Phillip Island and the Penguins

Last night was a trip to Phillip Island to see the 'Little Penguins'.
Unfortunately, there are NO cameras allowed, so no pictures to share.
However, it was a really cool experience. These little penguins are warm water penguins, and live on Phillip Island. Here's a pic from the website

So, drive from Melbourne, across the bridge and onto the island.

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You go to the Penguin Parade park. At 5:00pm, they open the doors and you walk down to the beach and sit on concrete bleachers, looking out over the ocean. The park rangers come out and give a little history and info on the penguins. As night starts to fall, they turn on some lights so you can still see. The lights are kept low, but bright enough to see. About 6:00pm, we saw the first penguins come on to the beach. They come up the beach and head into the grassy areas where they have burros setup.
After about an hour, and about 150 penguins later we left. On the way back up the beach, we saw several of them in the grass and headed for the burrows. It was cool - we got to get very close to them. They do make a rather annoying screeching sound.

Then it was time to head back in and of course a stop at the gift shop, where TeachingMom found a stuffed penguin in a hand-knitted sweater. The sweaters are made and help when they find penguins who have been caught in an oil spill. However, the particular sweatered penguin that TeachingMom wanted wasn't out on the shelf. It was in the Glass display at the front of the store. But she REALLY wanted it. I convinced the clerk to open the display and get the penguin.
It was a really fun experience.
A scoop of ice cream for the kids, and back into the car. Only this time, we let the 17 year old family friend drive...for a while. She actually did pretty well, especially in the dark. Once over the bridge and off the island, we switched, and I drove back home.