Kangaroo Island (December 27 - 28)

The first few hours of our journey were spent waking up early and heading to the Adelaide bus station where we would be shuttled to Cape Jervis. From there, Matt and I boarded the SeaLink shuttle boat, which took us to Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island. There we met our energetic and cheery tour guide Kate.

First stop:

I never thought that I would see sheep shearing in my life. Nor did I think it would be this interesting. This profession takes an incredible toll on the body, which is why sheep shearers use a harness to alleviate some of the back strain. After Rob finished shearing this sheep we felt the wool and it is soft, but surprisingly oily. The oil, called lanolin, is a wax excreted by the sheep to make the wool waterproof. Historically, sheep have been able to shed their coats without human intervention, but over the coarse of thousands of years they have become reliant on humans to shed the wool. They are shaved annually and if they are not shaved they will eventually be unable to move from the weight of the wool.

Our next stop was at a placed called Emu Ridge Eucalyptus. They sold eucalyptus based items like soaps, cleaners, cough drops, etc. They also sold Kangaroo Island honey, which comes from honey bees exported from Italy several hundred years ago and remain the only pure strain left in the world. I bought several jars because it was the best honey I have ever tasted. Unfortunately, this was confiscated from me at the airport when I left Australia and several of you are without gifts. Ma'af! (I'm sorry!)

This was a quick roadside stop that we made. I asked if many surfers came here and my tour guide replied, "Some, but not many. There are too many Great Whites in this area." I didn't realize that after South Africa, Southern Australia is one of the best places in the world to do Great White cage diving. If only I would have known earlier...

Seal Bay was our next stop through Kangaroo Island. Here reside the endangered Australian sea lion that swim into the ocean hunting for three days, then follow it up with three days of sleeping and laying on the beach. Matt and I were especially fortunate to get up close to one of the pups that decided to walk within a few feet of us and put on a show that eventually created a crowd of observers. Our tour guide said that in the two years that her boss had worked their that none of the seals had come that close to anyone, let alone put on a show.

Sand surfing at Little Sahara was the next challenge of our journey. Little Sahara is located slightly inland and as the name suggests it is a sand dune that shockingly springs out of nowhere. Our tour guide gave us a pair of boards and a spray that was essential for eliminating friction and being able to board down the sand. Lets see how I did on my first try...

Before reaching our final destination of the night we stopped at a southern beach where I dipped my feet into Arctic Waters.

When we arrived at our accommodation after a botched attempt at kayaking. Matt and I noticed a few friends in the backyard that kept us entertained...

The next morning we set off to Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. We set off on a walk through the gum trees (eucalyptus trees) and saw a ton of wild koalas. Most people know that koalas are lazy, sleep a lot, and just eat eucalyptus leaves. An interesting fact I learned at the sanctuary is that koalas are lazy because of the eucalyptus leaves, which have little to no nutritional value. Even more interesting was the fact that koalas are not born with the enzyme to digest eucalyptus. To survive, they need to eat their mother's feces when they become too old to drink their mothers milk.








Another interesting fact I learned and witnessed/heard is that when koalas fight they make this sound that is part Gremlin and part wailing cat. If I had not been told before hand what the sound was I would have thought one of the koalas were dying.

After koalas, we headed to Flinders Chase National Park. Our first stop was the Remarkable Rocks, which are naturally sculpted formations balancing on top of a large granite outcropping. You can see pieces of granite sticking out of different areas of the rocks. Below is the most famous image of the rocks and look only one hand to lift it.

Our next stop in Flinders Chase National Park was the Admirals Arch. Home to the New Zealand Fur Seal.

Next came a delicious lunch made by our tour guide Kate. We made on other beach stop at Stoke's Bay and then it was sadly time to leave Kangaroo Island. It was a treat to visit such a natural and ecological phenomenon that has remained relatively untouched by humans.