Jail and More Kangaroos

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The plan for today is to check out a few local attractions: the lighthouse and the old jail to be specific. The lighthouse is only a few kilometers away, and after parking we climb the hill up to the base of it. Photos show what various migrating whales look like, but we don't see any though the view of the beaches up and down the coast is spectacular.

Our second stop is the jail (Gaol) which dates back to the late 1800. The area around the jail is now a campground with the last of the weekend campers enjoying the day. We watch a DVD about the jail before beginning our tour. The jail was build to house prisoners who were to work on creating a breakwater for the bay as a refuge for ships in storms. Later, during the first world war, it was used to intern German citizens of Australia. The breakwater was never completed and became obsolete with improved steam ships.

It was fun for the kid to try out the jail cells and the structure provides a link to Australia's early history as a penal colony. After wandering around for a bit, we take a road down the cliff side and walk out on the span of breakwater that remains. It was sort of sad to think of all of the hard work that had gone into cutting and transporting the stone to create this breakwater, only for it to never be completed and not really be needed.

On the way back to town, we took a wrong turn and found ourselves facing a huge group of Kangaroos off to the side of the road. We parked the car and spent a good half an hour watching and photographing them. They seem totally unconcerned with our presence and we got quite close.

After lunch we spent the afternoon getting school work done. The science lesson in particular lend themselves well to what we have seen of animal habitats.

We hadn't heard back yet from our Australian acquaintances with the farm in Texas, so we attempt to give them a call on our world phone (our Vodafone has proved to be a big disappointment and seems to have next to no coverage). We manage to speak to Greg's mother, but can't get through to them. They have received our email though, and the mother invites us to head up so that is the plan for tomorrow. It is though, a 6 ½ hr drive so I am not sure if we will do it all in one day.

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