Day 63 - The Penguins of St Kilda

​With an unexpectedly free day, I had a lovely lie-in this morning and then a leisurely couple of hours enjoying the sunshine on the balcony whilst setting some quiz questions. Neil has proven himself to be an excellent quiz-setting accomplice so may now also have a job for future years.

At midday Chloe, Sarah, Neil and I set off for a cinema treat in ‘Gold Class’. Not only are there ultra comfortable reclining armchairs, but you also order food and drink to come at set times in the film. Absolute luxury! We saw ‘Wicked: For Good’, which was brilliant (I may still have the songs going round in my head as I write this) - Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are just perfect in the roles, and the whole film was SO well done. I may have discovered that I should not be trusted to eat in the dark, but it was otherwise a faultless experience.

We then had a few hours back at the ranch, which not only gave me time with my book, but also allowed me to set up my koala tracking app that Santa gave me. Please may I introduce you to Lylah, my koala from St Bees Island. 


Whilst I have discovered that she is unlikely to cover huge distances (She has moved 4 miles since March!), it is a lot of fun to track her.

This evening, Neil, Brandon, Chloe, Curt, Kuma, and I all headed down to St Kilda - a beach hotspot of Melbourne. Neil and Kuma enjoyed an hour on the beach whilst Curt, Chloe, Brandon and I went on the Sunset Penguin Cruise.


For context, there is a colony of about 1600 Little Penguins at St Kilda, and these penguins all return to the rocks there each evening. The area is well protected, but there is a boat tour that can take you up close to see them.

As we left the pier, we were told some fun facts about the Little Penguins - most strikingly that they poo anbout every 17 minutes, and are able to projectile poo up to six metres. Given their size, this is mightily impressive! 

Chloe was much better than me at spotting the penguins in the water, but as we approached the rocks it was impossible to miss them as there were so many! We used infrared light to spot them (the penguins cannot see infrared, so are not disturbed by it) and I loved watching them move about. Their jumps are particularly cute!


It was a very special evening all round, and there were lots of happy but tired people (and dog!) in the car on the way home. 


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