I spent the morning at the Nobbies Peninsula. There are several lookouts and walks here . I was so delighted when I had the whole boardwalk to myself and had time to just watch the waves crashing on the rocks !
On my way back I met at least 30 people and the parking was much fuller !! But only when I I was near the end of the walk did they all come flooding in.
After this I drove down the dirt track along the coast to check to lookouts along here . All great views !! Also so great to see the grey geese here at different levels of mating and chicken rearing. Some were still sitting on eggs while others had tiny chicks and others still had well grown teenagers :).
As I had a fair bit of time I went in to Cowes to have some lunch at the RSL, it was great and huge so no dinner required.
I made my way back to the Penguin Parade in the late afternoon as I had tickets for the nightly penguins coming in. It’s a huge tourist activity. The visitors center is huge !!! There are a few stands in which we all wait patiently on until the first penguins pop out of the water about 30min after sunset.
These are Little or Fairy penguins…the smallest of the species. They are dark navy in colour on top and have white tummies. They only weigh about 1kg and are about 1 foot high .
They form rafts of a few penguins when coming in on the beach and suss it all out. Many of them seem to get spooked and waddle back in to the water !! Cute to watch! Then they get enough courage and make.for their sandy tracks up to their burrows with their tummies full!
There are already a few fluffy chicks around in the burrows and they call out so that their parents can find them.
The experience was nice but of course so crowded…and not even peak season…and you only get 50min with them before the lights are turned off and everyone needs to be out !
No photos after dark… not that the Asians cared about that rule !
