"Perhaps the penguins are out to sea, fishing during the day and only come back in the evening."
That's exactly where they are but the local council is more than a bit sneaky about it
When my sister was here, Penguin Island was the number 1 item on her bucket list.
She had read about it in Lonely Planet.
We made a point of getting the ferry so we could be there for one of the scheduled feeding times.
But it turned out that refered to the "Discovery Centre" on the island which is a sort of Day Care / Senior Centre for penguins too young or too old to go out on the fishing day shift.
This centre apparently closed down about a year ago but Rockingham Council apparently never got the memo.
They still have it features in their tourism brochures.
I told one of the workers at the Tourist Info that they should rename it Pelican Island instead of creating false expectations for visitors.
All the adorable pelicans,other bird life and bobtail lizards play second fiddle to the huge disappointment of no penguins.
January and February are supposed to be moulting season when the penguins are most likely to be our at sea.
And yes. They are the Fairy penguins.
PS It wasn't a particularly bug deal for me not seeing the penguins since I am a Zoo friend and the fairy penguins live just around the corner from the snakes.
The signs on the island saying the Discovery Centre is closed also said that the penguins resident at the centre were moved to the zoo.
I will definitely go back because it's such a gorgeous magical place. But next time I will bring binoculars to watch the pelicans in their giant nesting grounds
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That's exactly where they are but the local council is more than a bit sneaky about it
When my sister was here, Penguin Island was the number 1 item on her bucket list.
She had read about it in Lonely Planet.
We made a point of getting the ferry so we could be there for one of the scheduled feeding times.
But it turned out that refered to the "Discovery Centre" on the island which is a sort of Day Care / Senior Centre for penguins too young or too old to go out on the fishing day shift.
This centre apparently closed down about a year ago but Rockingham Council apparently never got the memo.
They still have it features in their tourism brochures.
I told one of the workers at the Tourist Info that they should rename it Pelican Island instead of creating false expectations for visitors.
All the adorable pelicans,other bird life and bobtail lizards play second fiddle to the huge disappointment of no penguins.
January and February are supposed to be moulting season when the penguins are most likely to be our at sea.
And yes. They are the Fairy penguins.
PS It wasn't a particularly bug deal for me not seeing the penguins since I am a Zoo friend and the fairy penguins live just around the corner from the snakes.
The signs on the island saying the Discovery Centre is closed also said that the penguins resident at the centre were moved to the zoo.
I will definitely go back because it's such a gorgeous magical place. But next time I will bring binoculars to watch the pelicans in their giant nesting grounds