The island has two main attractions; the surf beaches and the 'penguin parade'. It was about 5pm by the time I arrived so I went for a surf but the waves were very small so I gave up and headed over to the penguins.
Every night at sunset (without fail) all the penguins swim in to the shore after a days hunting and waddle up the beach to their nests in the dunes. This amazing spectacle has been dubbed the penguin parade. The beach and nesting area are fenced off by the conservation centre so after paying I walked through the centre onto some decking that ran through the dunes to the beach. Walking down I saw hundreds of small wooden man-made box nests and hundreds more natural ones dug into the dunes. I assumed these weren't all occupied.....
I had paid a bit extra to go to a special viewing area which meant that I was close enough to touch the penguins (although this wasn't advisable because they like to bite!). On the way down to the beach I saw a kangaroo. After a couple of seconds it was startled by something and bounced off. As it scarpered, I noticed that it had been scared by a tiny penguin coming out of its nest! It was fluffy and moulting, which apparently means it had just had babies and couldn't go out to hunt until its feathers grow back and it was waterproof again. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures because it scares them and the rangers were really strict on it but I tried to take one through a gap in my jacket James Bond stylee....the light was bad and it didn’t come out well at all so I don't think MI6 will be contacting me anytime soon!
Anyway, we sat down and the ranger told us a bit about the penguins. All the signs kept calling them 'little' penguins, which I thought was a stupid attempt to make them sound really cute...but it is actually the common name for the species. They are the smallest species of penguin (about as big as my foot!) and are only found in this area of Australia. The ranger went on to say that they arrive in 'rafts', which are groups of about 20-30 all grouped together, floating into shore. At about 8:45 the ranger said they'd be arriving very shortly....
Everyone strained to look but saw nothing. Then suddenly a big black square appeared on the waves. It drifted closer and closer and as a wave broke suddenly all these little penguins popped up on the shore! I was surprised by how small they really were and how funny they looked waddling up the beach. One was so fat that it kept falling over and had to push itself along with its feet! The ranger said that they would often over-eat before having babies because they can't go out to hunt for about 10 days while they moult. Then another raft came and another. I had expected to see about 50 or so but the ranger later told me that over 1000 had returned that evening!
After a while watching them come to shore I walked back up the decking a bit and watched them go into their nests.... sometimes they would sit outside and their young would come out, feeding them outside the nest. It was really amazing to see the feeding!
Once they stopped coming I left and drove off the island to a fishing village called San Remo and looked for somewhere to sleep....
That was about 4 days ago, I'll keep writing what I did in order whenever I get to net cafes (I'm actually nearly back in Sydney now!).
My poor attempt at taking a picture of the moulting penguin!
A better picture of the penguins (I didn't take this one!)
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