Wow! We just had a whirlwind two-day tour of a wonderful place called Kangaroo Island the Galapgos of Australia. We went over by ferry ... and for all of us who complain about the cost of our ferry travel, time to look around. The cost for one car and one passenger round trip is $256.00. A walkon passenger is around $80.00. This, apparently is the most expensive ferry in the world for the time and distance. Only 45 minutes from the mainland to KI !
We started this leg of our big adventure at 6:00 AM on Thursday with the bus picking us up at the hotel - Majestic Roof Garden Hotel - lovely hotel....driving us to the bus station, we got on another bus to take us to the ferry. The bus travel part took us two and one half hours. The ferry ride over was on a small ferry with not nearly enough seats for all the passengers. Cute but very rocky ride on the way over to KI. At the ferry terminal, we were picked up by a big bus - 31 passengers - and this was our daytime home for the next two days. Our bus driver, Rod, was fabulous. He is retired but the company keeps giving him a few tours when they need a driver.
The first stop was an eucalyptus distillery. Very interesting how this is done and a very simple operation. Everything on this farm is powered by solar or fueled by wood left over from other projects. This farmer is very clever about energy, all of Canada (mainly the governments) could take a lesson from his book. Nothing is wasted.
Next stop was Birds of Prey. Here are rescued owls, eagles, kookaburras, and hawks. I got to have a little hawk fly to me and take a treat before flying back to her master. A great experience. See picture above.
From there we went to Seal Bay. It was very cold, on the south side of KI, next stop Antarctica... wind coming right off the ice and blowing our way. We went for a beach walk with the National Parks Ranger amongst a breeding colony of Australian Sea Lions. Seal Bay is one of only two places in the world where visitors can walk on the beach with the seal lions in their natural wild state.
These creatures will go out to sea for three days at a time to gather food for their young and then come back to land and the pups for three days. As the pups get older, they are taken into the water gradually and finally, when they are old enough, they too go hunting for three days in the Ocean and start their own cycle.
We went to the Parndana Wildlife Park. This was a thrilling experience. We toured the wildlife and bird park seeing many native Australian animals and birds. Patted a sleeping koala and fed a lot of Kangaroo Island kangaroos. They are both soft. The koala could care less as long as you just pat him and let him sleep. The roos, on the other hand, want the food in your hand and will use their paws and sometimes claws, to hold your hand where they can eat the food. While in the kangaroo compound, we saw a variety of fowl but I really do not know what they were. Mystery birds...
And both April and I got to cuddle a baby wallabee..... too cute for words.
We were soon on our way to visit Island Pure Sheep Dairy, a unique and enterprising farm. There we had the opportunity to observe sheep being milked like cows with the milking machines, and sampled delicious cheeses - including Haloumi - grilled with a squeeze of lemon juice - delicious!!!! This company makes wonderful yogurt but we resisted buying any because we just do not have anywhere to store it...
Off to find the Kangaroo Island Lodge and have dinner . Our room was sparse but livable. We were only there for a few hours. For dinner we both tried a fish called Whitting fish. Very nice, mild tasting, firm but not hard. Cooked to perfection. With lots of chips and a salad. Of course, we tried a glass of wine from a local winery - Two Wheelers. Nice white.
Dinner was a bit rushed because this Lodge provides a nocturnal tour of a Little Penguin colony. These are the smallest penguins in the world. They make the oddest noises and burrow to lay eggs and raise their young. I did get some good pictures but was only allowed to use a red light to see the penguins.
Finally we got to go to bed around 11 pm....zzzzzzzz
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