We will be in Melbourne next week and we were thinking of going to Philip Island to see the fairy penguins (is it the right time of the year for this?). I was thinking it might be better to go on a day tour rather than hiring a car and driving there. Any thoughts?
Also the confusing thing is that there seem to be quite a few tour operators that do these trips. Can anyone recommend one? I wouldn't want any of the extended tours that take in koalas and kangaroos as well, as I can see plenty of them closer to home....
Well, I've never been on a guided tour before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. We usually drive (which would have meant hiring a car) or take public transport (which wasn't an option). I did want to see the penguins so I went ahead and ignored the suggestion that we hire a car (because I knew who would end up doing most of the driving) and I booked us on the tour. Best thing I could have done - we ended up seeing things we wouldn't have seen if we had driven there ourselves. As well as the penguins, which is probably all we would have seen if we had done it ourselves, we saw a chocolate factory (with some games and free samples and a completely insane museum display), went for a wine and cheese tasting, saw the koala conservation centre (OK, I've seen plenty of koalas before, but this place was a bit different from what I was expecting) saw quite a few Cape Barren Geese and visited Seal Rocks and Pyramid Rock. The penguins were the highlight of the trip though. It's just amazing to see them in the wild (I've only ever seen them in zoos before now) and to see how they behave in groups and interact with eachother. Amazing creatures.
Did I say I didn't know what to expect from a guided tour? I loved it. Now I want to go on another one....
Yarra Valley Gourmet tour today - it was really good - spent about $250....