Last weekend I headed over to Melbourne to catch up with my friends Syam, Nick and Felicity. I arrived on Saturday morning and Nick picked me up from the airport. We picked up Fel, who had flown over from Adelaide the night before to visit another friend, and Syam, and headed for Phillip Island! We stopped at Grantville for lunch, and discovered there was an animal park / mini golf course nearby and decided to pay it a visit.
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| White Kangaroo, Maru Animal Park, VIC |
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| Indian Peafowl (Peacock), Maru Animal Park, VIC |
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| Juvenile Indian Peafowl, Maru Animal Park, VIC |
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| A couple of funny looking kangaroos (Syam & Fel), Maru Animal Park, VIC |
The 18 hole mini golf course was very creative and a lot of fun. Our scores ended up being quite close, with the overall winner being Nick by one point!
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| Mini Golf Course, Maru Animal Park, VIC |
Later that afternoon we arrived at our accommodation on Phillip Island and discovered that the Penguin Parade was already sold out that evening. We hadn't booked thinking we were safe being out of school holidays, but it was the Chinese New Year weekend, and beautiful weather, so it was very busy! Instead we were told we could go for a walk around the boardwalk at the Nobbies and we might have a chance of seeing one or two penguins. So off we went, and we weren't disappointed, we saw at least ten little penguins. Although we didn't get to see them gliding onto the beach and waddling off in their little groups as they do at the "parade", we were able to see several up close in little burrows and nest boxes, in good light as it was still early.
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| Little Penguin, Phillip Island, VIC |
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| Little Penguins, Phillip Island, VIC |
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| Little Penguin, Phillip Island, VIC |
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| Little Penguin, Phillip Island, VIC |
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| View from the Nobbies boardwalk, Phillip Island, VIC |
The next morning we headed back north up to Healesville. Upon arriving we had a nice lunch and went to Healesville Sanctuary for some more wildlife viewing. This park has a lot more animals to see than the smaller Maru park, but doesn't have mini golf ;-)
We saw a lot of beautiful native birds, and other animals, including a beautiful wetland habitat and a flight show with huge birds of prey including a Wedge-tailed eagle and a Black-breasted buzzard.
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| Royal Spoonbill caring for young on nest, Healesville, VIC |
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| Pied Heron (still yet to see one in the wild!), Healesville, VIC |
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| Black-breasted Buzzard, Healesville, VIC |
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| Blue-faced Honeyeater, Healesville, VIC |
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| Musk Lorikeet, Healesville, VIC |
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| Diamond Firetail (if only I could get this close at Monarto!), Healesville, VIC |
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| Gouldian Finch, Healesville, VIC |
In Healesville we stayed at the Big 4 caravan park in a lakeview cabin and it was excellent. There were birds everywhere in the trees around us, and as we swam in the pool we were treated to a large group of Crimson Rosellas and Australian King Parrots coming down for a look, and some seed from one of the caravanners. Unfortunately didn't have my camera with me!
Back at our cabin we had a friendly rosella and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo hanging around for a snack.
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| Crimson Rosella, Healesville, VIC |
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| Crimson Rosella, Healesville, VIC |
Just as we were heading out to go for dinner, I heard an unfamiliar squawk in the tree above. I stopped to check it out and found my first lifer of the trip - Gang Gang Cockatoos! I have wanted to see them for a long time, and I was so fortunate to get such a nice long, close look at them. Luckily none of my lovely friends were too starving and they allowed me to gaze up at these birds for a good long time - thanks guys! :-D
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| Gang Gang Cockatoo, Healesville, VIC |
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| Gang Gang Cockatoos, Healesville, VIC |
The next morning I went for a walk around the lake and the perimeter of the park, in slight rain, and was happy to pick up another lifer - a Pied Currawong.
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| Pied Currawong, Healesville, VIC |
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| Laughing Kookaburra, Healesville, VIC |
Later in the morning, the four of us went for a bushwalk in the Maroondah Reservoir Park. We did the forest walk to the lookout, then walked across the top of the dam wall and down the other side.
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| Maroondah Reservoir Park, VIC |
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| Maroondah Reservoir Park, VIC |
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| Maroondah Reservoir Park, VIC |
On our way back to Melbourne, Nick stopped off for a surprise visit to the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie, where we had a nice lunch and bought some treats to take home. Four became three when we dropped Syam off early for him to head off to work, and Fel, Nick and I had a few more hours together before we had to be at the airport. After checking out Nick's apartment, the three of us headed to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. The gardens are huge and have an amazing variety of plants, as well as a large lake area.
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| Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, VIC |
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| Fel, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, VIC |
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| Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, VIC |
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| Fel and Nick, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, VIC |
We saw Nankeen Night-Herons out in plain view in daylight, and it was here that I also found my third and final lifer of the trip - Bell Miner! I heard them long before I saw them, and I recognised the call from listening to it on my phone app. I looked around for a while before I finally found a pair of uncooperative youngsters perched on a branch facing the other way under shadow and partial leaf cover. Eventually I came across a few bouncing around a bit further along the path and managed to get a few better photos!
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| Nankeen Night-Herons, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, VIC |
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| Bell Miner, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, VIC |
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| Bell Miner, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, VIC |
After watching these birds for a while there was nothing left to do but make a mad dash to the airport and come home to Adelaide again. We had a great time together and were lucky to have great weather. We packed a lot into 2.5 days and I arrived home feeling like I needed an extra couple of days to recover!
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| Nick, Fel, Syam and I - The four amigos together again! |
