Last night, we had another great meal here and then went out for a nocturnal tour/walk. It was on a wildlife preserve which is 40 square miles. It was just getting dark as we started the tour (8:15). First was the koala walk, where we went down a road filled with Tasmanian eucalyptus trees, the koalas' favorite.
We saw several koalas including one that was only about 8 feet off the ground, practically posing. So we got a lot of pictures of him. There are also tons of wallabees on the property in addition to a number of kangaroos (including one that is tame/domesticated that the group could feed and pet). We also walked through a lot of wooded areas. Overall, it was a lot of fun (although a decent amount of walking). We came back and had amazing chocolate-caramel cake in front of the fire.
This morning, after breakfast, we left the hotel with for a private tour of "the icons of Kangaroo Island". We had a great guide, Rodney, who has lived here for about 15 years. We started off by just driving and then walking around a wooded area, looking for animals (lots of wallabees!). We then went into Flinders Chase National Park which was mostly burned in the terrible fires here in December 2007. They had 3 1/2 weeks of uncontrolled fires which started after a lightning storm (followed by another 2 weeks of semi-controlled fires). The devastation from those fires is still very evident although much of the greenery has started to grow back. We saw tons of local fauna/flora and learned a lot about Kangaroo Island. In the national park, we went to see Admirals Arch which is also the home base for the New Zealand fur seals. We had a really good time watching the seals (the Australian seals, which are a different species, are also in the area, but we couldn't get as close to them). We then drove a short distance (in the park) to the Remarkable Rocks, which are millions of years old granite structures on top of a huge granite dome.
We got some fun pictures there of us climbing around.
Next, we stopped in a secluded bush area for lunch (bbq'ed fish, salad, potatoes, cheese). Craig enjoyed poking the ant hills (including some stinging ants that were over 1 inch long) and the termite mounds.
After lunch, we drove to Seal Bay
where the Australian Sea Lions (totally different than the seals from earlier) were sleeping and playing on (and around) the beach. With the guide, we could walk right down on to the beach close to them. They are pretty big animals! We saw quite a few young pups as well.
On our drive back, we happened across an echidna on the side of the road. So we took some pictures of him. We also saw a goanna (a type of large monitor lizard). All in all, we have seen pretty much all the 'big' animals of Kangaroo Island.
We had an excellent dinner here at the hotel tonight including a self-concocted honey-walnut champagne cocktail for Craig and a icy raspberry-strawberry drink for me.
Tomorrow we are mostly going to be hanging out (spa in the morning, resting and the 'cliff walk' on the hotel property in the afternoon, and then 'kangaroos and canapes' before dinner)
Here are some more pictures of the fur seals - we took a lot, but these are some of the better ones....
2 comments:
why isn't the koala on Craig's leg?
Dear Bess and Craig,
Do you know how those rocks on the beach got those holes? We were very curious about them.
Craig, were you holding the rock up with your head?
The rocks brought up a lot of questions in our class. We had never seen rocks like that before.
Did you enjoy your trip? What was your favorite part of your trip to Australia?
How did you get the kangaroo so close to the camera?
Thank you so much. Your trip must have been so interesting.
Sincerely,
Class 1-231 in Mr. Willard's Lab
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