St Kilda Beach is one of Melbourne's most popular beaches, about five or six kilometres from the city centre, and we not only went to see the sunset, but more importantly, after dark to watch the wild Australian fairy penguins return to their nests. The experience of that day was unforgettable, the first time in the summer wearing a down jacket, the whole person wrapped like a rice dumpling, the result is still frozen into a dog! [Cover your face]
When we arrived at St Kilda Beach, it was late afternoon, and the Australian summer days were very long, and it was still lit at seven or eight o'clock.
The wind on the beach was huge, the hat with the belt almost flew up, and it felt cold in the down jacket.
Or Australians are cold-resistant, so cold can still calmly lie in the sun.
The locals even wore short sleeves to blow the wind on the beach, which made me shiver.
There are many yachts at sea
We left the beach and walked up the trestle
Looking at this posture is very similar to the appearance of The Chinese people who went there to take wedding photos
The sun was gradually sinking, but it was too dazzling for mobile phones and card machines to take pictures.
Huge waves are constantly lapping at the reef on the shore
Finally the setting sun faded its dazzling light, became soft like an egg yolk, and finally fell quickly to the horizon.
People who admired the setting sun began to shift their positions and came to the stands on the shore to wait for the fairy penguins.
What makes so many people brave the cold to wait here is a smallest penguin – the "Little Blue Penguin", also known as the "fairy penguin", which is mainly distributed in New Zealand and southern Australia. This penguin is generally only 40 cm tall, weighs about a kilogram, and has an indigo blue head and back. Their nests are generally built in sand dunes off the coast of the South Pacific, feeding on the South Pacific Sea.
The staff came over and reminded the people sitting in the first row not to stick their feet out so as not to hinder the little penguin from going home. Sure enough, everyone was very self-conscious, and they never saw anyone put their feet down again.
While waiting for the fairy penguin, a black swan also came to rub the heat, swimming around in front of everyone's eyes.
Not only is the observation deck crowded, but even the railing of the embankment is full of people, which shows how popular the fairy penguin is.
It was getting dark
Usually, when one of the parents of the fairy penguin goes out to hunt, the other one stays in the nest to take care of the newborn baby penguins. They have a special stomach to store food, return to the nest and then spit out the food to feed the baby penguins. It usually takes more than half a month to go out to forage, and the penguins that "eat" are clumsy and easy to be attacked by seagulls and spit out food, so they choose to come out of the water after the seagulls can't see it in the dark.
Wait, wait, finally saw two little penguins emerge from the sea. They had come to scout, did not come ashore easily, and when they saw that there was no threat, they swam back to report to the large troops.
After a while, small penguins emerged from the water one after another and staggered to the shore. They are very timid and rush into the rocks as soon as they come ashore.
Only this silly penguin stood on the shore, and everyone was very excited and took pictures of it. Taking pictures is absolutely not allowed to hit the flash, it will hurt the eyes of the little penguin, fortunately everyone is very compliant with the rules.
The staff illuminated the little penguin with a special red light to make it clearer for everyone to see.
I used to see penguins in the aquarium, and I saw wild penguins for the first time in my life, and although it was cold enough, I still felt very happy. At this point, our trip to Melbourne was over, and the next morning we took a domestic flight to Brisbane, where a different scenery awaited us.