Kangaroo Island with Bob and Anne April 3,4,5 & 6, 2007
We bought fruit, veggies and fresh chicken at the Adelaide Central Market. Jim and I think the food tastes so much better here in Australia. Yogurt is delicious – we had to taste each variety, but settled on one container of berry and one of mango.
We mosied our way down from Adelaide to Port Willunga Beach, scavaged the beach and caves in the cliffs. We explored Normaville Beach – had tea and scones with the afternoon sun streaming down on us. Great bird watching – yellow tailed black cockatoo and nankeen kestrel!
Wedged tailed eagles entertained us on the hill right before we boarded the 6pm Sealink ferry for the 45 minute trip from Port Jervis to Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island (KI). Nice ferry crossing across Backstairs Passage with a smooth ocean and gorgeous sunset with full moon rising. Were we dreaming?
Found Naomi’s shack – a little summer cottage at Boudin’s Beach, just ten minutes outside of Penneshaw – we settled in and Jim made a delicious chicken mushroom artichoke supper – Prompted by Jim , we went for a moonlight walk through the bushes to find a rocky beach – single sailboat moored offshore – walked along the edge around the deep blow holes – stepping carefully – yikes- Anne and I could easily slip in and disappear – walked all the way around the point – up a boardwalk and back to the shack.
Woke up early – nice early morning sunlight –we all went bird watching right in the back yard - in the gum trees we saw parrots, wattles, and black and white striped birds (spine bills), Eurasian goldfinches, silver eyes, and lots of honeyeaters (birds) and – lots of honey bees – right in the same gum tree! The buzz was noisy.
Driving over to Seal Bay – to see Australian sea lions – we got a view of the flat and scrubby landscape. What we saw green in November now brown and so dry in April. We walked up the boardwalk before taking the tour to the beach - seals were sleeping right near the boardwalk – nice view of the large number of seals all sleeping in among the seaweed – some just arriving from 3 days of swimming and feeding – pups looking for their moms – lots of sleepy seals – beautiful beach – not as hot as when we were here in November.
Drove to Admiral’s Arch to see the fur seals – New Zealand fur seals and Australian fur seals – Jim calls them “tootsie rolls” – long dark chocolate figures sleeping along the rocky shore – some swimming in the water near the edge of the rocks.
Back along the road to Remarkable Rocks - nice picnic out of the wind – then fun to wander around these interesting rocks – Jim and I painted with watercolors from down below – nice to relax and view for a while – I spent some time photographing, too –
Nice day of bird watching – scarlet robin, white bellied sea eagle, superb fairy wren- Bob and Anne have Savaorski binoculars which are so helpful for identifying species and really fun!
On the way out of Flinder’s Chase we decided to do the Platypus Walk. After hiking 3 kilometers in and searching around 3 water pools – Bob ushered us over to see a platypus on the opposite side of a dark pool – wrestling with a root – chewing it or somehow working with it – the platypus even turned completely over on his back a few times- and scratched himself - then he’d get up to the surface of the water all flat so we could see his whole body from beak to tail – a long dark critter – resembling a beaver – but reminding me of a mini – I mean tiny- hippo- just trying to relate to this very rare animal and understand this unusual mammal – one of the few egg laying mammals- monotreme (one hole for everything) – very interesting – I am glad I saw a platypus in the wild – I do not think I shall ever see another one and that is an amazing feeling.
Driving home – getting dark – sunset off to the left as we cruised home along the curvy bitchumin roads – full moon rising on the right – OK for kangaroos, wallabies, and potteroos – OK as long as they stayed by the side of the road – there does seem to be a lot of road kill at night – judging by what is by the side of the road in the morning –
Home to Naomi’s shack at Boudin’s Beach by 7:30 pm – nice veggie supper - early to bed……
Thursday morning – met Bob and Anne on the road as they had gone birding early – buzzed in to Penneshaw – for coffee, TP, and Milk – also – checked e-mail at the Business Office – back to Naiomi’s Shack for big breakfast on the deck – I moved the round white formica table and swivel chairs out to the deck – yeah! The furniture and décor is “so 70s” here. Cool. Groovey. I found Joan Baez’s Memoir in the bookcase and I was back at Woodstock!
Slow drive over to Anitchamber Beach – roads are rough – dirt roads with ridges- such a pretty white sand beach – soft sand – quiet calm – Anne and Bob walked to the bushy end of the beach while Jim and I walked to the rocky point. Lots of crevasses and penguin footprints covered the hill. The black jagged rocks made an imposing scene so we snuck around and carefully peeked in on some nesting penguins. There must be thousands of penguins here every night! We sat in the shade of the rocks and painted. I did a small watercolor looking back to the curve of the beach. Jim painted a larger scene. Nice to relax and really look at a place - the way painting makes you focus. We felt very peaceful.
We were surprised to hear that people think the Antichamber Beach is haunted! People have tried to camp there, become frightened and leave. No spooks bother us but, I do not think I will try to spend the night there – maybe in a boat anchored off shore….might be interesting.
Cape Willoghby Lighthouse was our next stop along the corrugated roads. We arrived just as the grouchy tour guide finished his last tour for the day. The grump only gives three tours a day and the place is not that big! He said he had better things to do and did not allow us to climb inside up to the top of the lighthouse. We wandered around the magnificent orange lichen covered cliffs with a stiff breeze blowing. A steep drop down to an angry ocean made us watch our step as we frolicked on the edge of the world looking out to the Great Southern Ocean a long way off to Antartica.
Nice pizza dinner at the Dudley wine cellar door – a modern glass sided dining area looking out on the ocean – “best view in the world, I reckon”. Jim said.
PENGUINS at PENNESHAW are cute, noisy, and active! Every night at dark, the Penguin Center invites viewers to quietly watch as the smallest variety of Penguin – the fairy penguins return to their burrows. The set up is very natural – just a boardwalk overlooking where the penguins walk. Thousands of the 12 inch tall penguins swim by the Kangaroo Island ferry dock right up to Hog Bay Beach. They come ashore to breed, nest and raise their young. We saw all kinds of behavior! We heard all kinds of noises – quacks, groans, squeals, chirps, fluttering. They come out of the water and gather together at the beach and then waddle up the paths together. They all find their own spots. Amazing what personalities the birds displayed as we watched them for a few hours. I really liked the couple down the end – at one point he had his wing around his partner as they “hung out” at the door of their rock rookery. It seemed like they enjoyed having people watching them. Jim like the guy who kept waiting for his mate – waited and waited near the door and then was still waiting standing on top of his rock when we left. I sure hope they found each other. Penguins have a tough life – many predators. Their average life span is only seven years. The oldest one in the Adelaide Zoo is only 15 years old.
I love fairy penguins. Their blue coat is pretty, soft, and very thick. I like thinking about all those penguins enjoying each other and doing what penguins do best.
