Kangaroo Island

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Kangaroo Island
So we drive away from Adelaide in a bit of a dreary morning. I stop at the Post and ship off a package of things unnecessary for the next adventure via sea mail. It should get there in a few months. Hopefully it beats me home. I have... Minimal expectations. Darren is driving and doing great on the left side of the road. The drive is pretty uneventful until we hit cape Jarvis. The view opens up to a gorgeous coast and the sun starts beaming. Loads of eucalyptus and violet wild flowers and tons of green. We get to the ferry and it's pretty easy. Just drove into a ridiculous teeny parking spot and sat out on the back of the boats the sun is out and the day is beautiful as we plan our adventure. I feel much much better and am starting to gain excitement for the trip. We disembark in Penneshaw, and it's a coastal town without much to it. A few shops and hotels and a few wineries which is where we head. We know we have to get on the road towards our cabin by 4:30 to make it before dark. You don't drive on Kangaroo Island past dark or you will pretty inevitably hit a roo. So we head to the Dudley cellar door and have 5 or so wines and have a stunning overlook of the coast and ocean. They even sell tee offs so you can hit a golf ball into ocean from a cliff. We leave here for sunset winery, again with beautiful views and I buy a bottle of sparkling Shiraz. We then head north to kingscote for sandwiches and to go grocery shopping. We buy food for all our meals, as there really are no eating options on our side of the Island. I then take over the wheel, and find it's not as scary as expected. It's tempting to drive too close to the shoulder, but otherwise it's pretty intuitive. I have to brake for a few kangaroos and we see a few echidnas on the side. Most of the roads are paved "sealed" and I think we see maybe 5 cars in passing. We get to the farm just at sunset and it's... Perfect. We are the only visitors for the night, and the only other people there are two girls from the UK there to do their 3 months of farm work (it's a requirement for their Visa) and a young Italian who has been there for a few years. The owners weren't there at all, and our cabin has no key or lock. But who is there? A full farm of sheep, free range chickens, 2 sheep dogs, and so so many kangaroos and wallabies. Darren took pics at sunset and they were incredible. One of the sheep dogs is 15yo and retired, but still entertains himself by herding the wild ducks all day, who hilariously oblige. We made kangaroo burgers (my first time having red meat in 16 years but felt it was a must do) and a cauliflower and lentil dish. We turned it super early because Darren was still jet lagged, we had an early morning, and because ... Well, there was just nothing else else to do, we went to bed. Our cabin was small but very cute, with a fully equipped kitchen. The first night was quite cold but tolerable. Day 1 was our adventure day. Started with a 20 km run in flinders chase park. I had a great indoor/outdoor shower in this crazy stone bathroom they have at the farm and then we drove to the remarkable rocks and admirals arch at the south of the island. Both incredible. We got to see so many seals on the rocks and they were adorable. We ended the adventures at Kelly's Caves, an elaborate underground cave system with gorgeous stalagtites and stalagmites and crystal formations. It was actually only formally discovered in 1920. It was formed different from most underground caves as it was first formed by the underwater sand dunes pushing up on the rocks and then displacing, and the crystals forming from the ground water. It's named after "Kelly the horse" a horse said to have disappeared on the 1800s around the caves, and now fabled to have unknowingly fallen into a hidden opening. We returned to the farm and had chicken and asparagus on the grill and once again, an early night. The stars are just incredible... We can actually see 2 more galaxies than in the states. Day 2 I have deemed our cultural adventure. Which means, a day of eating and drinking. We start with a visit to Hansons Bay to see some koalas. We spotted 5 and one Joey. So cute. We then went to the racetrack for the beginning of the art fair starting that week. Really just ok. But all was redeemed at our subsequent stops: honey ice cream and chocolate dipped honeycomb at Clifford's honey farm, gins and chili vodka at KI Distillery, ciders at Rookery Wines, and wines at Bay of shoals. We then hung out by the shore with the pelicans and fishermen until it was time to head back to our little farm. We roasted and stuffed some acorn squash and had...ahem, an early night. We slept like wallabies and awoke for our last morning. We had a nice run around the farm, avocado and Gouda on toast and kiwi yogurt parfaits and the drove down to the ferry for our return home. I must say, I was quite impressed with our camping gourmet. The drive home was uneventful. We stopped off at Joel and sheridans and got to hang out with the cockatiel and macaw. We then turned in the rental car and boarded our virgin Australia flight to Sydney.

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