Carole & MaryLou's Excellent Adventure-continues

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The sea days passed too quickly. We slept in and enjoyed what the ship had to offer. There are no poker players on this leg but the lecturer is very good and his specialty is coral reefs and the animals that live there. We read and enjoy bingo or trivia and stayed up late for the Black & White Ball. Here in the Crow’s Nest the officers are available to dance with the Ladies and random prizes are awarded. We enjoyed our Stingers and watched the action, such as it was. The dance floor was crowded. This crowd dances rather than gamble.

Port Lincoln, coulda shoulda too late.

We didn’t have plans for Port Lincoln. Nothing offered appealed so instead we headed to the spa for a port day special. MaryLou enjoyed a hydrating facial and I purred through a hot stone massage. Then we took the shuttle into town. Port Lincoln is a typical small Australian town of about 4,000. Fishing and shipping are its main industries and there wasn’t much to see. I need a pedicure badly so we stopped in a salon and they wanted $65, almost as much as the ship charges. We walked about a while and then headed back to the ship. If I had been thinking I should have rented a car and headed out to the parks and preserves that dot the area but it was too late. Still, any day being pampered on board and talking to the locals is a good day.

Adelaide – A great adventure

While looking at the port description I noticed that the Cleland Wildlife Park offered Koala cuddles. New South Wales and Victoria do not permit visitors to hold a koala and we had to miss Brisbane in Queensland while MaryLou recovered so here in South Australia would be the last chance. The ships outing to Cleland was filled and cost $179 pp so we decided to go out on our own. We took the shuttle into Adelaide and caught the local bus. It took us as far as Crafters, a small village, and dropped us off in the car park. We had two hours to wait before the Cleland shuttle would pick us up so we found a deli and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast.

We stopped in the local hotel just to look around and contributed $4 to the pokey machines before heading to the car park. The bus had to wait until the next bus from Adelaide arrived so instead he dropped us off at Mt. Lofty. High in the Adelaide hills, Mt. Lofty Summit offers a great view of the Adelaide Plains and on a really clear day you can see Kangaroo Island, our next port.

The bus picked us up and left us at the entrance of the park. It was just around 1 p.m. We watched the feeding of the Tasmanian Devils and fed some kangaroos and then proceeded to the high point of the trip for MaryLou. She got to hold a koala. Steven had just awakened for one of his many naps. He was a bit sleepy but soon nestled comfortable in MaryLou’s arms. He was a six-year-old male and was not a lightweight. The picture she bought is wonderful. Not sure who is smiling more, ML or Steven.

We checked out an aviary and fed the waterfowl at the pond. Is case you’re wondering the animal feed is sold at the entrance and is good for the critters. While we were admiring the Cape Breton Goose and the Australian pelican, the yellow-billed spoonbill and the Black-Tailed Native Hen (with chicks) a baby wild koala walked down the path and started up a Eucalyptus tree no more than two feet away. It was a really magical moment to be so close to a wild koala. We watched as he (or she) climbed to the top of the tree and started to munch on the leaves. We wandered around always mindful of the time since the last shuttle from Cleland left at 4:30. We headed back to Adelaide and then back on the shuttle. Enjoyed a drink, had sandwiches in the cabin and settled in for an early morning wake-up call for Kangaroo Island. Total cost for the day including breakfast, park entrance fees, animal feed, picture, and bus fare was $95, a savings of $253 from the ship’s tour price.

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