Penguin Parade - Phillip Island - TravBuddy

It was a cold windy night. We sat on the concrete stairs, trying to get as close to the sand as we could. It was clear that my cardigan would not be protection enough from the chills of the ocean, and my husband had already pulled his arms inside his shirt in an attempt to maintain what little body heat he had left.

We huddled there for what seemed like a decade and tried to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon to distract ourselves. And then, they came. Over leagues of dark, unforgiving sea they came. Hundreds appeared on the sand, cautiously edging forwards, then rushing back into the water with fear. Then over the other side, by the rocks, another swarm coming onto the beach! And another! Soon they gathered confidence, then group by group, started waddling from the sea across the sea in an attempt to return to their homes in the hills behind us. The penguins had arrived!

We raced up to the boardwalk, and the penguins were all around us! Baby ones coming out of their little holes in the hills to greet their parents, a couple having arguments, some just standing there being adorable. We were not allowed to take pictures, not allowed to touch, we just followed the penguins quitely as they made their way up the hill, overwhelmed by the cuteness of it all, wishing we could put one in our pockets and run away with it.

The $20 entry fee and the hour of slowing losing feeling in my legs was all worth it to see those gorgeous little penguins* up close. So cute I felt like my heart was going to explode! 5 stars.

*Actual name of species (little penguin)

The 19th of December 2006 we finally went to Philip Island to see the Penguin Parade. Already weeks before we went to Australia, we discovered this attraction on the internet and had decided that this was at least one of the attractions we really wanted to see.

We had chosen a 1 day Phillip Island tour by Penguin Island tours. In this review I will not describe all the attractions we'd visit during the whole day, but just the Penguin Parade. The others I will describe in other reviews. The reason why is, that in my opinion it would be even better to rent a car and go there yourself because like that you won't have to depend on the time your guide got and you can divide your own time over the attractions you want to visit. In my opinion we had to leave a bit too early from the Penguin parade and could not completely enjoy the observation of the penguins while they're wobbling back to their nests.

The Penguin parade is located at a research centre for the wildlife on Philip Island and is the main attraction of Phillip Island. They're not only researching the Little Penguin, but they also perform research on the other Phillip Island wildlife like koalas and seals.

Every evening, when the sun sets, these cute, little, fluffy creatures come ashore after they spend the whole day in the ocean.
There are a few possibilities to choose on how you will see the penguin parade. The majority of the visitors are choosing the general way, the cheapest possibility (see the tips at the bottom of this review for other options). This was also the way we went to see the penguins. With a couple of hundred visitors we sat down on concrete steps and were waiting for the penguins to come ashore. As the sun set, the temperatures dropped and the wind became really chilly. People crawled together to get some warmth and kept waiting. The rangers walked around watching the crowd and checking for camera's. It's strictly forbidden to make pictures or film the penguins. The main reason for this is that it can kill the penguins indirect. The flash lights of the cameras can make the penguins blind, what causes that they can't find food and not eating means starvation. (Of course there also will be a commercial reason for it, because camcorders won't need a (flash)light when using the night vision option)
Finally after about an hour of waiting, while the sun already was gone, in the last light of the day, the first penguins came ashore. Everybody forgot the cold.
It is fantastic to see how the penguins behave. They are very very cautious for predators like birds, snakes and who knows what other predators. First the penguins gather at the waterline, in groups of about 20 - 50 penguins. As soon one of the penguins just think he's spotting something that might be a predator they all run back into the water to come back one by one after about 5 to 10 minutes. When the group gathered enough courage, they all wobble/run across the beach to the safety of the dunes where their nests are. Funny thing is that they do not see the hundreds of humans as a danger. There are 2 seating steps and a small piece of dune between them. The penguins are not only go to the dunes on the left and right side of the seating steps, but they also use the space between the seating steps.
After seeing about a dozen groups wobble over the beach we left the concrete steps to head back slowly to the bus. When walking back to the main building of the Penguin Parade, you'll walk over a boardwalk. This boardwalk guides you through the dunes and let you pass many penguin nests, which are holes in the dunes. The penguins walk aside and underneath the boardwalk and you can see them real close and walk up with them as they wobble back to their nests. Sometimes you even get a look from them like they would say "Hey you, tall guy, what the heck you're doing here?".
Unfortunately we couldn't stay longer to see the penguins going back to their nests and meet their crops or to see the penguins interacting with each other. Our tour bus was waiting....
(Actually I should not whine, if we had spend longer at the penguin parade, we would had missed our last train in Melbourne to my brothers house ;-))

Tips:
1. Follow the guidelines and instructions of the rangers, when they will catch you while filming or making pictures during the parade, they will throw you out of the parade. When they see you with a cam before the parade they will instruct you to put it away and they explain also why.
2. Bring a warm sweater, a pair of trousers and/or a coat with you because when the sun is set, temperatures drop fast on the beach. Also a fleece blanket does the trick, especially when you're together with your boy- girlfriend.
3. Bring a small pad or something else you can sit comfortably on. Sitting on just concrete for about an hour to an hour and a half is tough you know :-)
4. Also look for the other possibilities to see the Penguin parade. When you have some more money to spend, you can consider a ranger guided tour for about $10 extra or even a very close view of the penguins come ashore on a private beach at the Penguin Parade facility, which is much more expensive than the general admission, but I think you'll get a life-time experience. Check their website for more information.