Fri, 16th Feb, 2024 Midway Point Rest Area, Sulphur Creek to Cooee Point RA, near Burnie, Tas (penguins)

13 degrees minimum, clear sky, no wind.

Lovely morning view. Some crazy people are in swimming.

Worked on my blog for a while and Steve went wandering and chatting. Steve found out that this area filled with ‘homeless’ so they closed it down and moved them to a place near Forth River where there are toilets then reopened this one again.

After a cuppa we headed off. Continued west to Burnie. View across to Burnie with the big wood chip piles stand out.

Through Burnie and on to Cooee Point which is still a free camp area. View across to the camp area with Wynyard in the distance.

Parked up near a big grassy area.

The sun is out but the wind has picked up and it is a bit chilly! Walked over the grass for a look. Interesting rock formations here.

Had lunch then I worked on my blog and cross-stitch. Trying to catch up but I will get there eventually. Got to get these cross-stitches done for the babies of course.

Had a cuppa then walked along the old railway line which is now a walk/cycle path as the train ends at Burnie now. Looking back to our camper. Very smelly here so there must be penguins in the bushes.

Checked out the beach. 

Steve pointed out penguin tracks heading into the shrubbery.

Walked back along the path then followed it further towards Burnie - they are still completing the ‘trail’. Rocky little bays. 

Found the end of the rail line.

Back to the camper. Sent a text to Tony to see if the slab got poured. No as there was a big storm coming so they obviously had to cancel.

The wind has settled so it was nice to sit outside except for the flies.

Steve went for a wander and found penguin burrows on the other side of the grass area so we don’t have far to wander tonight. People have built concrete burrows and laid slabs for them to hide away from dogs etc. Spotted a few little chicks.

Found two in one burrow. Well there will be parents coming in here tonight so we will come back and sit and wait for the arrivals.

So nice to finish with seeing penguins as they were the first thing we saw when we came to Tassie in 2014.

Had dinner then set up the chairs on the edge of the grass to wait. The sun set was blocked by the thick cloud but the after colours were nice. Chatted with some others out for a walk.

Once dark came our eyes adjusted to the low light and I saw a penguin come out of another burrow. I took a photo and just enough light. When I looked at the photo I realised there is another penguin laying beside it. 

I googled penguins and found that these are the world’s smallest penguins (eudyptula minor) and there are between 11,000 and 190,000 that call Tassie their homes. They lay 2 eggs as early as May and as late as December. The parents share incubation shifts of up to a week and hatching occurs after 35 days. Chicks move out to the sea to feed after 8 weeks of their parents feeding them. They do shallow short dives (10 to 30m) to feed on small fish, squid and krill. Adults weigh about a kilogram, grow to 40cm in height and live about 6 years.

The other one stood up too - not using a flash, just a little bit of torch light so hence the blurry photo in the low light.

Other babies started calling but our 4 weren’t saying anything! It started to get colder. Steve made us a cuppa and we waited till nearly 10pm then gave up. As I got up to leave I shone my torch over the rocks and spotted 3 parents heading up so we left them to come up and feed their little ones.

We can still hear them calling from the camper. It was 20 degrees in the camper as it was closed up but much colder outside and getting windier.