Churchill Island near Phillip Island

We arrived early afternoon on Phillip Island. The lady at the visitor information center recommended three things to do for the rest of the afternoon: Visit Churchill Island, the local Koala Conservation Center and the famous Penguin Parade. She recommended an entry ticket combining all three attractions. And she also advised that there are two viewing areas for penguin parade – regular seating for north of one thousand visitors, and the “plus” area for just a few hundred. We thought we’ll do plus, because it’s probably our once in a lifetime visit and we wanted to get a good view on the Little Penguins marching by.

After we bought the ticket, the lady swiftly added “oh, by the way, no video or photography during penguin parade”. — “Whaaaatttt? – Ok, why?” “Because the flashes harm the penguins.” “Well, my camera doesn’t have a flash.” “But people don’t know how to turn their flashes off.” “My camera is a professional one. It DOES NOT HAVE a flash, so?” “Well, imagine if the staff there had to check every single camera…” “Well imagine if every single visitor had to pay there – and I am sure they have no way whatsoever to control all of the amateur photographers’ mobile phones, which DO HAVE a flash”, was a thought, which I kept to myself.

“You can download our app and enjoy the videos of the marching penguins.” “Yeah, and the copyright of the footage is with you, right? So if I want to include it on my website or anywhere else, I’d be in copyright infringement.” – another thought I kept to myself. Never argue with ignorants. They drag you down to their level, then beat you by experience.

Off we went to Churchill Island, which is  a very tiny Island connected via a bridge the north east of Phillip Island. It hosts an old farm house museum and adds entertainment shows, particularly suitable for kids like cow milking, sheep shearing and so on. It was a pleasant visit and the views of the surrounding mainland and Phillips Island were very exciting.

Koala Conservation Centre

Leaving Churchill Island, we headed to the Koala Conservation Center, which is located quite centrally on the Island. If you are only looking for Koalas and have to make a decision between the Long Pine Sanctuary located near Brisbane and the one on Phillip Island – go for the one on Phillip Island. The koalas are maintained in a far more natural habitat and visitors can still get close to them without hassle. It was a very pleasant experience.

It was turning late afternoon and the penguin parade was not scheduled until 8pm, so we drove back to our motel in San Remo, on the mainland. Towards 7pm we left again for Phillip Island, and headed to Nobbies Centre, which is the cape on the far west of the island. As the sun was going down, the light was warm and the views absolutely phenomenal. We took the ‘alternative route’ back to penguin parade, which is an unsealed road on the southern rim of the island. An dramatic coastline, countless geese and wallabies and nobody else on the road made this a very special drive.

Penguin Parade, Phillip Island

The experience changed quite drastically as we approached the penguin parade center – and we were traveling in low season. Dozens if not hundred of cars trying to get into the car park, buses unloading and a swirl of people in between. Everything was very well organized, so there were hardly any queues. Perhaps it was also thanks to our early arrival.

When we entered the “plus” seating area, which is a nicely designed viewing platform with several levels to linger on, we headed right to the front facing the beach — and found another fenced off ‘reserved seating area’ inside the premium priced seating area. We suspected that it was reserved for visitors, who had not just paid the premium seating, but added another ‘upgrade’ to include a personal ranger guide. — It is a complete rip off. And you can’t even take pictures. If you want to see Little Penguins and have the chance to drive up to the Adelaide area, stop in Victor Harbor. There are guided night tours to Granite Island, another breading spot of the Little Penguins.

We were seated at about 7:30pm. There was a cool breeze from the sea. 8 pm was the official ‘starting time’. After idling for half an hour, one of the rangers made an announcement following the introduction of the penguins and a background to the Phillip Island habitat: “You can use your camera until sunset, which is 20:33 today. After that we require you to switch off all devices, because the flashes can harm the penguins”

“Nope, don’t have a flash”, I was grumbling. “Or the light of the displays on the back can impact viewing of the people behind you.” “Nope, my camera doesn’t have that one either – I got a high-quality optical viewfinder, not that LED crap, which you can’t read in bright sunlight or which dazzles you in dark conditions.”, I was about to counter. “Thank you for supporting our efforts to help the penguins with the price of your ticket.” “So that you can build even more seating areas to rip off even more tourists?” — Anyway.

The clock was approaching 8:33pm. The sun was gone. The cool breeze has turned into a cold wind and we were sitting there for another half an hour, looking at some of the nesting boxes, which you can see on the only picture I took at penguin parade above. “The penguins usually arrive after 9pm”, another ranger announcement informed us. Awesome! Freezing as we were by then, we can join the parade right away!

At about 9:20 the first few penguins started to march by. They were so cute that all the hassle was forgotten in a blink. First three, after ten minutes another three, after another  eight minutes six, then three again. It carried on in small groups until it was getting fully dark at about 9:45. Then the groups passing every few minutes became larger and larger.

Guess what happened next? A group of visitors towards our right unleashed their photo-play-toys. Flashes, mobile phones with flashes – the full range. The ranger kept going back to them multiple times asking them to turn off their devices. Unfortunately, the ranger didn’t speak Chinese, so the message didn’t seem to get through.

At around 10pm a voice said: “We are going to shutdown this area now, please leave the viewing platform. Thank you for your cooperation.” — That was just about the time when the real penguin parade was about to start. What a nice customer experience!