wild life

My last night in Melbourne, I went to check out the St. Kilda Penguins. I hadn't known about them on my first jaunt out to St. Kilda, so I decided it was worth another run out there. Sometime in the 70's, a colony of little penguins established itself on the breakwater and has been there ever since. There are volunteer guides and fences to keep the humans from causing too much harm, but you can go check them out right in their habitat on the rocks. To protect the penguins, flashes aren't allowed (and my favorite part is the whole crowd yelling "Oi!" anytime someone does flash a camera despite the warnings) so while it may not show in these photos, they are surprisingly easy to see - especially as it gets later and the crowd diminishes. I stayed a surprisingly long time, but was glad I had. The next day, it was time to say goodbye to my cute little neighborhood in Melbourne and jump on a train to the country. This wasn't part of my original plan, but I came out to Ballarat, a small town about an hour away, for their White Night celebration tonight. And today, I stopped in at the local wildlife park to get a chance to hang out with some kangaroos (as well as see more little penguins - though not the same seeing them in captivity - as well as Koalas, Tasmanian Devils, and Dingos.) I figured it wouldn't be right to not see one while I was here, but best of all, I think I made a new friend.