Paparazzi

Today was by far the most touristy day of our holiday. We headed off on a small tour bus to visit Phillip Island, only to run into the traffic jam of thousands of others who'd had the exact same idea.

Phillip Island's big attraction is its Little Penguins, the amazingly imaginative name Australians give to the smallest species of penguins in the world. In New Zealand, they're known as Little Blue Penguins, which is slightly better, but still not particularly inspired. They're only about a foot tall, so at least they do match up to their billing.

Anyway, the penguins came at the end of a long day that saw us visit a bush tucker farm (no I'm A Celebrity-esque challenges - the tucker was all plant-based), and the koala conservatory pictured above. It wasn't quite as peaceful and hands-on as the one we visited in the Hunter Valley at the beginning of our trip...

After a spot of wine tasting, we finally arrived at the penguins' habitat. During the day, you're allowed to take photos, but when the penguins make their dash from sea to shore at night, photography is banned. Hence,the only pic of a penguin is the first extra. Yes, that's a penguin in its burrow - looks like a chick waiting for its parents to bring home its food.

About an hour or so before sunset, we - and 4,000 others - gathered in a big grandstand on the beach to wait for the penguins. And, as advertised, as soon as the sun went down, they started to pop out of the sea in groups and tentatively make their way up the beach. It took a while, because they'd keep getting spooked and would turn around and dash back into the sea.

When they finally reached land, you could walk nearby them as they made their journeys to their burrows. At first, there was a massive crowd watching each penguin, but so many came ashore (and so many of the crowd left early) that by the end there were penguins easily viewable wherever you looked.

A weird experience, but fun. And it was just a shame so many people thought the No Photography rule didn't apply to them and kept blasting away with flash.

The other extras are a random wallaby and the rocky coastline that's home to the penguins. Today's our last full day. It's going to be a long one as we've the fireworks to look forward to this evening.