Today was another tender port, and a pretty long tender ride at nearly 25 minutes. Our tour left the ship about 9:00 am and went to the Koala Conservation Centre first. After a 30 minute walk through the grounds admiring the trees, birds and occasional wallaby, we entered the koala sanctuary where there are 6 breeding koalas. I think we saw them all, but they are shy creatures so getting a good picture is a challenge. They are also caring for some of the koalas injured in the recent bush fires. They are kept in a very quiet section with almost no human interaction so that when they are better, they can be returned to the wild. Interestingly, koalas normally don't drink water, but rather get all their needs from the tips of the eucalypt tree leaves that they eat. The guide said the pictures of people pouring water for the koalas during the fires, looked good, but actually could have been doing them harm. If they drink straight water, they lap it like a dog and pouring it down their throats could cause them to effectively drown. Better to put out a bowl for them.
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| Welcome to Phillip Island |
Next was a 7 km walk (4.3 miles) through a salt marshland. This would have been better if we had had earsets for the guides. Walking along double file on a boardwalk is not conducive to hearing what they had to say. Still, it was good exercise in the fresh air.
Back on the tender to the ship for a late lunch before the evening tour. Just before our evening tour, it was announced that our itinerary has changed again. Colombo, Sri Lanka is now off. We had read that they were allowing cruise ships to fuel, but no crew or passengers could disembark. Apparently Regent tried negotiating with them, but no luck. So the new plan is to go a day earlier into Cochin, India. And Italy is also gone with 2 more stops in Turkey and 1 more in Greece instead. Nothing is written in stone until later today, but that's the plan. This is turning out to be a very different cruise than we thought.
Our evening tour was to see the Penguin Parade. Michael's knee was acting up a bit after our long walk, so he elected to stay onboard. I met Carol and Phil while getting our bus tickets, so I tagged along with them. The tender loading was quite an adventure as the wind had really picked up and the boat was all over the place. Finally we set off for a rocky trip back to the island. The bus took us on a bit of a tour of the preserved areas where we saw lots of the local protected geese and wallabies.
The local penguins, formerly known as fairie penguins but now known as little penguins (more PC), are about one foot tall - the smallest in the world. The spend most of their time fishing in the ocean and when it's time to come ashore, they will gather offshore just before sunset calling to each other to get groups together. After sunset when it's nearly fully dark they will run up the beach into the grasses and bushes to their nests. There can be 1,000 or more at a time out of about 32,000 on the island. So a big tourist attraction has been set up with bleachers and low lights along the shore and people pay to go sit on cold benches in the cold wind to see them. There is a beautiful information center with a cafe, gift shop and informational movies and displays. Up to 4,000 people can be accommodated. It is a holiday weekend so it was pretty busy with lots of families. In order to get a "good" seat, most people head down to the beach about an hour beforehand. I was quite thankful that I had worn my Regent coat (as had nearly all the cruisers), but I wished I had a blanket as well. I sat on my hat for a little protection from the cold concrete bench.
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| Beautiful information center |
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| Carol and I trying to stay warm in the wind |
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| the stands on the other side |
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| People arriving an hour before |
The penguins were expected to show about 8:15 or 8:30 and sure enough, they did. However, the lights on the beach are pretty dim, understandably, and by now my glasses were grimy from the beach spray so I had a dickens of a time seeing the little guys. There were also black and white seagulls hanging around the water's edge, and I wasn't sure which I was seeing. I know I did see a few penguins. But about 10 minutes into this, many people started heading back. We were told that we would see them on the boardwalk back to the center because they go right through there to their nests. After many people had left, we headed back too. The boardwalk had low lighting at points along the way, but of course everyone is wearing dark clothes. At one point Carol lost Phil and as we're shuffling slowly along with the crowd, she's calling "Phil, Phil" and looking around. It occurred to me that we must have looked just like the penguins marching along beside us! I bet the penguins enjoyed their show as much as we enjoyed ours. But we did get to see them up close and personal and hear them calling to their mates ("Phil, Phil") as they found their nests, so it was worth it. If I ever did it again, I'd skip the bleachers on the beach part. No photography after dusk is allowed so I don't have any to share.
The long tender ride back was as hairy as coming in, so I was glad to get safely back on board. There were some people who had to wait for the tender after us and I don't envy them.
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