Kangaroo Island Adventure

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Welcome to South Australia! (a new Australian state for the travel blog)

The last leg of our visit by the Harpers was a spectacular finale and finished off the coast of Adelaide on Kangaroo Island. This relatively unspoilt terrain (about a third of the island is national parklands) is Australia's third largest island and is full of wildlife and impressive land formations and views. Although the island can be reached by ferry, we decided that we would have more time to spend exploring the island if we flew there and the airplane ride from Adelaide turned into an experience in itself (with 12 seats and Matt in the co-pilot position) and gave a great overview of the island as we flew into Kingscote.

We rented a 4-wheel drive vehicle as soon as we landed and headed for the coast to take in the daily pelican feeding. These massive birds congregate in the same spot every day and were literally bumping into us as they jostled for position to get the scraps of food provided by John "the pelican man" from the local Penguin Center (which we revisited later that evening). From there we drove out along the northern coast of the island and stopped along the way to see the first Kangaroos of the trip grazing in the shade. A highlight of the drive included a stop at Stokes Beach which first appeared to be a coastline covered in massive boulders, but after closer inspection and a 5 minute walk squeezing through the crevaces and cracks created by these rocks, a beautiful secret sandy beach spread out before us. That evening was capped off by a little penguin tour at the Center and included an astrology lesson and investigations of the penguin burrows that were being inhabited by molting penguins at that time of year.


The following day started early and involved a personal tour of the southern side of the island and Flinders National Park on the western edge of the island by our local guide, Greg. It was great to get some of the history of the island and special access to areas of the island we normally would not have been able to get into. We found a koala sitting in a tree just on the side of the road and walked around an old deserted farm where local kangaroos were prolific. It was amazing to get as close as we did in their environment and Kendall even got close to having to box one of the protective male kangaroos that thought Kendall was taking too many pictures of his kangaroo girlfriend. A stop at Seal Bay provided another up close and personal encounter with a massive colony of sea lions and it was great fun to sit there and watch the interactions between differing aged male and female lions, from little pups all the way up to huge mature males who looked over their own harem of females. A final stop at some impressive geological formations (Admiral's Arch and Remarkable Rocks) provided for some great photo opportunities and more observations of a colony of New Zealand fur seals. The action didn't stop all day and we are finding it hard to believe how much we fit into our short visit as we are going through these photos now.

The last day of our vacation saw Jim and Betty Harper off to the Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, while Jamie and Kendall spent a relaxing day with us touring the renowned Barossa Valley Wine Region just north-west of Adelaide. Many of these wineries have a truly historic feel to them and some even contained grape vines over 130 years old. We all tasted some great varietals and bolstered our wine collection with a few of the favorites.

It was sad to see the trip come to an end, but we really made the most of it and would highly reccomend this route along the southern edge of the country to get a real feel for some of the Amazing things you can find in Australia.... and all of this was done in a week! Thank you Harpers for such an amazing vacation, it was great having you out here.

Talk to you all soon,
Matt and Heidi

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Photos

Your co-pilot is back!
Matt helps fly planes too!

Fisherman's Catch
Crayfish- basically like a lobster, except they don't have the pinching claws