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Published: April 26th 2006
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Baby Possum
Have you ever seen anything so cute?! Koala is an aboriginal word for "animal that doesn't drink" - they get enough from eucalyptus leaves. If you ever see one drinking it is either because it is really sick or there is a severe drought on and they can't get enough from the leaves. Kangaroos also don't need much water and can survive for months without it. Female kangaroos mate again within days of giving birth but they have a reproductive adaptation called "delayed implantation." The fertilized egg will cease development for a while, apparently controlled by the mother. Depending on the growth of the joey in the pouch or the weather that season, the fertilized egg will begin development again when the mother kangaroo is ready The kangaroo and emu were chosen for the Australian coat of arms as neither animal can walk backwards - symbolic of a nation that is determined to move forward and not dwell on the past Having explored most of the chunk of land within 3 hours' drive north of Adelaide, I decided to head to the coast for the Anzac day holiday weekend. I'd heard friends and colleagues raving about the unspoilt beauty of Kangaroo Island
so, on the spur of the moment, I booked myself onto another Adventure Tours tour of the island.
It's a very pleasant 1.5 hour drive south west of Adelaide to Cape Jervis, where the SeaLink ferry sets sail for Penneshaw, KI. I met up with the rest of the tour there, and we set off round the island. So many beautiful beaches and wildlife. We visited Seal and Vivonne Bays, the Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch, Flinders Chase National Park... Everywhere we saw wild animals in their natural habitat, free from the foxes and rabbits that have decimated wildlife on the mainland. Some animals, such as the koala, were introduced to KI to save them from the threat of extinction on the mainland. Some have fared too well on the island, and the koala population explosion has become a real problem. They are literally eating themselves out of house and home, and destroying the habitat of other native animals.
We stayed the night at Flinders Chase Farm bunkhouse and were free to explore the surrounding paddocks. I set off with my torch after dinner and saw hundreds of Kangaroo Island kangaroos (a subspecies of the Western Greys), Tamar wallabies
and possums.
As a rule, the Aussies I've met have been warm, friendly and generous, particularly those living in more rural areas. Kangaroo Islanders are no exception. The Wayward Tours bus had been leapfrogging the route to Flinders Chase with us, and Dave the driver/guide was a local (the only local driving a tourbus it seemed). After dinner, we got chatting and discovered a mutual respect for Port Power (apparently there's some other AFL team in Adelaide called the Crows, pah)! I told him that I was planning on staying on a couple of extra days on the island, in the YHA. At this, Dave said "you can't stay there - come and crash at my place!". Thus, the next evening I said goodbye to the Adventure Tours travellers when they left for the ferry, and jumped on Dave's bus. He shared a house with 3 other people who are all involved in tourism on the island. We had dinner and a few beers together and admired the stunning views from their balcony over Penneshaw bay, and the feint glow of light from Adelaide in the distance. With no pollution, from light or factory, the sky seemed carpeted with
stars, and we could see the milky way quite clearly. The next morning the sunrise was equally beautiful.
Dave works 6 days a week at this time of year, and he offered to take me back round the island on his bus. I got an insight into the life of a tour guide as I accompanied him to the shops and down to the ferry. It requires a great deal of energy, enthusiasm, organisational and logistical skills, as well as dawn starts - I don't think I'd be much good at it! They have to have a wide knowledge of the history, geography and flora and fauna of their area, be cheerful and friendly to all sorts of people, and be able to organise food for 20+ hungry, but sometimes picky, travellers!
The Wayward tour went to many of the same places as the Adventure Tours bus, but also to some less well-known spots. I was lucky, too, in that the weather took a turn for the better and I was able to see the Remarkable Rocks without the shroud of mist and rain that they had had the previous day. We were also incredibly lucky to see
a whale - it is really the wrong time of year to see them but we could all see clearly the moving spout of water out in the bay. We speculated that it may have been ill, or lost.
The only saddening sight on KI is the amount of roadkill - Australian animals seem to be particularly bad at determining the speed, direction and danger of passing vehicles, and it is foolhardy to drive at night in rural areas if it can be avoided. On KI, if an animal is hit, it is important to make sure it is dragged safely off to the side of the road, as rare wedge-tailed eagles can be hit while eating the carcass. It is said that if a driver kills one eagle, he really kills two, as they mate for life and the other bird will sit by its dead mate and starve to death. There is a wildlife preservation centre on the island, however, and joeys rescued from the pouches of dead marsupials can be taken there. We all got the chance to cuddle a baby possum there that had been rescued - the cutest animal I've ever seen!
Another
unusual incident on the trip was the sighting of a yellow coloured Tiger Snake. All the other Tiger snakes we'd seen on KI (which were all dead on the roads) had been a gun-metal grey colour. The (very much alive) 6 foot long snake we saw at the end of the trip was yellow/black. This isn't unusual for the variety found on the mainland, but it appeared to be unheard of on KI. These snakes are very aggressive - the photo is taken from several metres back! Most other snakes will dart away from people but tiger snakes will attack and can launch themselves their full length. This one flattened itself out briefly (a danger sign) before winding away rapidly under the nearest bush.
Our tour wound its way back through Kingscote (where we saw the Pelicans) to Penneshaw. Every evening at Penneshaw hundreds of little, or fairy, penguins make their way up from a hard day at sea to their burrows.
We finished off the tour with a meal and a beer at the local friendly pub before saying farewell to Dave as he set off to prepare for the next day's tour.
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