Phillip Island – Chocs, Koalas, Penguins, Nobbies

The Phillip Island Chocolate Factory is more than just a chocolate shop. Pannys Amazing World of Chocolate is a celebration of all things chocolate, with interactive machines to play with, fascinating facts and the ability to make your own chocolate on the spot. Once you’ve experienced this unique chocolate wonderland, Pannys Chocolate café offers an extensive selection of chocolatey treats.

We embark on a self guided exploration of the wonders that come from the humble cocoa bean. There are machines with buttons to push and levers to pull, and games of skill where the reward is chocolate. You can learn everything about chocolate making, from the bean to the bar, and watch Panny’s creations being made.

Chocolate village with a train track running through it.

Dame Edna – This mosiac is made out from 12,000 individual chocolates all created at the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory. There are 36 different types of chocolates used in the mosiac and weighs over a quarter of a tonne.

Worlds largest chocolate waterfall – 400kg of chocolate every 3 minutes!

A unique hands-on chocolate making device where your own artistic creation travels along a conveyor belt, and gets delivered to you, ready to eat. 

Established to save the dwindling koala population on Phillip Island, the Koala Conservation Centre at Phillip Island Nature Park lets visitors get close to koalas without disturbing them via its environmentally and koala friendly enclosure with boardwalks amongst the tree tops.

The koala (phascolarctos cinereus) is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. The koala sleep for about 21 hours a day and lives almost entirely on eucalypt leaves. They are so adorable you just want to hug them!

Wallabies are members of the kangaroo clan found primarily in Australia and on nearby islands. There are many wallaby species, grouped roughly by habitat: shrub wallabies, brush wallabies, and rock wallabies. Hare wallabies are named for their size and their hare-like behavior.

The Nobbies (named because of its unique rock formations) lies off Point Grant at the western tip of Phillip Island. The area has high conservation significance featuring penguins and seabirds and, just off the coast, is Seal Rocks – home to Australia’s second largest colony of Australian Fur Seals.

This area offers a great coastal scenery. We strolled along the Nobbies Boardwalk and enjoyed spectacular views along Phillip Island’s rugged south coast. We also saw an awesome blowhole, a spectacular sea cave that thunders into the cliffs and explodes back with sea spray.

 

The Nobbies Centre also offers a chance to walk among nesting seabird colonies. Silver Gulls nest here and chicks can be seen during spring and early summer. The chicks have pale greyish brown down, slightly spotted with black.

Juveniles have rows of brown speckles on the wings, and dark tips on tail feathers. Legs, Irises, and bill are black.

Adults have a predominantly white and silvery-grey back, with black-tipped wings. It has white head, tail and whole underparts. Irises are whitish, with an orange-red eye ring. Bill, legs and feet are orange-red.

We also experienced the Penguin Parade, but didn’t take any photos. We did however buy an adorable penguin plush in support of the Phillip Island wildlife Hospital. Over 300 penguins are oiled every year in Victoria. While cleaning themselves, the swallow the poisonous oils. They also can’t keep themselves warm when their feathers are covered in oil.

Volunteers knit sweaters (similar to the one above) for penguins to keep them warm during the rehabilitation process after being oiled by spills at sea. The money from the sale of these penguin plushes will be used by the Phillip Island wildlife Hospital who plays a major role in saving the oiled penguins. More info at http://penguinfoundation.org.au.

This post is one of an 11 part entry of our trip to Victoria, Australia.
See all the places we visited on this trip below:

• Dandenongs – Sherbrooke, Puffing Billy, Sassafras
• Geelong – Wool, Waterfronts, Bollards
• Great Ocean Road – Gibson Steps to Bay of Islands
• Great Ocean Road – Lorne, Apollo Bay, Cape Otway Lightstation
• Melbourne – Gardens, Aquarium, Gaol
• Melbourne – MCG, Yarra River, Southbank, St Kilda
• Melbourne – QVM, City Sights and Streets
• Mornington Peninsula – Dolphins, Mazes, Vinyards
• Phillip Island – Chocs, Koalas, Penguins, Nobbies
• Phillip Island – Churchill Island
• Yarra Valley – Healesville Sanctuary, Wine, Cheese