Cowes, Australia — Joreel Siegel, February 08th
Road trip part 5: Philip Island to Melbourne
Last time I was in Australia I had worked in the backpackers on Philip Island for a while, so I was keen to visit some old friends.
Sure enough many were still there and they offered us a great private cabin with our own kitchen and bathroom (totally free of charge – bless them!). This was quite a blessing because I really needed to rest and get better. We spent our time on Philip Island quite different as I had imagined (I planned surfing and sightseeing and then more surfing..). But we couldn't visit this beautiful place without seeing any of it. So the second day we went to the Koala Conservation Center and visited the local wildlife park. We saw koala's up close at the Koala Conservation Center and learned much about their history on the island and their living habits. At the wildlife park we had quite a wildlife adventure. When you pay for admission you get a bag of food so you can handfeed the wallabies, kangaroos, swans and other wildlife that won't bite your fingers off. We didn't quite expect to be ambushed the moment we walked into the park though. We only made it two steps until 4 or 5 wallabies came hopping to us and started grabbing for our feedbags. What cheeky little fella's!
The rest of the park was quite rundown and besides wallabies we got to see some echidna's, koala's, black swans, kangaroo's, emu's, dingo's and many birds. The biggest adventure came at the end of the park visit though. There was a separate compound for the kangaroo's and emu's. So when we tried to enter an emu was standing in front of the gate and just wouldn't move. A bit scary..... So eventually we made it in and headed for the kangaroo's. The emu's were scary buggers though. They kept attacking us for food and just wouldn't leave us alone. And considering these birds are bigger than us and have big ugly beaks I was a little (yes. Just a little...) scared. The day ended with thunderstorms and we went to bed early.
Our last day on Philip Island we chilled a bit and planned to go to the famous penguin parade that evening. We don't have pictures of this as it's not allowed to photograph them, but it was an amazing experience.
What happens is: These little blue penguins come out of the water every night when darkness falls over the beach. At first you see a little guy swimming around and just peeking out of the water to see if it's safe to go out yet. After a while though you suddenly see groups of 5 or so penguins standing up on the beach and just wiggling up the beach towards the dunes where their burrows are. It's very funny to watch this event. After this however you get the chance to watch them up close as they walk to their burrows. We saw penguins as close as 30cm away from us, just wiggling their way up a hill. Very very very cool!!! After the adventure we drove home and went to bed, because the next day we had to take the car back to Melbourne!
Next stop: Melbourne
For more pictures please check out the Great Ocean Road and Wildlife links at our Photo's section
Elsa
Posted 1 year, 11 months ago.
Wat leuk om te lezen over die emu attack.
floris
Posted 1 year, 11 months ago.
Ik wil alle fotos zien en alles weten als jullie terug zijn! ik mis jullie wel beetje:d
Elsa
Posted 1 year, 11 months ago.
Het begint echt te kruien hier, nog 1.5 week!!
We komen jullie afhalen hoor, gewoon de wekker op 5 uur, zitten wij niet mee.
Elsa
Posted 1 year, 11 months ago.
Ik was nog iets vergeten...de kat van Eva moest inslapen, maar kan niet in de voortuin naast haar broer begraven worden omdat het vriest. De grond is te hard. Nu ligt ze in de achtertuin in een kartonnen doosje, in een rose sjaaltje gewikkeld, te wachten tot ze begraven kan worden. We mochten in het doosje kijken, het was net of ze sliep, heel mooi. En Mark, die stoere bink moest huilen.