I got about five hours of sleep after my last day of volunteering before I was up again to prepare for the Kangaroo Island day tour. We got really lucky with this one; the tour is the first of its kind, cheaper than the usual day tour prices in order to cater for the student crowd. Nick and I met Sammie at the Adelaide Central Bus Station at about 6.30 am so we could get on the bus headed for Cape Jervis, where we would take the ferry across the Backstairs Passage to Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island.
The view on the way there was beautiful, just miles and miles of rolling hills, yellow-tinged grass and trees. We spotted a couple of wild kangaroos on the way there too, grazing in some long grass. We passed a couple of small towns, and there were loads of cows to be seen like little blobs on the landscape. We reached Cape Jervis after two hours in the bus, and the weather was pretty good. Not too sunny, with some cloud cover and a slight breeze.
The ferry ride was uneventful. We explored the decks and waited around hoping to see some dolphins. The guy who arranged the tour, Tyson said that there are usually some who follow the ferry as it moves through the water. No luck though, so we headed indoors to find some seats and buy something to snack on. The ride took about 45 minutes, and there was no reception to be had on our phones. Vodafone apparently has no coverage on the island, but Telstra and Optus do apparently. Kind of ridiculous, but oh well.
Once at our destination, we piled into a tour bus and set off with our driver, Glen giving us occasional snatches of information about the island. There used to be aborigines who lived there when it was connected to the mainland, but when the sea level rose about 2,000 years ago they moved away, leaving the island uninhabited until Matthew Flinders landed there in 1802. Now there's only about 4,500 people living there, and this place is way bigger than Singapore!
Our first stop was Prospect Hill, which is the highest point of the island. We had to climb up a whole lot of steps to reach the top. It wasn't so bad even with the heat, but it was the sudden onslaught of crazy flies that kind of threw off our groove. I can't believe I just typed that. Moving on. The view from the top was spectacular! I could see green-blue seas in the distance, and we pretty much had a 360 degree view of the island.
If you look closely at the picture above, you'll be able to just see our bus at the bottom right. Looks tiny from up there. After about five minutes admiring the view and battling the flies, we made our way back down the steps. The air-conditioning within the bus was a welcome relief to the dry heat outside. Once we were all settled in, we headed off on an hour's journey to the Seal Bay Conservation Park, famous for its basking Australian Sea Lions.
When we started our guided walk of the beach, Sammie, Nick and I stuck close to the guide so we could hear as much information as possible. We walked down this hill from the main entrance of the park, and it wasn't until we reached the platform leading to the beach that we saw all the sea lions scattered across the sand. We arrived just in time to watch as a sea lion swam right up to shore and dragged itself out of the water. I was so amazed by how close we were to these creatures, it was amazing.
Suddenly, from behind us we heard this loud noise like a small, long drawn out horn. We turned around to see THE MOST ADORABLE LITTLE BABY IN THE UNIVERSE come waddling out towards us. We moved around to give it clear passage to the beach, as it had come right from underneath the wooden steps we had gone down earlier. It was so cute oh my god I was squeaking with happiness.
The guide said that the baby was looking for its mother, and that would be why it kept making that strange honking noise (unglamorous way of describing it, but yeah). In that moment, as I watched the baby continue its awkward way down the sand, I knew that this trip was worth every single cent spent. Alhamdulillah, we were so lucky to have gotten the chance to see these creatures.
This fella was asleep underneath the platform when we headed back up to the main entrance. This is definitely the closest I will ever get to an Australian Sea Lion, and I'm happy I got a good shot of it snoozing away below us. It looks so cuddly.
After that, we headed straight for lunch at Vivonne Bay. The trip was kind of uninspiring, like the one to Seal Bay - nothing but scrubby bush, dry looking trees and lots of sand. I expected to have our meal by the seaside or something, but it was a sort of small resort place instead. The eating area was quite nice, and we all had DIY kebabs. It was quite tasty, and they served fruits as well, which was really nice.
After lunch, we headed for Little Sahara, which is a series of sand dunes somewhere north of Vivonne Bay. The main tourist activity there? Sandboarding! We trudged up two hills of fine sand to reach a mammoth of a hill, where a mini sandstorm was swirling at the top. We had a bunch of boards to share between us, so we took it turns to climb to the top of the hill and sliding down. The climb was ridiculously difficult. Not only was it steep, but the wind was blowing like crazy, and sand was whipping straight into our faces.
I waited at the bottom while Nick and Sammie went first. When Sammie arrived back at the bottom where I was, her entire face was dusted with sand, and her teeth and lips looked like she had been dipped into the stuff. First tip learnt that day; keep your lips pursed shut on the way down.
I went down twice, and both times it felt like agony getting to the top. Sliding down was fun, even though I didn't go as far as I hoped I would. By the end of the session, I was covered in sand. I'd scratch my head and it would snow around my shoulders, like very fine dandruff. I'm also sad to say that I lost my glasses somewhere around the dunes. I had hooked them to the front of my top, and when I got into the bus, they were gone. I was depressed for a while, but there was really nothing I could do but wait till I got back and put on the horrible old pair I wore here to Adelaide. Good thing it was sunny all day, so I could wear my powered shades without a problem.
That concludes part one of the Kangaroo Island tour! Stay tuned for part two. :)
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