Penguin Parade Phillip Island
This 2,750-ha nature park is located on Phillip Island, a 90-minute from Melbourne. From the boardwalk, which passes high up near the eucalyptus canopy, to the Koala Conservation Centre, where you can see koalas up close, the Penguin Parade, where the world’s smallest little penguins come home to roost in groups, and the Churchill Island Heritage Farm, a recreation of a farmhouse from the 1800s.
The most popular attraction is the Penguin Parade, where penguins who have gone to sea to feed can be seen daily as they return to their roosts in a line at sunset.
There are three types of tickets to see the penguin parade: ‘General Seating’, ‘Penguin Plus’, which allows you to see the penguins closer than in general seating, and ‘Underground Viewing Area’, which allows you to see them at eye level through the glass, at adult prices of $27.25, $60.00 and $125.00 respectively. In addition to self-guided signs, there are also options such as ranger-guided tours.
Phillip Island has been converted into a housing estate due to its convenient location, a 90-minute drive from Melbourne, and its spectacular views over the ocean, and because of the foxes released and bred by immigrants, the Little Penguin population nesting site on the island was reduced to only one, and by the early 1980s experts were concerned that the nesting site was disappearing.
By the early 1980s, experts were concerned about the disappearance of nesting sites. The state government bought the land in 1985 to protect the penguins and turned it into a nature park in 1996. Currently, the non-profit organisation Phillip Island Nature Park Board of Management Inc. manages the park while conducting wildlife research, environmental protection and educational programmes for public awareness, with the aforementioned entrance fee income as a source of funding for their activities.