Today was another great day trip from Melbourne which I can never forget in my whole life. Getting the chance to see the penguins and indulging myself in the beautiful places such as Churchill Island and The Nobbies were worth the whole day spent. I booked this tour with Melbourne Australia Tours ages ago and another interesting matter was the owner of the company, Mr. Colin May, became our tour guide and driver. It was really awesome to meet someone who knew a lot about Malaysia, and it seemed that we shared the same idea on the current issues, politics and attitudes. Seriously, for Muslims out there, if you feel like spending a few dollars more for hospitality, fun and leisure, and visit among the beautiful places on earth, Melbourne Australia Tours is your best option. The tours are very cheap compared to other tour operators and all tours cover all important and must visit attractions, as far as I concern.
Sherbrooke Forest
As early as 9.30 pm, I was picked up at the backpackers hostel and since there was not many visitors, we made our way to the Dandenongs for the Sherbrooke Forest. This is actually a picnic ground and there is a small park where one can feed the cockatoos and crimson rosellas, hundreds of them. The cockatoos do really know how torture our ears with their loud noise. They nibbled on the grains and seem very tThere is a small cafe and a souvenir shop. After having fun with the cocks, I looked for something to be brought home at the souvenir shop.
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| Crimson rosella |
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| Noisy and annoying cockatoos. |
Puffing Billy Train @ Belgrave
We headed to Belgrave where the infamous Australia's Puffing Billy railway is still in used. The steam locomotives are used to transport tourists and visitors alike to Gembrook on its original mountain track. I did not ride the train though I have a thing for trains but sometimes cost does matter too..ihikkss!! But it was good enough to see the steam locomotives. The fares of the train ride can be found here -----> Puffing Billy Train Fares.
At Belgrave station, there is a shop selling lots of souvenirs, drinks and snacks but the prices are like..phewwww....really expensive. But I am positive that some amount from the sales of those items will be used to fund the maintenance and conservation of Puffing Billy Railway, on top of the train ride fares. I thought of getting a fridge magnet for myself but everyone was moving back to the coach so quickly, so felt that I should not make them wait. For our group, three sisters went for the train ride, and the rest headed to Gembrook for morning tea and explored the small town while waiting for the train to arrive.
Maru Koala Park
Next stop was Maru Koala Park. I believe this was the place where I got to feed the Koala and got closer to Koala. It is smaller in size compared to other Australian wildlife park I have visited. It is cool to spend some time here, otherwise we may have nothing much to do at Churchill Island later.
Churchill Island
This place is awesome and cool for kids who want to learn and explore more about farm activities. Visitors will get chances to hand feed the sheeps and horses, cow milking and watch the performances by the iron-smith, sheep shearing and several others.
But for me, I really enjoyed the tranquil scenery and sometimes I felt like it was escaping to the old time. It was awesome to spend time here, though I was alone most of the time, when the other trip members had their own activities around the island. I thought I could relax, sat under a tree and doze off for couple of minutes but that was not achievable. What I did was to get myself a vanilla milk shake, took lots of own pictures and chased the the black-faced sheeps.
I have no idea how long we have spent our time here but spending too long here would be boring especially being alone.
Around 2.30 pm, we headed to The Nobbies, which is another lovely place to visit.
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| The arrogant black-faced/black-headed sheeps |
The Nobbies
This is a very interesting place for those who really love the black rocks, the gushing waves, the cliffs and of course, the penguins and seals. I have no words to describe how amazing this place. There are so many places where every visitor, photography enthusiast especially, will give lots of shots here. It is pretty challenging to take good pictures here given the angle of the sunlight and the mists from the waves sloshing on the rocks that alter the setting for each photo taken. But I guess this is a good time to experiment the depth of field and shutter-speed, as well as the ISO.
While playing with my camera, I saw couple of visitors peeking through the wooden walkway and later I found out they saw a Little Penguin. Without wasting anymore time, I joined those visitors and tried to get several shots of the penguin. Thank god I have a zoom-lense which enabled me to get a clear picture of the penguin. This has really made my day to the fullest.
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| Little Penguin |
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| Little Penguin's shelter |
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| Black rocks that give a contrasting colour to the landscape |
When the sun was about to set, we made a move to Penguin Parade to see the little penguins returning to the shore after a long battle for food in the sea. Photographies and videotapings are strictly prohibited here. I understand that camera-flash may disturb the exhausted penguins but photographing without flash should be OK. But whatever it is, the authority here definitely wants to preserve this area before the penguins disappear forever.
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