Phillip Island Animals

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Phillip Island. I went with Charlotte (the other American student teacher), her host mum, Laurel (who is actually from Phillip Island), and her parents that are visiting from the U.S. Phillip Island is about a 3 hour drive from where I live in Geelong. If you'd like to get an idea of where Geelong and Phillip Island are located, visit here:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=106386624811293119141.00048312bbb34c4c0e426

Phillip Island is very beautiful and features a variety of animals. The first place we visited was the Koala Conservation Centre. I was able to get a much closer look at the koalas here than I did in Jirrahlinga. This is a male koala. He is kept in a special part of the conservation centre with four female koalas to keep the population steady.

As you can see, we were able to walk right along the branches and get very close to the koalas.

Here is a short video of the koala from above climbing on his tree.

This is a kookaburra, which we also saw in the Koala Centre. I didn't get to hear it's call, but supposedly kookaburras sound like humans laughing.

I just happened to notice this prickly guy as we left the koala area. This is an echidna and he was digging away for ants when I saw him.

The signs at the centre said the koalas will scratch and bite you, but I still think they're cuddly...

The most sought after animals on Phillip Island are the little penguins (that's their official name--I promise). Each night, at dusk, hundreds of penguins come in from the ocean and go back to their burrows. An area is set up with bleacher seating and lights so people can see the "penguin parade." It was really incredible to watch these tiny penguins waddle up the beach and hills to get to their burrows.

Photography wasn't allowed at the penguin parade, but during the day we found some penguins underneath the boardwalk. One penguin stays during the day to guard the burrow while its mate is in the ocean. These were some penguins that stayed behind.

Here is a penguin in its burrow.


This picture was actually taken a few weekends ago when I went to Sorrento with Peter, Helen, and Charlotte. We took a ferry from Queenscliff and some dolphins swam beside us as we went. Since the rest of this post was about animals, I thought I'd share this shot, too.

I will have more pictures of Phillip Island soon...get ready for some beautiful water shots!