17 November 2016 – 195 504
Penguin Island, Rockingham
This morning we had a little bit of a sleep-in and were
caught with an unscheduled early morning FaceTime with Hayden’s teacher –
always great to have a meeting with your child’s teacher in your pyjamas and
without having brushed your hair! We are
so lucky with how involved Hayden’s teacher has kept him – he contacted us this
morning to see if Hayden wished to be considered in the voting for House
Captains for next year – so thoughtful!
Today we went to Penguin Island, which is just off-shore from
Rockingham.
We started with a cruise
around Shoalwater Bay to look at some of the many islands that make up the
Shoalwater Islands Marine Park. We saw
birds nesting in the rocky outcrops, and dolphins swimming the water, one with
a young calf. We then visited the area
around Seal Island, where we could watch more than twenty Australian Sea Lions
resting on the island and two playing together in the water. We were then dropped off at Penguin Island,
the only island in the group where people are permitted to land. The Discovery Centre had Penguin Feeding of
the twelve “rescue” birds that have not been able to be returned to the wild –
apparently about fifty per year are rehabilitated and returned to the wild
after recovering. These were Little Penguins, also known as Fairy Penguins or
Blue Penguins. It was lovely to watch
the birds preening, swimming and waddling.
We then took a walk around the island – we saw many, many (hundreds of)
seabirds nesting or with young chicks in various stages of fluffiness. Under the staircase at the southern end of the
island, we were fortunate to spot a wild penguin during daylight hours – quite special! We returned to the Discovery Centre to watch
another feeding session to finish the day, before returning to the mainland on
the short ferry ride. Awesome Day!
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