(I didn’t take this picture)

Today, I saw one of the most magical things I may have ever seen… My very own march of the penguins… Yes Australia has penguins. And no, I don’t have any pictures to prove it to you…

We lined up along a small beach on the south of Phillip Island to watch hundreds, if not thousands, of small penguins swim ashore, support grooming, then waddle along to their nests for the night. Beautiful.

As soon as the sun set, they started reaching the shore in groups. The moon reflecting against their small, but very full, white bellies…

As they progressively came inland, you could hear the chirping of baby chicks calling for their mothers (or fathers — the male and female take turns watching the nest or hunting). There were also many squallks of fighting males as it is still VERY much mating season.

They’re a small breed of penguin… They don’t get more than 33cm high… A little over a foot. So cute!

After the male penguins are grown, they come ashore, build their own burrow, then stand outside at night trying to show their houses off to lucky girls. Ha. These gentlemen come with houses! Can I get one of those? Haha just kidding. Apparently the females tend to go for the fatter males. So funny.

Anyway, it Was one of thrcoolest things I’ve ever seen.

So ya, Australia is kind of awesome. Basically the us, but more laid back, more coffee shops, and cooler wildlife.

Today, we also got to feed kangaroos and koala bears today at the wildliefcentef. Awesome.

Oh and I forgot to mention… It,s fall in the northern hemisphere right? Ya. Ok’ well that means it’s spring down here… Which means 2 things…

1. My allergies are KILLING me… I even took medicine. But holy crap, I’m not used to so much of the great outdoors during thespring.

2. Heyhey its mating season. EVERYTHING is humping everything else. I’ve seen WAY too many things ‘doing it’

Monkeys. Check. (eesh, I might add)
Penguins. Check.
Seagulls. Check. What was funniest was that every time the girl would squawk, the guy, who’s been squawking all along, would bend down and peck her in the face. What the heck dude?

On a less graphic note, I saw a peacock open its feathers and do his mating dance to impress a nearby girl who totally lost interest halfway through. It was beautiful.

Also saw several kangaroo and wallaby babies… One of thewallabys stole someone else’s baby and had 2 in itself pouch. Haha. Apparentlythats not supported happen.

…

Yesterday, we drove the Great Ocean Road towards Adelaide. Beautiful coastal views!!! The bluest water I’ve ever seen! A deep clurean blue color. It reminded me of Hawaii a lot, but prettier.

Tomorrow, we have surfing lessons, but its supposed to rain, so we’ll see. Then, we are planning to goto some wine vineyards in Yarra in the afternoon.

Oh ya, driving in Australia is fun too… Opposite side of the road. I don’t mind too much… Adelyne has done most of the driving… Long story anyway. I LOVE roundabouts. Life-changing. I don’t know why we don’t start using them in the us… If you miss your turn, no problem, just keep going round and round.

In other news, I ran over a dead walking tonight… I think he was aleady dead, but who knows… I was traumatized for a few minutes.

The only bad thing about Australia so far is that its ridiculously expensive. A pretty cheap meal is like 10 Australian dollars. That’s like fast food cheap..