Day 99 - December 30

Met up with Craig again to finalize the car rental details for the trip. Went for breakfast on Elizabeth street at the Tropicana Juice/Food Bar. I ordered a waffle combo: started off with a South American Special drink (where they strongly advise you not to stir it before you drink), waffle with ice cream and maple syrup on top, and a mochachino to finish off the meal. One of the best breakfasts I've had in a long time.

 There was a layer of sour and a layer of sweetness!

 This will be my daily breakfast from now on.

Well made cappuccino's don't need sugar.

After breakfast, Craig headed for work and I headed to my pick up place for my bus tour. I booked a trip for Phillip Island, with the main attraction of a penguin march from the ocean to their homes. The pick up area was across from flinders station. The tour package is through Bunyip Tours and costs $139. It's called the 1 day phillip island penguin parade ultimate Eco tour.

The package includes the bus ride and passes to all 3 parks (koala conservation centre, Moonlit sanctuary, penguin march). The bus was full with about 24 people. Our first stop was at the Moonlit sanctuary.

Pretty sure this Eastern Long Neck Turtle is smiling.

I bought 2 bags of food for $4. First I fed some emus, whom are a little vicious. They're a bunch of savages.

Then moved along the walkway and fed a lot of kangaroos. Some were apprehensive but most would hop up to you if you had food in your hand.

Sleeping Koalas. All they do is sleep and eat. They spend about 80% of the day sleeping and 20% eating. What a life.

Then I took some pictures with one. Costed $10 though.

He looks like an old man.

Koala bear *nom nom nom*

Alex bear *nom nom nom*

I was told by the tour guide that there is a place somewhere where they serve Koala. It's a very rare dish as Koala's eat eucalyptus leaves and those leaves are toxic so that in turn makes the Koala meat toxic. The tour guide said that only specific parts of the Koala bear are edible. I'm unsure if she was telling the truth or making it up. I'll be on the look out during my travels.
Walked along the rest of the path and came across a pair of Cate Baron Geese. I was trying to feed them, but I as I got closer they started hissing. I told it I didn't want trouble and backed off.

A dead bird in the pond... always a good sign the conservatory is doing their job.

Guess he wasn't hungry....

Next stop was Churchill Island. Saw a sheep shearing demo. That guy manhandled that sheep like it was nothing. It look confused in his arms. Wonder if that's how he manhandles his wife, shearing her and all....

There were other farm animals as well. Some chickens, horses and cows.

He flew the coop!

We then checked out a chocolate factory. They have the worlds largest chocolate waterfall (wouldn't it just be called a chocolatefall?), but we didn't have time for the chocolate tour (sadface).

Mmmm... chocolate.

Next stop was at the Cape Woolami Beach. Saw some surfers and beach goers.

It's called a Golden Gay Time Bar. The only type of gay bar I'm into.

Onto the Koala Conservative centre. Pretty much an open and natural area for the koalas to live in. Most koalas were at eye level spots on the trees, but some were really high and hard to see.

<>There was a sign that showed that you couldn't put your hand in the koala's butt, can't spit toothpicks at them, can't shake the trees they're in (which people actually have done!) and koalas aren't allowed to smoke here.<><>

Darn...and I was going to put my hand in a Koala's butt.

One big koala butt. I had to resist, so I kept my hands in my pocket.

Really big koala.

Can you spot the baby koala? It's face is in the middle.

We all met in the parking lot for coffee and that's when all the single riders starting talking to each other. I met Connie who's from San Franciso. She worked at an IT company and is travelling around for a bit.

My San Fran friend.

Also met Belle. She's on a student visa studying in Gold Coast in Business Logistics. I wish they did a meet and greet at the start of the tour so that single riders could meet each other. It would've helped with picture taking.

The Phillip Island Grand Prix was our next stop. Rob and Mike foster would be proud.

The next place was the Nobbies centre where Seal Rocks is located. There were digital cameras placed on Seal Rocks island, but they weren't working very well, so we didn't get to see the seals. We also had dinner at the centre. Good ol Fish and chippies, can't go wrong.

The seals were on the far left island behind me. It was difficult to see them.

Last stop was at the Penguin Parade Centre. I paid an extra $14 to sit a couple of meters from the penguins. Totally worth the money. It's limited to 150 people. Or you cam stick with regular admission and sit with 3000 other people on the beach. It was awesome to see the penguins. They estimated about 2000 would come through. We sat where we could see them come in from the ocean. They waddled their way up a rock hill and marched in front of us. Super cute. I wanted to snatch one up. They did allow pictures without flash, but it got out of control so we were not to use cameras at all.

Not my picture, but there were literally that many penguins!!

Right by where I was sitting, there were 2 babies that came out of their hole and looked for their parents. The babies don't know which adult penguin are their parents but the parents know which babies are their by smell. That meant that the babies pretty much harass any penguin that came by in hopes that it was their parents with food. It was funny watching them because so many adult penguins pushed them away and just look annoyed.

By the time the bus took us back to Melbourne, it was 12:00am. For $125, the tour was worth it! I had the late night munchies and ordered fries and frits with tomato sauce and Belgian sauce. You'll notice that I have adapted to the Australian language and didn't say ketchup. It's also pronounced 'toe-mah-toe', not 'toe-may-toe'.