Phillip Island (day 1) 17 Nov -11

Woke up pretty early to get started on the long drive from Geelong, through Melbourne, and down to Phillip Island, for a two day nature and wildlife adventure!
Even before arriving, we saw heaps of pelicans next to the bridge that would lead us to Phillip Island. The trip started as soon as we had crossed it, with a short stop at the tourist information centre, before quickly continuing to Churchill Island, a small island connected to Phillip Island by a small bridge.

The best way I can describe it, is that it is like a mini version of Skansen in Stockholm, but Aussie-style! It had a farmstead, with a old Mansion, herb garden, kitchen garden, animals like horses, turkeys, sheep, cattle, birds, wallabys and peacocks. Oh yes, the peacock took me right back to Skansen, with their long beautiful feathers and loud screaming... ^^

Meo, meeoo, MEOOOO!!!! ^^

Yes, they DO sound like that, and if you don't believe me, YouTube it ;)

Beware!

For those who wonder
how artichokes grow ;)

Chicks!

Passionfruit-flower by the entrance to the kitchen-garden.

So after the Skansen-flashback, we headed for the koala conservation centre, where I was to see my first ever live koalas!

The treetop board-walk.

Sleepy koala^^

Wallaby! I got as close as 1.5 meters. :) 

Do you see the little Joey (baby koala)
 sticking its head out? :D

So after walking around on the treetop board-walks and a tour on the ground, i had counted a bunch of birds, 2 semi-wild wallabies, and 14 koalas! And fortunately, not a single Drop Bear ;)

The koalas left me with a happy and cosy feeling, but the day fas not even close to being over...

After dropping off our stuff at the caravan-park cabin, a short walk on the beach, and a hamburger-dinner, we were off to see The Penguin Parade!

So we were told to be on the beach at 7pm, since the penguins were getting up from the ocean at sunset, so everyone had to be in their seats, and they even closed the road, so that the penguins weren't going to be disturbed. After 1.5 hour wait, we started to see groups of penguins being washed up on the shore, and then running across the beach, to the grassy hills behind us...

All types of cameras were forbidden, but I had to have at least one picture
 of the small penguins running up the beach to their burrows^^

After the parade, there were some burrows, that had a window, so that you could the them up close without disturbing them :)

A penguin in its nest. :)

 There were a lot of penguins on the beach that night, and you had to be careful not to run any over on your way from the parking-lot. ^^
It was an amazing experience and I slept really well that night. :)