Phillip Island:: Penguin Parade

573:: that was the number of penguins that swam out from the ocean and marched to their burrows on phillip island on the day we visited them.

phillip island is a small, well connected island off the coast of melbourne bay. and we probably wouldn't have made the 1.5 hr drive from melbourne, if it weren't for this collegue, who was good enough to mention the pengiuns. and boy, would we have missed it.

sunset time every day this time of the year, a whole bunch of miniature penguins swim to the shores of the island to take a long 100 m walk to their burrows. they almost always swim out around sunset time, which is i guess their way of saying that they are done with their day's work:: fish hunting and fasting/feasting (depending on how their day went). now, if it makes any of you over-stressed, cubicle-dwelling, nerdish workaholics feel any better, the penguins, and not the sun, damn well decide when they end the day:: mostly, after sunset. their biological clock makes that decision for them, brings them home before the last glimmers of sun's rays fade away.

we took a walk through the burrows, on a small wooden padestal walk way, no more than 2 ft high, and had an up-close view of the birds. photography, unfortunately, is not allowed: not because the flashes would scare the penguins away, but because they would come closer and hurt you. you see, penguins are cute to look at but when we approach them within 1-2 ft, they begin to peck us with their beaks and sometimes, quite furiously so: especially near their burrows. so we couldn't take any pictures, but if you feel like you need a peek, check this out.