I am trying to work out if it is worth making the effort to see the penguins at Phillip Island when we are in Melbourne in January, either by day trip or staying down there.

Currently I have got nine nights penciled in for Melbourne and Great Ocean Road, and I am thinking of splitting that 6 nights MEL / 3 days Ocean Road. After extensive research I have decided that we wouldn't want to do a group day trip tour to see the penguins, and would drive ourselves. I don't fancy driving back to MEL afterward, so would prefer to stay somewhere local, stay one night, and then start driving to the Great Ocean Road. I'm struggling to find any decent accommodation on Phillip Island which will let us stay only one night over the weekend (unfortunately that's how our dates work). So then maybe we should just put up with having an unpleasant late night drive back to MEL.

We did see the penguins near Cape Town a few years ago, so we have seen penguins before, so that also adds to my confusion.

Are the penguins that unmissable to go to all the effort, or should we not bother and just concentrate on MEL? (For info we will definitely be doing a guided day trip to the Yarra Valley for the wine)

Thanks, I appreciate any feedback!