Penguins!

The North coast of Tasmania is famous for its Little Penguins so we were quite hopeful of seeing our first penguins in the wild here.   There’s even a town called Penguin which has really embraced its name.

We finally struck lucky at Burnie where there’s a penguin observation centre.   The centre is looked after by the ‘Friends of Burnie Penguins’ who offer free interpretative tours for visitors from September to March.  (This was very different to the highly commercialised  Penguin Parade at Philip Island).  The Little Penguins spend the day fishing and come back to nest in their burrows at dusk.  Volunteers made hundreds of little penguin ‘igloos’ for them which means there are always plenty of penguins to observe here.   Some penguins are still rearing their chicks at the moment so if  you look carefully during the day, there are some in their little igloos.

I’m not sure whose idea it was to house the Burnie Brass Band next to the penguins.

 

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