Causeway

27 Oct 2005

For the past few years on Valentines Day, H & I have made a bit of a tradition of driving south to VH and having dinner at a little cafe/restaurant out on an island. The island is connected to the mainland by this causeway which takes about 5 minutes to walk across, or if you want the full tourist trip there's a horse-drawn tram that travels across.

So we have a nice meal, then watch the sun set, and relax. Right about the time the evening is drawing to a close, the little fairy penguins that live on the island return home to their burrows after a long day out at sea fishing. And that's when the penguin-walk tours happen. I love penguins and it's always amazing to see them clamber up the rocks and then climb up steep cliffs to get to their little burrows.

Usually in February they're fat little creatures, since they're preparing for their annual molt when they regrow their entire pelt of feathers over 2-3 weeks. A well groomed, well oiled pelt is essential to their ability to swim and catch fish, so while the old feathers are shed and the new ones grow in they are stranded on land. It's cute to see either the rotund little guys waddling in, or mottled disheveled guys waiting for their feathers to be ready.

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