Puffing Billy Steam Train and Phillip Island Wildlife Day Tour

If you don’t drive yourself, the most time-saving and convenient way to visit attractions around Melbourne is to join a day tour! All-inclusive price includes attraction tickets, round-trip transportation, and a Mandarin-speaking tour guide. One bad thing is that the tour guide basically does not explain anything. He mainly acts as a driver and only explains the attractions to be reached and the meeting time. Before the end of the tour, the tour guide asked each of us to pay a fixed tip, which was an additional charge that was not listed when we signed up for the tour. And there is no comparison or harm. The next day, we joined the Twelve Apostles Great Ocean Road English Tour. The tour guide was very responsible, humorous and detailed throughout the whole trip. He did not ask for any tips. The atmosphere and experience of the whole group were completely different! First stop: Sherbrooke Parrot Feeding The feeding area of ​​the wild parrot park is a bit like a mini ice skating rink. The staff will give you an iron plate filled with sunflower seed feed and wait for the wild parrots perched on the trees/nearby to come and eat. Since these parrots are wild and not artificially trained, to be honest, they are somewhat dangerous, so they cannot be fed by hand. It is best to wear long-sleeved clothes, otherwise it would be very painful to be scratched by their claws! We saw about a dozen white sunflower-crested cockatoos that day. It was quite spectacular and their calls were very penetrating. However, it is rare to have such close contact with parrots, so we played a lot of cards. It was a very interesting experience. I heard that there are macaws, sulphur-crested cockatoos, and even lyrebirds that are unique to Australia, but they shouldn't be very common! Second stop: Puffing Billy - Gembrook to Emerald Lake Park After staying at Parrot Park for about 25 minutes, we boarded the bus and continued our journey. After about half an hour, we arrived at Gembrook station and were ready to take the Puffing Billy. The Puffing Billy Railway is an experimental narrow gauge railway built at the turn of the 20th century. It is a historic steam train in Australia and one of the best preserved steam train railways in the world. The train journey is 24 kilometers, passing through beautiful forests and fern-covered valleys from Belgrave to Gembrook Mountains. The open carriages on both sides allow you to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. The most classic way to play on the train is to sit on the window and boldly stick your arms and legs out of the window to enjoy a forest bath and sunbath. But unfortunately, starting from 2018, due to safety issues, you can no longer stick your legs out when sitting. It’s really a pity! So traveling really can’t wait, the sooner you go the better, the world is changing every day (crying!) About half an hour later, the train arrived at Lakeside Station, and the tour guide picked us up and continued our journey. Third stop: Grantville Maru Koala and Animal Park After about an hour's drive, we arrived at Grantville Maru Koala and Animal Park. The zoo isn't very big, but it has a few koalas and lots and lots of wallabies, as well as other animals like alpacas, peacocks, emus, dingoes, and even rare white kangaroos and the endangered Tasmanian devil! The most exciting thing is that I can get close to the kangaroos and take photos with them. It’s so cool! They are lying here one by one to bask in the sun, they are so cute! The stay time was only about half an hour, which was a bit rushed, but it was still enough for us to see the koalas and take photos with the kangaroos. Fourth stop: Pannys Phillip Island Chocolate Factory The chocolate factory is not very big. Here they make chocolates in various shapes, including cute penguins or cartoon characters. The creativity of the store is simply amazing. There are interactive games inside, and you can also try chocolates. The experience is surprisingly good! The stay lasts about half an hour. Stop 5: Nobbies Centre Nobbies Centre has a wooden boardwalk and viewing platform, making it a famous spot for viewing seals. From October to December every year, seals in the breeding season like to stay here, so this rocky area with peculiar terrain is called "Seal Rocks", where the largest group of seals in Australia lives. If you are lucky, you can enjoy the spectacular sight of more than 6,000 Australian seals. However, maybe it was already dusk when we arrived or for some unknown reason, we didn’t even see a single seal. We were very disappointed and could only silently appreciate the sunset at the beach! Sixth stop: Penguin Parade At about 19:00, we finally arrived at the last stop, which was the highlight of the day’s journey! Watch the Penguins Return~~~ The estimated time for the penguins to return was 20:10, so we went to the restaurant to have dinner first. There are so many tourists, so it takes time to find a seat and queue up for an order. It is recommended to leave the stand early after eating and pick a close seat to watch the penguins return to their nests. The wind will be strong at night near the sea, so it is best to prepare a small jacket. There are now more than 30,000 fairy penguins living on Phillip Island. Every year, many tourists from all over the world come to the viewing platform and observation trail of Phillip Island Nature Park to watch the penguin parade. Fairy Penguin, also known as "Little Penguin" or "Blue Penguin", is extremely small, only about 30-40 cm tall. It is the smallest penguin species in the world and can only be found in Australia and New Zealand. Its average lifespan is seven years. In order to protect the penguin habitat, the nature park can only accommodate 500,000 visitors each year, and tourists are not allowed to take photos or videos on site. Although we are extremely reluctant, we have no choice but to abide by the rules in order to protect the cute little penguins! Although we don’t have an upgraded stand, we can still clearly see the cute little penguins stumbling back to their nests! You can get a closer look at the little penguins who are anxious to go home on the walkway! It immediately makes people happy! The trip ended at around 21:00, and it seemed to be quite late when we returned to the city center of Melbourne, around 11/12 o'clock. We had to wait a while before taking a shower! But overall it was a fulfilling and wonderful day! 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