The Penguin Trip

You can call me pathetic and an embarrassment. As a former Melbournesider, I have NEVER travelled on the Great Ocean Road, nor have I visited Phillip Island in my five years living in Melbourne. I have NOT camped at Wilson's Prom nor seen gold at Ballarat. Heads shake and eyes pop out. Can't say I was too poor a student then to afford such trips, considering I had two part time jobs while studying.

Anyway, I finally stepped foot on Phillip Island when I was down in Melbourne in March. It was a penguin trip but no photography of any kind was allowed during the penguin parade. That was a shame. I had mixed feelings when I was queuing up to buy tickets for this magical procession. Friends who paid to see the world's smallest penguins on various other occasions had left disappointed when only a small number of them turned up. Tickets weren't cheap to start with.

We rocked up an hour early before the expected arrival of the little ones. There were level platforms facing the sea to sit on and the winds were getting colder by the minute. Hot chocolates and lattes kept us warm. Finally, at the furthest end of the sandy beach where there were piled up rocks, a big group of black and white birds appeared and started making their way onto land. Moments later, another group appeared closer to the crowd. Then another, and another! I was so excited! I'd say there were at least a hundred penguins that turned up that night to find their burrows. At one point, a small group of them ran in between the crowd. People started standing up to catch a closer glimpse of them. I wanted to join in too, and in the process from uncrossing my legs and getting overly excited to stand up, I kinda hurt my ankle ligament. Again. Sigh. That was painful.

And to add to my agony, the guy who squeezed in between myself and another woman did the most uncourteous thing. At one point, I felt a warm sensation under my left thigh. Turning my head, I saw the man holding a half filled cup of hot chocolate. Moments later, my socks felt wet. I touched my sticky soaked up socks and jeans to finally realise that this idiot had spilled his drink on me. He only apologised when I exclaimed my horror. There is a reason why lids are meant to be placed over the takeaway cup, you nincompoop! Grrr...

I eased my frustration with the beautiful company of the penguins after the out-of-the-sea sightings. As we made our way back on the wooden boardwalks, we saw many penguins approaching and staring at us. At only 33cm tall, they were so close to my feet, motionless for most of the time. After that, they started limping about on the sand, resting midway on their bellies, then standing up again and wobbling around. I never expected to see them so up close and personal!

Earlier that day, we attended April's graduation. We almost didn't make it for the photo session - waking up late and getting delayed by the rain. Typical Melbourne habits. I was glad to catch up with some old pals. Everyone looked the same, as though I've never left Melbourne.



And yes, the dude on the far right on the belowmentioned photo is my brother. I know, he doesn't look like me at all, and most likely not as intelligent as I am. Haha. Friends have sworn that he is a big time joker (Krystin nods her head in agreement). I only wonder why I don't see the clown in him at home. The jester being selective in his crowd selection.



Not long after, we were on our way to the island, stopping at San Remo for some fish and chips. First attraction spot was the A Maze'N'Things. We spent a good couple of hours indulging in the intriguing, stimulating and bizarre world of optical illusions, mazes, puzzles, and mind games.

Here we've got Jas the gold digger and my bro having a go on the giant slide. I must say my heart didn't take that dip all too well! My heart didn't have time to find peace when the next section was to find four coloured flags in a huge maze, the whole aim was for you to get lost and find your way out. I hate using my brains, in the end I just followed Jas and Dot who did all the thinking. And because I failed to use my intelligience, I picked the wrong group. My bro and Ahila had found all the flags and wished us all the best as they exited the maze. In the end, a little girl taught us how to cheat in order to find the last flag.

After that, we headed to the blow hole at Summerlands, walking along the boardwalk and enjoying spectacular views of the coast. The wind was roughing out on us, sending constant chilly breezes and freezing our ears and noses, not to mention the various hair dos we had to endure. Lucky us, we spotted four penguins taking shelter under our boardwalks. Those are the only photos I have of those little buggers. Out on the choppy seas, we also spotted seals playing in the water.

The next day we went go karting in view of the Formula One Grand Prix weekend. Since we can't drive the real ones, go karts will do just fine. As usual, I turned up last again with hands in an awful lot of pain after gripping the steering wheel with all my might. I can't help it, somehow my brain justifies it with controlled turns and avoiding embarassing spin offs. Jas had to help rub my hands to relax it a bit.




The koala conservation centre wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. It was more of who-can-spot-the-koala-in-the-wild kinda thing. There were signs placed earlier in the morning that indicated that a koala was on this particular tree. Imagine it still being there at three in the afternoon. Truly it does sleep twenty hours and spend the remaining hours eating eucalyptus leaves. What a bummer!

On the way back to the city, we detoured a little towards Dandenong only to realise that we weren't going to reach Miss Marples in time for jam and scones. Instead, we dropped by at Ben and Annie's place to see little Charlotte. :) Then it was a matter of eat-all-I-can-for-I'll-won't-be-back-in-a-while-to-eat-Sofia's-most-famous-pasta-mista-for-two! We only had half an hour for dinner, gulped it down within said time, rushed back to the apartment to grab my luggage before engaging into Formula One racing to reach the airport in the nick of time.

To Jas, LH, Dot, and Ahila, thanks for your company. I had so much fun. Will be back to visit again!