Phillip Island and the Prom

Yesterday I had probably one of the best days of my life.

We left I-House at the ungodly hour of 6:30 am and got on the bus to go to Wilson's Promontory. "The Prom" is a spot on the southern coast of Australia, about three hours away from Melbourne. It's one of the oldest and most famous national parks in Victoria.

As we pulled into the area, I got really excited to see red kangaroos and emus running across the plains. Crimson rosellas were flying all over the parking lot and were a little too friendly (a couple attacked Kristen's head because she had french fries with her). We even saw a laughing kookaburra.

After getting food from the general store, we started hiking through the rainforest-like area. It was an amazing walk. We were told that brush-tailed wallabies were plentiful, but ended up seeing a variety of birds instead. It was still a great walk and the number of ecosystems was incredible, especially for such a small area. It was amazing to be in such a thick forest, to hear the calls of such foreign birds, to look at eucalyptus bark falling down onto the forest floor.

After the three-hour hike, we trekked down to the beach to eat lunch. It was the most beautiful beach I'd ever been to, rivalling anything I've seen in the British Virgin Islands. The sand was perfectly white and gigantic boulders were strewn all over the area. The ocean was remarkably clear and vibrantly blue and made an incredible juxtaposition against the green rainforest behind us. I wish I could post my pictures here - they are breathtaking.

Afterwards we took another one-hour hike through the cliffs beside the beach. It was truly an amazing walk, looking out over the Pacific, the blue sky pairing with clouds, the fine white sand billowing up in the wind. I can't believe I've been so lucky to have seen Squeaky Beach (so named because the sand makes a squeaking sound when it is walked on).

After the hike, we got back into the bus and drove another two hours toward Phillip Island, which features the famous Penguin Parade, where little penguins come ashore each night to nest in the sand. As you could probably guess, I was ecstatic to see this natural wonder. We ran down this wet boardwalk (there was a big rainstorm happening) and shivered (it was very cold) in the night to watch hundreds of little penguins waddle up the beach. It was SO AMAZING. They surf up the waves and then literally pop out onto the sand where they wait for their fellow comrades before waddling uncertainly up the beach. We were able to stand very close to them on a boardwalk and they didn't seem to notice us at all. After getting further away from the ocean, they begin to call to other penguins to find their mate and sleep in one of the hundreds of natural burrows in the cliffs and sand. Their calls sound like a mixture of quacking and snoring and the calls carry for miles. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures as the flash would actually blind the penguins, so I had to buy a couple pictures at the gift shop instead (and of course, a t-shirt and a stuffed penguin). Watching the "parade" was probably one of the best things I've ever seen.

This morning, Ryan and I managed to get Jamie, Lexie, Kim, Mimi, and Courtney to go with us to the Melbourne Zoo for the second time. We thoroughly covered the entire park even during the heavy rain. The Asian small-clawed otters were very feisty - all four of them began growling at us, trying to defend their territory. I got my first glances at rhinoceros and eyelash vipers, binturongs, and maned wolves. The platypus came out of his burrow and swam in front of us (SO COOL). We got to watch the keeper hand-feed the little penguins. It was really fun.

This weekend has definitely been nature-crazy. Tomorrow we're going to Healesville Sanctuary and the Moonlit Sanctuary, so I'm very excited. But I don't think I'll ever forget Phillip Island.