wrong. This beach satisfied my desire to watch a sea with huge waves. It was so good. So windy and chilly. Priya wanted to venture into the sea just to have the feel of it. I didnt took the chance as the legs will become salty and we dont have much time. And my weakness is once I am into a sea it will take long time to satisfy myself and get out of it. It is so lovely. Priya ventured and later told me that the water was ice cold. Her question was that the weather was a so chill and the water is also so chill why it didnt freeze. I couldnt answer. Any body has an answer.
Then we went to another beach called "Cowes". This is like our Besant Nagar Beach in Chennai. Where there are lots of shops near the beach. We were roaming in the sea and walked on a bridge which was built on the sea. There was a platform to which you climb down from the bridge and watch the ocean much closer. I dared to get down and wanted to touch the water. Exactly at that moment a seal popped his head out to sea which new animal is putting its hand inside. Because of Priya's request pulled my hand out and we came back to the beach. The wind was so chill that even after covering us with jerkin and cap we could feel the chill. We noticed that it was time to move to the next place and reluctantly we came to the bus. On the way we packed up a vegetarian burger(it was of good size, probably the size of my palm) and some potato wedges. People who
has any doubts, we cant get idlies, bajjis or bondas in Australia that easily. The next stop was in Nobbies. We used to buy a salted peanut packet from the super market which was from the brand name "Nobbys". I was under the impression that we are going to see this particular plant and a question was poping in my mind from the time i came to know that we are visiting this place is that what speciality is there to include it in a day tour. Alas! I was wrong. We went to a hill place where again the wind was heavy. It was so heavy that even the birds cant fly properly and even we felt that we will be thrown off. There was a foot bridge from the hill to the beach. Still I didnt understand what is nobbys?
Then IAN explained. Nobbies Center is a place from where we can watch seals, sharks and dolphins. There are cameras placed in the viewing area which you can use to watch these marine animals. Using the foot bridge you can walk down to the beach. But due to weather we didnt go down. There were two rocky islands just closer to the hill. IAN explained that the two rocky islands are called as Nobbies Nuts. One was similar to a peanut and the other to a doughnut. The tour operator provided a coffee or a tea free of cost there. After having it we moved to our final destination, Penguin Parade. We went through a rough hill road. We started wondering whether this is the right route. Then IAN announced over the mike that this route he is taking just to show us the sea and the kangaroos in the wild. And we were fortunate to see couple of kangaroos and a beautifull amazing scenaries of the sea which is around the island. The waves were rough and it was awesome. Then we went to the penguin parade. The name parade is because
of the nature of the penguins to form a line after they reach the shore to go to their burrows. The penguins live and move around in a group and all the penguins wait till the entire group comes out. We were seated on a stadium type of structure to watch the penguins. The height allowed us to watch the game a group of penguin was playing. There were around six of them which came to the shore. They will walk to the shore look up at the audience for few seconds and then went running into the ocean. It was similar to a baby walking his first step. The penguins were very small, the maximum is only 77cms as per a display board there. They continued this game till the entire group came to the shore. Since the penguins eat fishes fishing is banned around this area and the penguins go out to the ocean in the morning and come back home only after
the sunset.
IAN jokingly said that the penguins will be watching the sky whether it is dark to go back to their burrows. And then it happened. Almost twenty penguins came to the shore as a group and they formed a line one after the other and all of them went to their burrows. The stadium where we were sitting was connected to the visitor center or the entrance to the penguin parade via wooden foot path. It was a good thinking. Since the penguins are scared of bright light and a sudden flash might affect their vision, photographs and videos are banned. Even the lighting they have made around the area was dim. We had a good view of the penguins from the wooden foot path and were fortunate to see a group of penguins going to their burrows pretty close. Since rangers were there i didnt dare to touch any of them even though i liked to do it. The way the walk and run are still before my eyes. It was an awesome experience. People should never fail to visit this island incase they are travelling to Australia. We got a cap and fridge magnet as souvenir and came back to the bus with a heavy heart which was begging to stay there. On the way to bus we saw boards saying that look under your vehicle before you start as the penguins might be there. We all then bade good bye to the wonderfull Phillip Island and came back to Melbourne.
I still remember my childhood days when my father was posted in Tirunelveli and we used to visit kutralam every year whenever there is a relative visiting our house. I will be glad to take my friends and relatives visiting me, from India, to this wonderfull island. I wont forget this trip for a loooooooong time. The below is the link which has the photographs we clicked. There are few penguin photos which I downloaded from the net.
Photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/guruprgl/PhillipIsland?authkey=LKpDO7zzdQk#
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