Monday, November 2, 2015

Days 10 to 12: Kangaroo Island

Touching Eagle Rock in Flinders Chase National Park

Before we even arrived in Australia, there were 2 places that we were hoping to see during our year. One was Lady Elliott Island (which we did during our Great Barrier Reef Trip) and the other was Kangaroo Island. 

This place has incredible beauty and untouched natural landscapes - and the wildlife was everywhere!

We drove our car onto the ferry and began our next leg of the trip...






Kangaroo Island came into view...




Our little penguin friends are on this island too!


We made a stop at Brown Beach on the way to our accommodations in American River.







We found some little penguin tracks...


...and followed them to a possible nesting spot. 



Pelican Lagoon Conservation Park



We had some time to kill before checking in - so we pushed on to Kingscote (the largest town on Kangaroo Island and South Australia's oldest European settlement).

KI has its own special greeting when you're driving - just raising one finger (the index finger) to the oncoming driver is a "hello!"

This was the view from our table at the Aurora Ozone Pub

After lunch, we drove to Seal Bay Conservation Park to have a close encounter with the sea lions. 

This is the only place in the world where you can walk amongst a wild colony of around 
1,000 Australian Sea Lions (one the rarest species on the planet!)




We saw a skeleton of a whale on the walk








We were the only ones on the guided tour down to the beach to walk amongst the sea lions. 

On our way we spotted this...






We continued on to the beach...




The next day began with me not feeling well, so Chy-Anne took the boys to Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park while I recuperated. After a rest, I went for a walk along the shoreline of American River to find some unique rock formations...


There were black swans everywhere!









They had some adorable animal moments at the Wildlife Park.




They even saw an albino joey in the pouch!




There were koalas in the trees on our drive to Clifford's Honey Farm. The roads were so white that Chy was looking for piles of brown koala droppings on the roadside while we drove - which tipped us off that there was a koala up in the tree there. 

Mom and her joey






We sampled some natural KI honey ice cream...delicious!


Next, we took on the 500 + steps of Prospect Hill to see the island from the top!














Dinner in American River (and a nice messsage for Bryce from Liam:)


Our final big day at Kangaroo Island was to journey to the southwest corner and explore Flinders Chase National Park. On our way, we made a stop at Vivonne Bay to see the magnificent coastline of the southern shore.






We arrived at the park and picked up our map to mark out our route. 

First, a walk around the trails to look for koalas!







We spotted our first Flinders Chase koala (and ended up seeing a total of around 7 on this walk!)





Some roos and wallabies too...








We continued our drive towards Remarkable Rocks. This site was so isolated and unique - it's like the rocks have just been setup there like an inukshuk or something.



















Admirals Arch








There was a humpback breaching just behind this small island. 
We were watching the splashes happen!







"New Zealand Fur Seal Breeding Here" 


We spotted a goanna on our drive back home...


Stokes Bay




We had to scramble between the rocks to get to the beach on the other side...













More roos on the way out...

...and an echidna!



KI was incredible! We loved the island and its animals. 
But, it was time to move on and finish up our trip on the hunt for gold!

Day 13: Striking Gold in Ballarat

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