After a lazy morning we headed back to the Nobbies in the hope to see some seals. Even though we couldn’t find any we enjoyed our walk on the boardwalk as it was a lot more quiet than the day before and some of the penguins actually stuck their heads out of their nests.

We then took the scenic drive that starts at the left side of the Information Centre and winds its way along the cliffs back to the center of the island.

Several lookouts let you enjoy the beautiful scenery.

We were still looking for seals but without success.

After a late pub lunch of fish and chips and scampi linguine at the Hotel Phillip Island we headed to the islands main attraction, the Penguin Parade.

The Penguin Parade is run by Phillip Island Nature Parks, a conservation organisation that works towards reestablishing the penguin community on Phillip Island. The entrance fee you pay for the Penguin Parade goes towards the conservation of this part of the island and its natural wildlife.

The population of fairy penguins had been decimated by amongst other factors the non- native fox that had been introduced to Australia by the British because they loved their fox hunting.

Phillip Island Nature Parks built a viewing area where you can watch the fairy penguins come ashore at night and waddle to their burrows.

You are not allowed to take any photos in the dark in order not to disturb the penguins. However, they let you download their pictures from their web site instead.

Penguin Parade is a fantastic experience and we enjoyed watching the little birds tremendously. They swim ashore in groups. Getting from the water to their burrows is quite dangerous for the small fairy penguins, who only measure about 30 centimeters, as they are in danger of being attacked by predators. So they swim ashore, keep going back in the water until they finally feel secure enough to make their way up on the dunes to find their respective burrow. Apparently they always walk the same way and find the same burrow every time they come on land.

The number of penguins is always recorded. The night we watched a total of 1.044 penguins came back on land.

We had the opportunity to watch the little cuties waddle by us in about two meters distance. Once we made up our way on the boardwalk leading back to the Information Centre we were able to watch them even closer than that.

An amazing experience we will never forget!