February 11 – Beach Boxes and Penguins

We have a very long tour today that started at 11:30.  The drive took us through a new part of Melbourne and to Brighton Beach.  The area has many upscale, expensive homes and the beach is no different.  The Beach Boxes here are simple shed…no water, no electricity.  They were built in the 1800’s and can only be owned by individuals in this specific area/zip code.   These beach boxes were originally built in the mid 1800's as changing rooms for those bathing at Brighton Beach. Per our guide, one was not allowed to be seen in their bathers (swim suits). So once you donned your bathers in the box someone meet them at the door with a blanket. They proceeded to the waters edge while wrapped in the blanket. Once in the water the assistant removed the blanket. 

They are very picturesque…

and very expensive.  One sold last year for $350,000 Au (about $235,000 US).  And the only “upgrades” they can do to the Beach Boxes are new paint.  Pretty pricy real estate.

We then headed to the Moonlit Sanctuary, an animal wildlife conservation area where they care for many of Australia’s endangered animals.

We got to feed a wallaby…

and a kangaroo. A Pacific Black Duck joined the party and tried to get all the crumbs.

They had an interesting show where we were introduced to a number of their stars.  The first to be introduced was a beautiful Major Mitchell Cockatoo.

Then a dingo.  While they look just like dogs they are actually a species of wolf.

Australia has barn owls.  It turns out that barn owls are found on every continent in the world except Antarctica.

The funniest bird was the Tawny Frogmouth.  Their coloring is just like a grey dead log that acts as their camouflage against predators.  And they basically sit and wait for bugs and such to come to them.  They sit VERY, VERY still, hardly moving a muscle.  He was the least active bird we have ever seen.

They get their name because when they open their mouth it is yellow inside and looks just like a frog’s mouth.

The reserve also had koala’s (easier to see in the sanctuary…fewer trees to hide in),

emus,

and Australian Water Dragons.

We then drove over to Prince Phillip Island where we stopped at Surf Beach.  There were a fair number of surfers out.  (As we left the driver started playing Beach Boy surfer songs from the 60’s.  Pretty funny.)

We stopped in a small town for late lunch/early dinner at an Italian restaurant and made a detour to the nearby gelato place for dessert.

Then it was off through the countryside.  It was early evening so the wallabies were out in force along with some Cape Barren Geese (but couldn't get pictures of either.

We ended the drive at the Little Penguin reserve.  Little Penguins are the world’s smallest penguins at about 13 inches tall.  They are also called Fairy Penguins.  Unlike other penguins that are black and white these are blue and white.  They spend large amounts of time out in the ocean and only come in after dark in order to avoid their predators.  We were not allowed to take any photos after the sun went down as the penguins are very sensitive to light.  However, on our way down to the viewing area we saw one at it’s nest just by the boardwalk so we got a great photo. 

It was a great evening; we saw more than 100 of the little penguins parade past our "underground" viewing point (so we were eye level with them), as they headed out of the surf and off to their nests in the surrounding hillsides.

On the drive back the driver played songs about going home.  Pretty funny.