Penguins Friday 2/15/08

It is hard for us to leave Melbourne. We have both decided that city living certainly has its charms and we need to hang on a couple more hours. We clean up our English muffins and fruit, get packed and have our luggage stored to pick up later in the morning. After wandering around town with the workers for a while we went down to Federation Square to see what today might have in store. It’s the Sustainable Living Festival (SLF).

The SLF is a collection of folks arrayed in white EZ-up canopies who are there to help us take shorter showers, heat stuff with the sun, eat things with no chemicals, make our car go on solar power, separate our trash, change our light bulbs, blend our drinks with a bicycle and reuse our sink water, all while meditating and thinking kind thoughts about those who might be less fortunate. We are trying to think that way but it is hard when somebody swings around and belts you with their "Vegan for Life" backpack. We tell one fellow that when incandescent bulbs are outlawed, only outlaws will be able to read the fine print, but he is unamused. We detect a lack of sense of humor but then again this is big business for about 100 vendors who are trying to make a buck.

It is time to pick up our car so we catch the free circular tram and take it to the Hertz office on the far side of downtown with one quick stop to check out the State Parliament building. The car is ready to go and the desk person gives us directions back to the hotel and down to the beach in St. Kilda without having to make a right turn from the left lane (called a hook turn). We suggest it might be fun to do once but he is discouraging.

This is yet another glorious day and we park at the St. Kilda beach (which John keeps calling Kitna although Kitna is a Seahawk, not a Saint) and John grabs a Pasty at a café and Mary has the rest of her market spreads from yesterday. We perch on a bench at the beach and watch the old guys swim and the ships sail in and out of the harbor. A case of early afternoon hypnosis.
It is a two hour drive down to Cowes on Phillips Island, our stop for the night. After one false move we find Glen Isla, our B&B, on a beautiful piece of ground with trees and gardens galore and a path to the beach. Maddie our host tells us that Ava Gardner stayed just down the street during the filming of "On the Beach" and remarked that it was the perfect place for the film since it was the end of the world. Everything about the place feels good and we quickly forget the excitement of city living. We drive into the center of town and it is packed with tourists for tonight's big show--the penguin parade. The longer we are traveling the more appealing a simple meal becomes and we opt once again for the tuna pizza and beer on the sidewalk at "Isola de Capri," which would have a hard time living up to its name.

We have booked the "Ultimate" penguin parade experience (we'll never have another chance) with a small group which gets us our own ranger along with headphones (so she can whisper to us), binoculars, and lawn chairs to sit on the beach when the penguins come ashore. We get a tour of the facility while all the bus tours scramble down to the bleachers, and then we get marched right through them to our spot on the sand. Are we a little self-conscious at this point? Maybe. At about 8:35 one little brave penguin comes out of the water and scurries across the sand (which surprises our ranger guide who says that the penguins always travel in groups because of the threat of predators). And then about 8:50 the first group of about 10 tiny penguins appears at the water's edge and wait about 10 minutes before scrambling across the sand and into the shrubbery beyond. Then a few more. Then a lot more. Then there are hundreds. The beach is dimly lit for the tourists but the Penguins get more comfortable when the natural light disappears and they know the birds that might eat them have gone to bed.
Our Ranger leads us back through the bleachers (self-conscious?) to a boardwalk where we can follow the little critters as they make their way to their burrows where they may have chicks waiting. They are great to watch and we are mesmerized for over an hour watching them march by preening and squawking and meeting the little fur balls that come out to greet them. They are still coming ashore and the final count will be over 500 for the public part of the colony. The total colony covers a much larger area and now has 60,000 birds. At a little after 10:00 the stars are fantastic with a clear view of the Southern Cross and the birds have spread out over several acres to their nests. With crying and chirping going on, it is noisier that last night in Melbourne.
This is the second night in a row that we have had an excellent show and when we get back to our room there is a glass of port waiting for us from our hosts to help us sleep. We are very lucky.

Today's local headline: Footy Jihad Herald Sun (at a trial for "home grown" Islamic terrorists, the defendants testify that the wanted to bomb an Aussie football game)