When we started homework to explore exciting activities in Australia, the Penguin Parade intrigued us. Until then, I thought the penguins were only in frigid weather areas like Antarctica.
I am so glad we decided to watch the Penguin Parade at the Phillip Island (close to Melbourne.) It is home to a colony of about 40,000 little penguins. A little penguin weighs about a pound and is probably a foot tall. Little Penguins spend 80 percent of their lives at sea, typically foraging within a 30-mile zone. But when there are chicks to feed, the adult penguins return to their burrows.
Right after sunset, the little penguins emerge from the ocean every dusk, gather in large groups, and waddle to their burrows. They organize in groups, and the parade is so fitting and cute to describe their march to homes on the land. There are well-designed boardwalks where you can see and hear the marching little penguins from a very close distance.
How incredible a sense of direction and memory to track back home after days (if not weeks) in the ocean to return to the same beach and then walk a few miles to their home to find the chicks waiting for the food!
They prohibit taking pictures and videos, as flashlights disrupt the penguins. Pictures and videos I downloaded from their website:
