Last Friday, being Good Friday, was a public holiday here, so there was no work. Jared invited us to come to church with him in Morphette Vale to the Salvo (Salvation Army) church. This meant that Morgan and I had to catch a bus and train etc. The only problem was that the buses don't run that early in the morning on a public holiday. So, we walked into the city. We almost didn't make it and had to catch a taxi to take us the extra 4 blocks to the train station. We had to run all the way and made it onto the train just before it left the station. We had a relaxing train ride after that and Jared and his wife Krystal picked us up there with their 15mos old daughter.
The church service was really interesting. It was the first time I'd been to a Salvo church. I have to admit I kind of liked their brass band, but it was also neat because they had a huge variety of music throughout the service. There was also a very emotional part of the service where they invited everyone to come up and walk through a doorway they had put in the front. The core message was about Jesus being the door to salvation. It was over all a good service.
Afterwards we took the train back to the city and I got to rest for about 20 minutes before heading back to the city where I was picked up by Jared and his wife again and then came back to Morphette Vale for a tattoo appointment. I got the last one of the day and am very excited about the tattoo I got.
I headed home afterwards and got to hang out with Gabby and Tiarna Hahn since they came over for a girls night. We watched Bride and Prejudice and had lots of laughs. We got to visit a bit more in the morning before they left.
In the afternoon Helen and Peter took us to the Barossa for a bit of sight seeing and wine tasting. We stopped at a cafe on our way for some lunch and the sandwiches (bratwurst) that Helen and Peter got were HUGE! Check em out!
After lunch we resisted the urge to spend the day waiting to go on Helicopter rides and made our way to a couple wineries. The first is called Jacob's Creek, and the wines were very good. The building is very nice as well. Their wines are exported to the US, so if anyone wants to check it out go look for a Jacob Creek wine at the store. The second place (Grant Burge) had the most beautiful garden in the back. It would be perfect for a wedding. I can ALMOST see myself walking down the aisle/path there.
The wines there were great as well. I tried my first Australian Moscato there which I really liked. There was actually a Moscato Rosa which I really liked, and got a bottle to bring home. Afterwards we did a little sight seeing and caught a beautiful sunset.
On Sunday Morgan and I went back to the Salvo church with Jared and Krystal for their Easter Service. In order to catch a ride into the city we went with Helen and Peter to their early service and walked from there to the train station. We did sit in on parts of their service and I am reminded that its really almost a hippie church. Their music is so creative and I really love it. The Easter service was still along the theme of the Door and I suspect that it had been an ongoing theme. Afterwards we went to Jared's house and celebrated Easter with them and their friends and family. I got some more cricket practice in with them and the kids. I even got to participate in an Easter Egg hunt. It was great fun. Jared drove us home in the afternoon and we made it back in time to relax and then catch the 6pm service at Malvern. It was good to see the folks there again. I even got to fiddle with a guitar for a bit. Afterwards Helen and Peter had a feast ready for us.
Monday morning I had to get up at 4:45am to get a taxi into the city for our Kangaroo Island tour. The cab company has suggested when we called that we would need a taxi at 5:20am to make it into the city by 6:00am. We had to get a cab because Easter Monday is a public holiday here as well. We made it into the city by 5:40am and had time to chill (literally cause it was cold) and wait for the mini-bus. The mini-bus picked us up and there was already a couple on board. From Dallas, Texas no less. We picked up some other folks from a couple hostels and then headed toward Cape Jervis, where we'd catch the ferry to Kangaroo Island.
The Ferry to Kangaroo Island is the most expensive water crossing vessel ever. It costs $90 per person and around $200 for a vehicle. The ferry ride is only about 45 minutes long. The view from the boat was beautiful.
After we got off the ferry we caught up with the luggage van (since we didn't bring our own over we had to pack our things into a van) and collected our things to pack into the tour van we'd be driving around in on the island.
Our first stop was a Eucalyptus Distillery. They are the only one in the area. They showed us a video about how they make their products. It was interesting, but the most interesting part was definitely the Emu's outside. Emus are SUPER weird. They make a noise like a tympani. And they have a huge claw that they can gut a person with if they get too close.
As we drove on afterwards the van started smelling really strongly of a burning smell but we continued on, until Morgan (who was sitting in the front) brought a smoking shifter to Whales' (our tour guide) attention. They let the van cool down and then we got back in to continue on our way.
The next stop was a Marron farm, which also did wine tasting. Marron are like lobster.
Afterwards we went to a bay to see the ocean. Its also where we went back to later to see penguins at night.
I even got to take a picture pretending to be Aerial from the Little Mermaid.
We headed to where we were staying the night and had a bit of time to walk around and see the surroundings. We stayed in a little cottage with a view from the front porch. You can even see the ocean in the distance.
The only things not included in the cost of the tour were a sleeping bag, which you could rent, and alcohol. So, when we'd first come over the first stop was at an IGA (which is a local grocery store) with a liquor store attached. I was quite excited to find a beer called "Dr. Tim's". I sampled it and found I really liked it, until I got to the bottom and accidentally drank a bit of the Sediment.
After supper we went for a walk to see some of the fairy penguins. They are nocturnal right now. They've just hatched their young and the young don't have waterproof fur yet so they have to stay tucked away. The parents go hunting for 3 days at a time to hunt and bring back food. We had to be careful because we couldn't use a white light because it makes the penguins freeze up for almost 10 minutes and leaves them at a risk to predators. Instead we carried a flashlight with red cellophane over the top to tint the light. I got to see a couple penguins, which was very exciting, but obviously couldn't take any pictures because of the light. We also had to be careful not to scare the penguins from going back to their nests for fear that we'd follow them.
We headed back to the cottage and lit a fire and sat around and hung out. After some thought I decided to sleep outside. We had brought sleeping bags and tucked them into a swag. A swag is basically a canvas sleeping back with a small mattress/cushion inside. I bundled up and kept a blanket inside it with me to keep warm. I actually slept quite well. Best of all it was easy to get up in the morning because the sun was up.
After packing up the site, the first thing that we did on Tuesday was head to Seal Bay to see the Australian Seal Lions. In the visitor center I found a fairy penguin I could take a picture of. Before heading on our tour we walked around to see the scenery. The beaches are really beautiful. They've preserved a Humpback whale skeleton in the sand dunes as well.
As we walked down the hill to the beach we started to see the sea lions lazing about in the sun in the sand. The animals are quite cute and its sad to think that they're numbers are going down. They're are only about 700 animals in this colony and while they have a relatively safe habitat they're just not growing their population. The Sea Lions have a somewhat thin coat, and were hunted instead for their blubber for a long time. I just don't know how you could bash something as cute as this...
They're really funny creatures. This guy started up at the beginning of the slide mark and slowly slid down to keep an eye on us (we were a group of 14).
He even struck a pose for me. I took a video of this one walking as it headed to the water. If you watch you can see the difference between these guys the New Zealand Fur Seals that I saw later in the trip. These guys pick up their back fins alternately almost like dogs, while the Fur Seals drag their behinds and hop them up when they need to.
The next stop on our journey was Little Sahara. We had to climb massive sand mountains and it was intense. We brought up sand boards, which unfortunately didn't work very well, and you could sand board (like snowboarding) or sled down on them. The only problem is then you had to climb back up.
We headed to Kelly Hill Caves for a tour of the cave system. The system was actually discovered when a man riding a horse fell into sink hole. The man took 8 hrs to find his way out of the hole, but unfortunately the horse didn't survive. Thus the caves are named after the horse, Kelly.
One of the stalagtites looked just like a ballet slipper.
A couple of the folks on the tour did an extended tour so they could go adventure caving, so while the rest of us waited for them to finish we headed to Hanson bay. The water was pretty cold, but it was worth it to swim in the ocean. Afterwards a group of us played volleyball with a soccerball before heading out. Before leaving for the trip I had quickly tried to wash a couple things, including my swim suit bottoms. Sadly, they weren't dry in the morning so I didn't have bottoms and had to swim in shorts. They took so much longer to dry than a swim suit would have though. Plus I had packed my towel way into the trailer so I used my t-shirt as a towel, which then I tried to air dry out the window of the van. It dried faster, but not quite fast enough. Good thing I had a sweatshirt to wear in the meantime.
Afterwards we went to a Koala sanctuary and walked along a path where they were in the trees. They're also nocturnal so they were only starting to wake up. I learned that the Eucalyptus leaves that Koalas eat is actually very toxic, and in order to be able to break that down baby Koalas have to eat their mom's poop for something like a month to get the stomach enzyme to be able to break down the toxins when they eat them later in life. Eww.
As a bit of a surprise, Whales took us to see the Remarkable rocks at sunset. The view was really amazing. The rocks are shaped the way they are because of erosion. There are true concerns when people go to the far side of the rocks becuase freak waves occasionally take the lives of tourists who get caught by them.
They call this one the witch's face.
Its almost like you've reached the end of the Earth.
After the remarkable rocks we went to the place we were staying that night. We stayed at an awesome place called the Farm Accomodation. Its a really nice set up with lovely bathrooms and showers and a fire pit. We had a BBQ and ate before lighting a fire. We roasted marshmallows and hung out for a bit. A bit of wind and rain put an end to that though. We spent the rest of the night inside. A couple of the younger travellers had a bit too much to drink and put a little damper on the night, but in the morning it was a new day and a fresh start.
After breakfast and packing up, we went to Snake Lagoon. We hiked through to the ocean which went along rocky hills and even through a bit of a cave. It was really adventurous, but quite exciting. I'm really glad that I had a chance to do it.
Whales was giving us a demonstration of how to go through a keyhole shaped entrance to the cave.
At the visitor's center of the park there was a mural of long gone animals from the area. I was finally able to see my Tasmanian Tiger!
This one was a marsupial lion.
And this one was called a Swamp Cow. Goofy looking huh?
We went to Admiral's Arch to see the New Zealand Fur Seals. It was strange because there was a strong scent in the air and our tour guide explained that it was actually the males' musk. There are about 2x as many Fur Seals as there are of the Australian ones in the colony. As it turns out though, the New Zealand Seals have never actually been to New Zealand.
The waves were a bit harsh, so most of the Seals were perched up high and resting in the sun.
This picture Whales took for each of us and claims that its one that all of our parents will keep in the living room of us. What do you think mom and dad?
On our way back to the other side of the island we stopped at Prospect Hill, which is one of the original points of discovery. There were 912 steps to the top. The view was worth it.
Our last stop was at a bay that was an original point of discovery for the French. It was in honor of the French guy on our tour. We had 4 Americans, 2 Germans, 2 Dutch, 1 French, 1 New Zealander (tour guide), 1 Taiwanese, and 2 Aussies on the tour.
After this we made it to the ferry and sailed back over to Cape Jervis. We drove into the city and got dropped off where we started. Helen was kind enough to pick us up in the city. I really appreciated it because it would have been a small hassle to carry a pillow, sleeping bag, and backpack on the bus. By the end of the night I was beat and headed to bed pretty early.
Over the trip I did learn a couple other interesting facts:
*The female Kangaroo can pause a pregnancy for up to 2 years if the conditions aren't right.
*Kangaroo is an incredibly lean meat and very healthy as well as inexpensive, but no one want to eat it because its like "eating skippy."
*They tried to introduce Wombats to Kangaroo Island, but brought over 2 males so it didn't work out for them.
*Female Seals spend almost all of their lives pregnant. They have a gestation period of 17 mos and then 7 to 10 days to recover before they're impregnated again.
