Seals at Lady Julia Percy Island

Some of the most barren places in nature support some of the most spectacular wildlife. Ringed by cliffs, with a flat treeless top, the 329 acre, Lady Julia Percy Island, located just off the coast of Port Fairy, is home to mutton bird colonies, fairy penguins, sea birds, crayfish and sharks. However, the island is owned by seals.

Parks Victoria has counted 23,000 seals, making it the largest colony of Australian fur seals in the southern hemisphere. As the charter boat from Port Fairy approaches, hundreds of seals waddle, lumber and tumble down off rocks into the sea. Curious as puppies, they swim out around the boat, poking their heads up to investigate.

Parks ranger Brett Hardy says the seals swim about 30 kilometres to feed on squid along the edge of the undersea continental shelf for a week at a time before returning to the island to digest, or feed their young or sun themselves.

The seals also attract sharks and until great white shark fishing was banned in 2000, it was a favourite shark-fishing spot. A good boat trip will also allow visitors to see dolphins or in winter, whales, on the way to the island. At sunset the shearwaters return to their burrows in hundreds. Fairy penguins nuzzle down into their burrows. And the seals once again take over the island.