4-Day November Adventure: Sights, Sea, Seals and Sand

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. :)

The VH Adventure Part Two: Rain, Sea Spray and Penguins

This is a continuation of the Victor Harbor Adventure blog post series! Part One is over here, if you wanna read it.

So, after hanging around the town area for a bit, we went to buy groceries from Coles and brought them back to the apartment in the rain. Yes. It rained on us. Sammie and Nigel pretty much sprinted through the shower to get back home faster while the rest of us squelched our way down the street at a steady pace.  I am so glad I took my marshmallow jacket with me on the trip. It got sunny again after we were indoors for ten minutes. -__- 

So we headed for the horse-drawn tram that takes visitors across the Causeway to Granite Island. The tram was pretty soaked, so we didn't sit down. The driver was really nice though, he came up to wipe the benches down for us and everything. 

We took the upper level of the tram, because the view is better there. It was a really nice ride, although I felt a bit concerned about the horse pulling us along. There were a lot of signs everywhere assuring us that the horses are given lots of rest, and that the tram is on ball bearings so the load will be easier for them. Even then, I can't help but feel that the horses look a bit sad. :( Maybe it was the weather? I dunno.

This was a seal carved out of granite. It's pretty cool! Wish I could have gone nearer to check out the detail. I caught this on camera while we were on the tram.

A quick photo and thank you to the horse who pulled us along the whole 650 metres! Ours was the last tram coming to the island, so I hope it got a good rest after it reached the mainland.

It started to drizzle again as we started walking around the island. Our first stop was the Breakwater, a man-made stretch of granite pointing out into the ocean. It's pretty awesome there, as the waves literally come crashing against the rocks, sending a salty spray high into the air.

Check that out. Again, Sammie and Nigel didn't hesitate to start their photoshoot. It was pretty cold and windy - Sammie took off her jacket so she could take pictures, haha! We spent some time hanging out on the rocks before it started to rain again. We rushed for shelter, which was a cafe and gift shop nearby. Unfortunately, it was closed. We stood around trying to dry off for a while when the door to the gift shop opened and a guy asked us if we wanted to come inside. What a nice guy! We went in, some of us got coffee and hot chocolate, and I bought a penguin hat pin, as I collect them. Nick said that the shop guy was watching us from the window while we were on the Breakwater, just in case we got swept away. So nice of him.

It started to brighten up again before long, so we took some pictures with the gorgeous background. I finally tried the panorama mode on my camera! This one above was taken by Nick. We took quite a few panorama shots, but I think this is the nicest. While we were standing around chilling, we saw a woman out on the Breakwater get thoroughly drenched by a particularly strong wave. Poor thing was soaked through. From our angle, it really looked like a huge bucket of seawater was upturned over her head. Felt pretty relieved that it wasn't us in that position.

We started climbing up some steps so we could reach the top of the island. One good thing from all the rain was the beautiful rainbow shooting up from the top of Sammie's head. Yup.

There was something about the cold air up there along with the way the sun's rays reached us. The lighting was stunning - we were surrounded by sparkling blues and shining greens. That slight rise of land in the distance is called The Bluff. It's apparently really good for hiking, but we couldn't visit without a car. We were more than happy with Granite Island though. Walking over the top really made me think of Lord of the Rings and the way the land was spread out in the movies. Little fangirl in me got excited.

Photo credit of this one to Nigel, who was sort of Sammie's personal photographer for the trip. Love this shot, especially since it's with three of my favourite girls. :3 

We spent the rest of the walk around the island just admiring the scenery and doing some really cheesy 'My Heart Will Go On' reenactments on rocks facing the wind. The trail we went on was called the Kaiki Walk, which is about 1.5km long. It's supposed to take about 45 minutes, but I think we spent a good hour and a half just taking photos and enjoying ourselves.

Once we came back to the front of the island, we headed for the Penguin Centre, where we would go on a dusk tour and see fairy penguins coming home to their burrows. They're the smallest of all the penguin breeds in the world, and they're adorable! Unfortunately, the tour guide said that the penguin numbers on the island have gone from 2000 to less than 30 within the past decade. The problem is not just people, but also the sudden increase in seals living in the area. :/

This was one of the penguins at the centre who is a permanent resident. Usually the penguins here are rescued and unable to be released back into the wild. We heard some really sad stories about a penguin being attacked by seagulls and losing her eye and another penguin who as a chick was bashed against a rock by some kid who was visiting the island. So horrible. These rescued penguins pretty much live comfortably at the centre with all the food they can eat. 

The tour we went on was alright I guess - we got to see a few penguins, about four I think, one of them a chick. It was hard to enjoy the experience, as it started to rain again and the wind was blowing so hard. We were all frozen in our boots, damp and exhausted from the long day. The lack of penguins was probably because of the cold. 

The tour guide said so anyway: "It's probably too cold for the penguins!"

"They're not the only ones," Sammie said next to me, shivering in her light coat.

We got to feel some penguin skins before the tour ended, which was interesting. The guide brought a couple with her to show it to us; the reasoning being that if people could touch the feathers, they wouldn't try to do it to the live penguins on the island. It was pretty interesting, but a bit strange, as the skull of the penguin was still connected to one of the skins.

Finally, the tour ended and we brisk walked back home. It was the coldest I've ever been in my entire life. It was so cold, I reached a point where my face just felt like a lump of clay attached to the front of my skull, and I couldn't feel my toes. It was another kilometre before we could reach home, and it was drizzling too. I can't explain just how relieved we were to finally step into the apartment. We were all drenched. It was a good experience though, albeit not one I would ever want to go through again.

We had pasta for dinner cooked by Sha and Fyra - our first dinner as a family on vacation. While waiting for that, we took turns taking showers and just lay around on the sofa beds. I'm thankful for the heater they had in the apartment. We spent the rest of the night playing Monopoly. It was a good day overall, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. 

My next post will be about day two, so stay tuned!