Kangaroo Island

We spent a day on Kangaroo Island - the third largest island off the coast of Australia. Tasmania is the largest, and I don't remember the name of the next, but that doesn't really matter. The history lesson part follows, so if you're not interested in that, skip to the next paragraph. Kangaroo Island was discovered by Matthew Flinders in 1802. That explains why the name Flinders is so prevalent in Australia - Flinders Street, Flinders Central Station, Flinder Chase National Forest, Flinders University, etc. Flinders was an English explorer who charted much of the southeastern and southern part of Australia. At the same time that Flinders was doing his thing, Nicolas Baudin (a Frenchman) was also exploring the same area. The peninsula on which Adelaide is situated is called Fleurieu Peninsula (here that's pronounced flur-ri-oo). Some of the names on Kangaroo Island are French, because of Baudin's explorations. Flinders didn't realize when he discoved the island that that's what it was, until he climbed to the top of Prospect Point, and realized that he was surrounded by water. He could, though, see the southern coast of Australia in the distance - as it turns out only 12 km away.

The island is beautiful, and most of it has been declared national park land, so it can't be developed. There are miles and miless (here that would be kilometres and kilometres) of mallie trees (gum trees), and few sealed (paved) roads. The town of Penneshaw, where the ferry from Port Jervis landed, is so small it doesn't have a post code. There is one general store, which serves as petrol station, food shop, general goods shop and post office. We took a bus tour, as we quickly figured out that we would neveer see anything on our own (because we wouldn't know what to look for).

The tour took us first to Seal Bay, where wwe could get within 10 metres of the sea lions. The colony of sea lions returns to the same bay all the time. There are about 600 sea lions in this colony, and at anytime about half of them will be on shore. The area we were in had several dozen, but as the beach stretches for miles, I'm sure the number would quickly add into the hundreds.

They spend about 3 days out in the water, and then return to the shore to rest, also for about 3 days. While we were watching and taking pictures, a female and her pup were reunited. It was incredibly to watch. One on the shore calling as soon as he recognized his mother, and the mother coming out of the water returning the call. Then both of them moving across the sand to greet each other. Amazing! Kristin got a video clip of that, and as it's on one of my cameras, I'll find it and upload it when I can.

The soil on the island is very sandy and colourful. The sand changes from red (think PEI) to honey brown. Many of the roads are unsealed, and so you can see straight red lines through forests of green and gray. There is, unfortunately, a reason for the gray. In 2007, the island had a major forest fire that destroyed 20% of the forest. The tour guide explained it was really more of a brush fire, and the trees burned, but didn't necessarily die. Despite fire fighters best efforst, the fire finally stopped because it reached the sea and the wind changed. Nothing else was making any difference, as the area was too large. The tree tops are all gray (no leaves), but the undergrowth has come back to a height of about a metre and a half and is a lush green. Hence, the green and gray. In another two years, you won't be able to tell there had been a fire.

From Seal Bay, we took off down the coast to see something called the Remarkable Rocks. What makes them so remarkable is that they are granite - in an area that is mostly limestone. The rocks have been twisted and shaped by wind and water into incredible sculptures, reminiscent of Henry Moore and Antoni Gaudi. From the rocks, there is nothing further south for a few thousand kilometres until you hit Antartica, about 4000 km away.

From the rocks we went down to Cape de Coudic to the lighthouse and the Admirals Arch. The lighthouse had a lighthouse keeper until the 1960s, when the island finally got electricity. Until then, the keeper had kerosene lamps burning in the lighthouse to warn ships about the reefs. At the bottom of the cliffs where the lighthouse is, there is a colony of New Zealand fur seals. We couldn't get close to them, as the cliffs are too steep and dangerous, but it was fun to watch them from a distance all the same.

After a long day, back to the ferry to take us across the water, called Backstairs Passage, to Port Jervis and then back to Adelaide. It was a beautiful trip and well worth it.