took, which then they were selling to us. The kangaroos and wallabies were neat, and we got to feed and play with them. We also had lunch at that place. Since we stayed there longer than we were supposed, we had to skip the next stop, the beach. We headed to the Nobbies, a small town where we got to see the little penguins in wild and take pictures of them. This was our last opportunity for photographing them, because all cameras are prohibited on the Philip Island parade. The parade was a neat experience. We were seated on a platform on the beach, an waited for sundown for penguins to start coming out of the water. It was completely clear night, we got to see the southern cross star formation, and it also made it more pleasant to be outside than what I was afraid it might be. The penguins appeared on the horizon about 6pm. First only a few, they stayed in a group at the water edge gathering courage to run across the beach. They would pass our platform, which only had soft lights on it, and then walk through their run ways through the bushes toward their boroughs. They are so cute, only 30 cm tall, and wobbling as they walk. When they first get out of the water, they make a quaking sound, and then are silent as they run across the send. When they get into the bushes, they make a different sound, which sound more aggressive, like they are protecting the nests. We saw maybe 40 penguins come through; the biggest group had maybe 15 of them. We were able to see few of them along the boardwalk as we were coming back to the parking lot. After a pizza dinner, we headed back toward the city and were in our room by 10.30. I was completely exhausted by that time, and went straight to bed. Our 4 set of flights trip back home started at 7am, and we won’t be home until after 8pm on Friday. That will be more than 24 hours of daylight, so I am really glad I have a weekend to recuperate.