I didn’t share with you the beauty of the theatre where we saw Harry Potter last night.
The theatre is one of the oldest in Melbourne and has had many owners since it was built in the 1880’s.
These links take you to more information about the theatre… https://marrinergroup.com.au/venues/princess-theatre and more about the show https://au.harrypottertheplay.com/
It was completely revamped for the Harry Potter show, with the emblem of Harry Potter “H” on all the doors and windows, special Harry Potter wallpaper and one feature which I will not share as it’s a major spoiler, within!
These pictures don’t do the venue justice but are just a taster of its pure beauty
Day Two
Today was penguin day!
We found a lovely place to have breakfast just around the corner from where we are staying and then toddled off to wait for our tour taking us to Moonlit Sanctuary and Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade.
We stopped at Moonlit Sanctuary for a couple of hours, time enough to meet all of the animals, stroke the wallaby’s and kangaroos, and realise a childhood dream…
You can see the sanctuary here https://moonlitsanctuary.com.au/
When I was at primary school, aged about 6 years old, I had a koala pencil topper. If you don’t know what a pencil topper is, then let me explain. It was all the fashion I suppose, to decorate your writing pencil (I wasn’t deemed old enough nor to have tidy enough hand writing to use a pen!). I had clipped to the top of my pencil a little tiny koala bear, his front legs had magnets in the paws which clipped around the pencil and the koala gripped on for dear life as I scribbled on the page. He was made out of a grey coloured wool type material and had big eyes with little black tips to his toes. I seem to remember a fluffy tail stuck to his bum too!
I loved my little koala bear and now to be stood in front of one some 40 odd years later, really was something!
It really was a dream come true. In a few days times, well next week I think, Chris has arranged for me to have a koala experience at Steve Irwin’s Zoo in Brisbane. I really cannot wait.
Back to today, the wallabys are bigger than I thought and the kangaroos needed their nails cutting but I left the nail trimmers at home so that will have to wait until next time!
We saw an Irene lookalike in the form of a wombat – low to ground and ever so slightly round! Sorry, Irene at nearly 14 years old, is allowed to be a little rotund!
We sat and ate lunch and as soon as the packets started rattling, doves, geese and moorhens came running to share our lunch!
At Phillip Island we were given a tour of the island by our coach driver and it was good to see from the cliff’s above where we would be viewing the penguins come to shore below.
We went to the shore and as you can see from the pictures both mine below and the official ones here https://www.penguins.org.au/attractions/penguin-parade/
The penguins are viewed by us humans on a purpose built seating area right on the beach and boardwalks leading back to a visitors centre.
We waited and waited and then at dusk we saw the first ones emerge from the sea. They ride the waves in and then as the wave returns to the sea, it leaves a little penguin lay on the sand, the penguins jump up and gather in groups. Once the group had reached a good size (about 30 – 50 birds) they ran up the beach clustered together for safety. At first, they jogged along waddling on the firm damp sand but once they hit the softer sand they accelerated and you could see a definite speed change. They waddled their little bodies at top penguin speed to get to the grassy sand dunes where they had cover and were safer.
The guides and rangers had advised us to sit and watch the penguins come in for about 20 mins and then to follow them, us on boardwalks penguins underneath and alongside, as they waddled their way too find their burrows.
We followed instructions and saw many groups of penguins, land on the beach and then we walked along the boardwalks to see them finding their homes for the night and chattering away to each other.
Each night somewhere between 2,000 and 3,500 penguins come to shore. Every night since 1968 numbers arriving have been counted and logged. This information is used by conservationists to monitor breeding numbers.
It was really lovely to watch the penguins come ashore and to learn a lot in the visitor centre about the land that we were stood on, the penguins themselves and how we can make a difference. Once sign on the way out stood out to me…
Tomorrow, we hire a car
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