For over an hour we listened to a completely dysfunctional inconsiderate family whose children were allowed to run absolute riot around the apartment block running into walls that made our room shake and smashing every door they ran through every minute or so. I can't believe how some parents let their mongrels behave. They need to be shot so they don't reproduce any more morons.
After making a couple of telephone calls in search of accommodation we wandered across the footbridge to see the surf beach. As we crossed the bridge we saw another stork [Editors Note: pelican] who took flight as we approached. He flew so close to the surface of the water and rised to clear the bridge before lowering back to the surface again when he reached the other side. Another stork [Editors Note: pelican] further away also took the opportunity to take flight and flew in the opposite direction, away from the bridge. The surf was quite active at the beach, no one was swimming and a couple of lifeguards, who dressed exactly as they do in Home & Away, were setting up their patrol station. We didn't test the temperature of the ocean today.
When we reached the other side of the bridge Ian spotted a seagull running on the spot, stirring up the sand in search of food, which looked amusing as the seagull was more intent on looking around than concentrating on what food he was making available. Resting on a marker post was another stork [Editors Note: pelican], sitting with his bill resting in his neck like a duck.
Driving out of Lakes Entrance I saw another big bird which I thought was another stork and Ian pulled over to the side of the road. I leaped out of the car, grabbing my camera as I flew, and briskly walked to where I had seen the bird. En route I spied a white heron standing alone with his feet in the water, took a quick picture of him and sat watching the pelican for half and hour. He was stunning, so enormous next to the other birds which were all lined up next to him on the jetty. He made them look like dwarves. Both Ian and I were poised with cameras at the ready waiting for him to take flight for some time. After we watched another one balancing on a tall lamppost our jetty pelican took flight and headed away from us behind the jetty which made photographing him very difficult. Until that point I thought he was rather enjoying being the centre of our attention!
Back in the car we headed off to Bairnsdale passing by half a dozen more pelicans, two of which were flying synchronistically together side by side.
A cafe in Foster was our place for lunch and the town also offered us a supermarket in which we easily spet AUD 43, mostly on wine.
On the coastal road to Wonthaggi we stopped for a lookout back over Foster and later on tourist route 92 we stopped at The Caves in the hope that we had finally found a tourist point. Yes. Kind of. We ambled down a set of steps to the sound of birdsong and reached a rocky, sandstone beach with an amount of sand and some waves crashing ashore. There was no sight of any caves nor any information at the car park about the caves. On to the next stop, Eagles Rest, the other side of the headland. This looked a bit more hopeful. There were at least some information boards to read. Eagles Rest is a rock situated at the end of a headland. From this elevation we could see the caves this side of the headland and we could see that there was no way we could have reached the caves given the current tidal level even if we had seen the entrance to them and so we rushed back to the car, wildly irritated by the flies. I should point out that on the few occasions we do leave the car I am constantly on the lookout for snakes and spiders which doesn't make for comfortable touring...
We didn't bother to stop for the next two 'attractions'.
Arriving in Cowes on Phillip Island, which is friendship linked to the Isle of Wight, we located a Mexican eatery for dinner and checked into another minging old caravan on a caravan park, aka YHA. This was disappointing but at least it was half the price of the last minging caravan. More disappointing was the fact that they had debited my credit card which is very annoying because of the international foreign exchange transaction charges I will get stung for. I have no problem with quoting my credit card number for reservation purposes, for the hostels to debit my card in the event of a no show on our part but I do object to them processing the accommodation charge as soon as they have the credit card number and not when we don't show given that I have only given them permission to debit my card in the event of a no show, I haven't given them permission to debit my card regardless and they haven't offered the information that they will debit the card immediately or asked for my permission to debit the card at the time of booking. I will have to explicitly ask them not to debit the card in future unless we don't arrive at the hostel. That's twice now that it has happened.
I had a quick shower and we made for the Mexican for a quick dinner, after which we went off in search of little blue fairy penguins.
On arriving at Penguin Parade car park I immediately took a dislike to it. It is a hideously touristy purpose built arena with a floodlit granstand situated on the beach front. The fact that there were car park stewards directing the mind ignorant tourists to parking bays made me realise how much profit the company was making to waste money on car park stewards salaries. I doubt they work voluntarily. I distinctly object to anyone making money out of nature and wildlife, particularly when they are not benefitting the wildlife in any way. What right does anyone have over these little creatures that they should advertise their presence to ignorant tourists in order to make money out of them and exploit the little furry fellas in such a way? They attract 4,000 spectators each night and charge approximately AUD 10 per head. Given that there are only electricity and maintenance overheads, this 'business' is making a devilish profit from penguins. On discovering that photographic equipment was not permitted beyond the ticket office, well, you can imagine my reaction! I found an official to confirm that that was the case and he replied that they used to allow people to take pictures but the flash photography upset the birds. Sure, we can understand that and we can utilise the non flash functions on our cameras too. So, because of ignorant tourists, us caring responsible photographers and wildlife viewers get penalised for stupid tourists behaviour? Of course we do... The offical replied that they can't control 4,000 people taking photographs. Then perhaps they shouldn't attract 4,000 people to the beach each night and jeapordise the penguins...?
Disgusted, I announced that they wouldn't be receiving our custom and we sat outside the perimeter fence for 30 minutes waiting for sunset...
Sunset came at 20:46 and we waited patiently behind a fence having spotted a few nesting boxes just the other side. About another 30 minutes later, just as I said to Ian 'I think we should go as it's cold and we are unlikely to see any penguins', I spotted a little blueish grey penguin besides one of the nesting boxes and couldn't speak! I tugged on Ian's arm to get the attention of his camera and he cottoned on to what I had seen. Centimetres away from us stood a cute little fairy penguin which, admittedly, you could barely see with a naked human eye given that the sun had clearly now set and the unnatural light of the centre behind us was interfering with our vision, but with Ian's night vision function on his camera he could make a good piece of footage. It was quite emotional to see such a precious shy creature so close and seemingly undisturbed by our silent presence. I didn't even try to take a picture, just enjoyed their company, for there was now two penguins, another small head had appeared from the same nesting box. We decided that these two must have been there all along and just emerged from the box when the sun went down and they sensed their parents returning from the sea with food. Many birds were screeching, although these two weren't despite what appeared to be their efforts to call when they opened their beaks, and there was a huge presence of seagulls and shearwaters in the sky soaring around in circles making a right racket! We remained focused on our two special friends that seemed to be giving us a private appearance. I wandered around to another two nesting boxes that we had found round the corner which also had some unnatural light glowing on them. I was so pleased to see a penguin sat balancing on a bush in full view in the light! I tried to take a flashless photograph but my camera insisted on trying to take a long exposure shot by which time the penguin had collapsed from the bush. Ian managed to get a great shot of him though as he reemerged a bit later on. All the while we could hear what seemed like millions of penguins travelling in the long grasses beyond the boundary fence.
Sadly, our luck was up. An offical had spotted Ian filming and moved us on, explaining that where we were stood penguins wandered across to burrow and he didn't want us in their way. Fair enough. We weren't there to disturb the wonderful birds. We obliged.
We idly walked back to the car in the hope that we would see some penguins in our path but to no avail. I left Ian in the car and went back to the visitors centre to use their facilities. On the way I saw two penguins near where we had been standing for 2 hours. I hurried back to tell Ian and we raced back to the spot with our cameras although unfortunately by the time we returned both penguins had vanished, probably frightened by all of the noisy tourists. We wandered about and eventually sighted one penguin hurriedly waddling away from a small child who was chasing it. What on earth were his parents thinking of letting him do that? They need shooting too.
We waited around, waiting for everyone to finally leave in the hope that the penguins might make another appearance once silence had resumed. We were blessed with our patience and a while later I spotted a little fella hiding behind a concrete block, barely 50 centimetres from where we sat. He was taking much pride in grooming himself and didn't move from his spot all the while we sat still. Another small fella appeared from the bushes 4 metres away, perhaps the one that was being chased by the boy earlier on, who was content with us watching him and stood still for several minutes. When the visitors centre exterior lights were extinguished we took our final cue to leave and saw other penguins milling around the car parks on our return to our car which, by 23:30, was almost the last car in the car park...
Our total distance travelled today from Lakes Entrance to Cowes was 387 kilometres.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.