Meeting the Australian Icons

Here's a post from my mom:

I think Mom is grossed out by the lamb brain option.

Saturday morning we went to the Queen Victoria Market, a fresh vegetable, fruit, meat (kangaroo, lamb, cow tongue, pig hoof, lamb brains), fish (shrimp, prawns, barramundi, octopus), cheese, pastry and souvenir market.  The food choices were amazing, but the souvenir area made me feel like I was in Shipshewana, Indiana.  We ate the most delicious jam doughnuts that were rolled in sugar. A great way to start the day! 

Kookaburra

After that we boarded a Phillip Island bus tour. The first stop was Maru Animal Park.  It was there that we got up close and personal with koalas (more from Morgan on that dream-fulfilling encounter later), wallabies, kangaroos, emus, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and dingoes.  We were able to feed and pet the wallabies and kangaroos, and the emus even stole Cindy’s entire dish of food!  Some of the kangaroos were carrying babies in their pouches, and it looked like some of them needed to “move out” – they were quite big and looked kind of silly when they dove in headfirst and all we could see were long legs hanging out.  It was fun to finally interact with these Australian icons.

Baby, I think it's time to move out!

The next stop was Woolamai Beach where we got to dip our toes in the cold ocean water and play a little Frisbee on the sandy beach.  It felt a little like being home by Lake Michigan, half a world away. 

Next came a walk around the Nobbies, where there was a boardwalk with spectacular views of the ocean. It was surrounded by nesting seabirds that squawked endlessly.  

On our way to our final destination for the day, the penguin march, we saw wallabies in the brush. Aubree had never seen a kangaroo or wallaby in the wild, so she was pretty excited.

Wallaby in the wild

Phillip Island is where about 1400 little penguins, formally called fairy penguins, march ashore every dusk after spending a couple of days swimming in the ocean eating and searching for food to bring back to their babies.  We humans all sat on stadium seating, waiting and watching for the adult penguins to arrive, and we were able to follow some as they waddled their way to their burrows.  It was fun to hear the baby penguins squeal in delight as their parents arrived back home and fed them regurgitated food.  Yum! 

You sit in the stands and watch the penguins come in for the night.

They're really strict about not taking pictures of the penguins.

It was a great first day of our awesome Australian adventure!  -Sue