Kangaroo Island

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Got picked up at 6.20am for our trip to Kangaroo Island. Drove for an hour an a half before catching the ferry across to the island. On the ferry ride across we saw some dolphins in the water. Upon arriving on the island our first stop was on one of the beaches on the south coast. it was a lovely beach with very soft sand and beautiful turquoise colour water. The water was a bit on the chilly side as there is nothing south of this island until you reach Antartica!!!! After the beach we were driving along when the tour guide suddenly pulled over at the side of the road and got out of the bus. A few minutes later he came back with an echidna that he had caught attempting to cross the road. The poor little thing curled himself up into a ball hiding his face and when he was put back on the ground he looked so cute waddling away. Next we went kayaking up a river. After being pretty poor at it at first I soon got into my stride but still got nice and wet! It was actually quite peaceful going up stream as no-one else was on the river at this point, but on the way down we had to dodge all the other kayaks heading towards us! For lunch everyone had meat off the BBQ but there was nothing different put in for me dispite requesting vegetarian options when booking the tour so i ended up with salad and bread :/ After lunch we went to Seal Bay where there were hundreds of seals all along the coast line. We had to stick close together in the group as the seals may attack stragglers. They are so fast and powerful and have been known to seriously injure or even kill people in the past. A baby seal approached the group and we all just had to stand still and wait for it to pass. If you run it will only chase you and they are much faster than us, or if the mother thinks the baby it in danger she will attack. Some people found it difficult to grasp the concept 'keep still' and some wander off from the group taking photos, but luckily nothing bad happened to anyone when we were there. We went sand boarding again in the afternoon, but it was quite diffferent to what I did on the west coast, where we were only giving the option of sitting down on the board. Our tour guide here was far more adverturous and gave us the option of also laying down or standing up on the board. My first and only attempt at standing up on the board went shockingly bad and I'd barely gone a few feet down the slope before falling on my ass, and once you're down it is impossible to get back up and restart! It is ridiculously hard trying to climb up the sand dunes, and as they were really high steep ones, today is was particularly killer. So I ditch trying to stand, climbed back up from the little distance I had gone down and opted to lay down instead. laying down on the board is easy, and soooo much fun!! :D It makes you go so much faster than a seating position and it is just so much better! I went so far on my first go. Anwen and I also went down together on the same board, which was also pretty fun. All in all ended up with sand everywhere! Haha! In the evening we went to a place called Koala Walk. There were a lot of eucalyptus tress here and if you look closely you can spot a load of koalas hiding in the trees. There were also a load of wild kangaroos and tiny wallabies here. The kangaroos came right up close and I got some brilliant pictures of them sitting up on their back legs. we stayed at a really cool lodge in the middle of the woods tonight. We had a brilliant camp fire going, so hot I felt like I was burning sitting infront of it, and everyone roasted marshmallows on the fire. Our trip was full of German and German-speaking Swiss people, with Anwen and I being the only two native English speaking people. With everyone else speaking German 90% of the time I did end up feeling quite isolated and got fed up and went to bed.

After a pretty good nights sleep the next morning we had lots of pancakes for breakfast, I think I may have had a bit too much maple syrup as I ended up pretty hyper later on in the day! Hehe. First stop today was a place called Remarkable Rocks, where there were some really bizzarely shaped rocks that made some great photo opportunities. I had some fun climbing over some rocks and jumping around 😊 Then we went to Admirables Arch, a naturally formed arch in the cliffs on the coast, and here we saw more seals and sea lions including the very rare New Zealand fur seal and the Australian sea lion. After this we went to another beautiful little beach and had a sunbathe and a snooze for an hour or two. Always great to have an opportunity to work on my tan :P Our last stop of the trip was at a honey tasting, got to try various types of honey all of which were very yummy and I bought some honey comb ice cream. Driving to the honey shop we killed lots of bees on the windscreen of the bus! Great thanks to them for their lovely honey :/ whooops!!! On the ferry back to the mainland we saw some penguins on the rocks near the coast.

Skyped mam and dad tonight for mam's birthday. Was lovely to see them even if they couldn't hear me! lol.

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Comments

[Melissa]

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Hi, I enjoyed your blog... particularly hearing about the wildlife, thanks for taking the time to blog so people like me can enjoy hearing about your adventures.