[Ros]

We had a better night's sleep, got up, and out at 11am. I keep discovering rooms in Ros's house. It's single-storey, like many Australian houses. Since there is more land, they tend to sprawl, which is a new phenomenon to me.

[View from Arthur's Seat.]

We drove to the scenic, south coastal Mornington Peninsula, with Arctic winds, and a view over Tasmania when it's clear. We drove up a steep rounded peak to Arthur's Seat, a viewing point over the ocean, and Melbourne coastal area. We were a bit short of time, so we carried straight on to Philip Island, an area connected to the mainland by a causeway, maybe 25 miles square, known for its nature reserves.

[Active Koala]

After a picnic lunch, we drove to the Koala Conservation Centre, which has thirty koalas they're trying to breed, to replace the island's koalas which aren't breeding because of chlamydia. They have plenty of room to roam, and were hard to spot. We eventually saw a large grey lump perched precariously on a branch. Surprise surprise it was asleep - they spend 20 hours a day sleeping to conserve energy as the eucalyptus they eat is so lacking in nutrition. Sounds like a vegetarian not a million miles from here.

[Hyperactive Koala]

Anyway, I want a koala, but apparently they bite, so there goes that plan.

We went to Seal Rocks, but the seals were a kilometre away, on their islands, and we didn't have time for a boat trip. We saw a few black lumps moving around, through binoculars. In the summer there are thousands.

[This here's Penguin country. Not allowed to take photos of penguins.]

To the highlight of the day - Fairy Penguins. The last remaining colony on Port Philip Bay is being carefully conserved. The centre is well aware that tourists will visit no matter what, so they do their best to cater for the huge numbers of them without upsetting the penguins. The colony beach each night and head for their burrows, in their hundreds. The waiting tourists, in their thousands, sit on concrete bleachers, and watch from a flood-lit beach.

The centre was excellent, lots of education about the penguins and how to protect them. Eclipsing this were the penguins themselves, waddling out of the sea cautiously, ignoring the tourists and chattering to their expectant mates. They run, comically, over the sand, then clamber through sandy hills to their burrows. The tourists watch from board-walks, for up to an hour. We saw over a hundred penguins, and it was an amazing sight - undoubtedly one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

I spoke to a ranger afterwards, who was extremely keen on protecting the animals, and decided I could happily work there and watch this every night.

We drove back, ate, spodded and went to bed at midnight, hoping this would finally cure us of jetlag.