Crikey Escape Down Under - Part 4 - Tour to Philip Island

We took this tour mostly because I had done a research on the most attractive place to visit around Melbourne, and this tour ranked among the highest (besides the Great Ocean Tour and also the Hot Air Balloon across the city which costs a bomb).

On that day, we were supposed to meet the tour operator at 11am. We left the hotel at 10am, but got stuck in 1 souvenir shop on the way there. All the things in the shops were wonderful and all were screaming “Pick me up…”, “I’ll be nice…”, etc. It should have been a brief stop while waiting for 11am, but we were so immersed in the frenzy that when I realized, it’s already 11 am. Quickly I had all of us paid up, and hurriedly (I mean running) to the meeting point. By the time we arrived, the tour guy was searching high and low for us.

We apologized all right. When they mean 11am, it shall be 11 am. Not 11.02 or 11.05 and worst, 11.10am. Discipline and respecting time is the order of life over here. How I wish we can all emulate this mindset and standard on good time management. I hope by 2020, there'll be no such words as Janji Melayu.

11 am – bus started its journey. On the way picked up a few people at St. Kilda (happened to be 4 Malaysian girls on back packing trips, from IMU).

12.30 pm – stopped for lunch in a small town called Tooradin (had fish n chip).

1.00 pm – 1st stop at the Woolamai Beach, famous for surfers. Even in the cold weather, I could see a few people went surfing, including old lads, I mean at the age of 60s you....

2.00 pm – 2nd stop at the Koala Conservation Center. There were about 18 koalas under protection, medical care and under study. They were so close, and yet so far. This is the highlight of the visit for me, besides seeing the penguins going back to their burrows later in the evening. Spotted 2 wallabies in the area as well. Wallabies are the smaller version of kangaroos.

4.00 pm – 3rd stop at the Nobbies where we can spot penguins and seals at the Seal Rock. Since the Seal Rock is farther away, they can only be seen via telescope.

5.00 pm – 4th stop at the Penguin Parade. We were to watch the penguins go back home after their day of searching for food and playing at sea. Just like in National Geographic program, but this time Live baby!

This is the one thing which I had researched widely about and really was dying to see. But guess what, on the way to the entrance, one of the Malaysian girls poked me and said, “Eh, that one looks like the famous singer la, siapa tu, Mawi?”. I was like, “Where, where? What he's doing here?”. Then there he was with his wife, right in front of me. I just stretched out my hands and shook hands with them (it's OK for Mawi and me since I was wearing a pair of gloves!). Then we just swept past them as we were in a hurry to catch the penguins live! That one was far more important. I wanted to see penguins in their most natural habitat and act. Mawi and Ekin, later guys.

1 thing good about our tour operator (Eco Platypus) was that we got to sit at the most front of the stage. Well, actually he provided us with small mat so we could sit on the beach, the most front view. Better than the VIP platform. While waiting for the penguins to emerge, we were served with hot coffee and cookies. Just exactly what we needed on that freezing sunset hours by the beach. It was damning cold and the wind chill could easily be around 2-4 degree, I reckon. Many people were on winter coat + hat + ear muffs, but we were not. I just had my normal jacket on, with my newly bought muffler from Target store. Plus a pair of gloves, thanks to last minute packing by ransacking my sister’s bag. We were trembling, had it been not for the hot coffee, it’d been worst.

We were chit chatting for about 15 minutes until the 1st penguin surfaced. Everyone was so happy and excited. But this one kept on flipping to and fro the beach and the sea. People were going "..oooohhh...." and "...ahhhhh..." upon seeing it struggling to settle. Then, around 20 minutes later, its other members started to emerge. Finally we got to see the life and attitude of penguins in their most natural way. About 20 of them gathered, the leader would do head count, ensure it was the right path, then only they marched together to the burrows. How smart! If you recall, they are the smart species in Madagascar the animation movie. It is apparently so in real life. They are smart, full of discipline, good at teamwork, loyal and humble. Just the kind of species you’d hope for the people in office. The penguins surfaced in groups of 15-20 at one time. All in all, I guess we must have spotted over 100 of them. Some were lost, and the officer on duty (rangers) would help them back to their home. I never expected that the penguins could produce such loud and noisy sound compared to their size. These ones were the small species penguins.

After the highlight of the event, everyone went back to the shore and stormed the souvenir store. That's where we met up with Ekin and Mawi again. Well, put it this way. Even though Mawi's era may have ended, we just wanted to capture a moment as a token that we have met them at the most unexpected place. We managed to chit chat for about 5 minutes, in which we got to know that they were sponsored by Victoria Tourism to promote the state of Victoria to Malaysians. They spent 1 week in many places of interest there. Bertuahnya badan! Rezeki orang kan...Ekin talked the most while Mawi was busy eating ice cream despite the freezing weather outside. The funny thing was that, I was wearing a tudung Ekin, while she on the other hand, was just wearing a scarf with muffler wrapping around her neck. I almost uttered "Eh camne ni, saya pakai tudung Ekin tapi Ekin sendiri pakai sekap jer??", tapi tak jadik lah..nanti spoilt the mood pulakkan.

7.00 pm – went back to Melbourne, on the way stopped by a pizza place, had a vege and plain pizzas.

At the Koala Conservation Center

Inilah spesis terbaru. Boleh kata endangered species jugak.

At the Nobbies - place for seals and penguins

The information center.

The rock at the back is called the Seal Rock. Can only be seen via a telescope.

At the award winning and world renown Penguin Parade

Tengok, pamphlet dalam pelbagai bahasa. Bahasa Malaysia pun ada.