Penguin Island

Today Maddisyn-Rose and her class went to Penguin Island for a school trip. Following is a short paragraph describing the island and a few other ones around it.

The islands are designated bird sanctuaries. Species you are likely to sight include cormorants, darters, terns, fairy terns, noddies, silver gulls, oystercatchers, ruddy turnstones, bar tailed godwit (all the way from Siberia!), Artic Skua, Little Eagles, Ospreys and Sea Eagles. The Islands are also breeding and nesting sites for colonies of Australian Pelicans. There are networks of boardwalks that allow you to explore the island- please remember to stick to the boardwalks to ensure nesting sites are not disturbed

This Island is mainly a sanctuary for Penguins, obviously. We had a short ferry ride (that was bloody expensive for the trip!! I must say) and then we were there. Most people, probably because of the cost, walk along the wide sandbar that starts at the mainland and takes you all the way to the island. Obviously we couldnt because of the amount of kids we had, but I dont think I would anyway since I have a slight phobia of open water, though Im fine in a boat! Karleen and I were assigned a group of 5 kids, 2 of them our own, and we were the penguins. We saw the babies in the enclosure being fed and then we saw the caves and the beautiful beach surrounding the island. There were these lizards (cant remember their names) and a hell of a lot of birds. Oh and primitive long drops for toilets. Apparently they use the waste for manure YECK! Oh and the freaky flies that bite! I got bitten and it stung and swelled a little OUCH.

So after a bit of hiking and play, the day came to an end, thank god, and we caught the ferry back to the mainland, and after getting the kids on the bus and dealing with an irate busdriver (we were late and the bugger was gonna leave the other class behind coz they were on the other ferry and hadnt arrived yet and he had to get back to a private school before the end of the school day) we got back to school safe and sound. It was a good day but very long and hot.