Kangaroo Island

We’ve been concerned about labour disruptions at Qantas, because our next two flights are on their planes. We must get from Perth to Adelaide in order to catch our Regional Express flight to Kangaroo Island. We definitely don’t want to get stuck in Perth because of CHOGM, Commonwealth Heads of Gov’t Meeting and the inability to find a hotel room here, and because we are supposed to rendezvous with our friend Keila from Kuranda for a three night stay on Kangaroo Island. I’ve been looking forward to this visit and seeing the Fairy Penguins emerge from the sea. Our rented cottage is close to Kingscote where there is a penguin centre. I love these little critters and want to see them in their natural habitat. When we last saw them in NZ they were moulting and standing miserably in their little hideaways on the hillside waiting for their new feathers to grow in so that they could return to the sea to fish.

We had to stay outside Perth in a place called Lesmurdie that is convenient to Perth Airport. These arrangements went off without a hitch, and when we confirmed our flight online, it showed a brief delay. Though the strike might have affected us on Oct. 28, it didn’t and we made it on time to Adelaide where we reunited with Keila. We last saw her in Kuranda at the end of our first visit to Australia April 2010.

We made our way to the lovely isolated cottage, Sea Loft, about 10 minutes outside Kingscote and luckily we had purchased some groceries because this place was lacking ALL condiments. There wasn’t even any salt and pepper. Their charge was high so we were indignant about this lack of welcome. This is the first time in all our NZ, Australia rentals that the cupboard was bare. I guess it’s like an upmarket expensive restaurant, the more you pay the less food on your plate!

Famous Motorcycle (for you Ben!)

The next day aided by a drive-yourself MP3 tour we had downloaded for $20 from www.islandintrigue.com we headed out to Seal Bay and Flinders Chase National Park to commune with the wildlife. On the way we stopped at a small gallery to check out their lunch menu and view an impressive motorcycle in the middle of their shop. This 2005 Triumph Bonneville America featured in a film made right here on Kangaroo Island, December Boys starring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. I include this information for my young friend, Ben, who loves motorcycles. I’ve promised to get a photo of the World’s Fastest Indian when we get to Invercargill where the film of the same name starring Anthony Hopkins was made.

Baby Australian Seal

They’ve done a great job on the island, building boardwalks that allow one to see but not interfere with the local fauna. We enjoyed seeing Australian seals, NZ fur seals, Cape Barren Geese, one echidna that curled into a ball under a bush when we stopped the car to approach it, several kangaroos, fairy wrens and brilliantly coloured green parrots, not sure of the name. After a full day of viewing wildlife, we enjoyed a meal together at the cottage and an early night.

Keila and Claudia at Admiral's Arch

The scenery at the Park is spectacular, Admiral’s Arch, Cape Coedic lighthouse, Remarkable Rocks formed by wind and sea. Upon approaching the rocks, it was a bit unnerving reading a plaque about how one could cause the death of another by ignoring the warnings as happened in 2003, when a clueless tourist ventured too close to the edge and was washed into the sea and caused the death of two would be rescuers. The perpetrator was miraculously washed back onto the rocks or the nearby shore but the others perished in the unforgiving sea. Happily we made it to and from the rocks with no mishaps. Even Keila hobbled around on them with the aid of her walking sticks. No rogue waves in evidence either.

The next day we awoke to the bad news that Qantas management had imposed a lockout and advised all passengers with to seek alternate arrangements. This meant we would have to try to reserve a rental car and hotel and drive to Melbourne to catch our flight on Nov. 1. We knew we were in striking distance of Melbourne given the time left, having driven the Great Ocean Road on our last trip. Rachel at the Penneshaw Tourist Information station very kindly acted as our travel agent providing requisite phone numbers and free calls, and we were able to book a car and a hotel in the Grampians. We would drive the eight or nine hours with an overnight stay.

That settled we headed to Sunset Winery for lunch, then Island Bee Hive to taste the numerous varieties of Ligurian honey and honeycomb ice cream and finally to Emu Bay Lavender Farm for lavender scones, lavender cream and lavender jelly. I’m not sure but I think this was a bit too much lavender for one sitting. I love the smell but think I might have chosen a more conventional cream tea had it been on the menu. We made it back to Kingscote in time to see a local feeding a large flock of pelicans, it was fascinating to see the greedy guts birds diving for the fish in a feeding frenzy. The gulls sat on rocks nearby waiting patiently for the leftovers, knowing better than to dive into the melee.

We rented a DVD for Keila to watch because she desisted from going to the penguins. She had broken her patella the week before and was limiting the amount of walking she would do each day. Duncan and I had a quick omelette for dinner and headed out into the dark windy night to see the little penguins. The friendly lady at the Penguin Centre desk explained that the penguins don’t return from fishing en masse. We’d be lucky to see one – they had last night – but we’d certainly see lots of chicks awaiting the return of their mums or dads and thus dinner – regurgitated seafood. A band of seventeen, we headed out in the dark following our intrepid leader who sported a large red spotlight. We were warned in no uncertain terms to stay behind, to resist the urge to talk and to follow instructions. I was glad Keila had stayed behind, because in the dark it was difficult to see and the terrain had lots of ups and downs. We saw a few rather large chicks who moved slowly out of the red spotlight and then saw a lone penguin down in the waves bravely making its way to shore. Duncan commented (later) that he would not want to be one of these penguins as they must work far too diligently, fishing all day, coming home in the dark, stumbling up the rocks, then feeding their young. I had naively expected to see a penguin rush hour, but nevertheless felt lucky to see the lone workaholic returning alone in the inky night. To be honest we did see one penguin already on the rocks and another moving slowly to cross under the boardwalk, just under our feet. It was pretty thrilling and I felt satisfied. All in all we probably saw about six or seven chicks and three adults. So we felt we’d gotten our money’s worth.

The next morning the Australian premier had forced the two sides of the Qantas dispute to get back to the bargaining tables, and Qantas said they would resume flights. We were chagrined having taken half a day to sort ourselves out, because we then had to phone the hotel in the Grampians and were met with an unsympathetic unhelpful desk clerk who informed us we’d have to contact the booking agency. Since the cancellation deadline was 4:00 p.m. the day before, we’d lost our money. In Adelaide Hertz was helpful and allowed us to cancel the car, no problem. But the booking agency and the hotel were intransigent league so we’re out of luck. We phoned our travel insurance in Canada and were informed that they don’t cover this type of situation so we were stuck. We phoned our ATC hosts and asked if we could stay with them as planned and took a cab to their house in Highgate, a pleasant suburb of Adelaide. Bev very kindly welcomed us, and we headed out for lunch and later a tasty nourishing dinner in a neighbourhood Italian cafe.

When we returned “home” we met Lester, Bev’s husband, and enjoyed chatting and sharing travel stories. They have visited Canada twice and commented upon how much they loved spending Christmas outside Kingston, Ontario in the cold and snow! We laughed and explained that Christmas and New Year will be very strange for us in the warmth of the South Pacific this year. We still can’t imagine it!

The next day Bev and her friend who were off for a walk together, very kindly dropped us at the airport on their way. Like I mentioned previously these ATC people are fantastic! We are now in Melbourne to spend the night at an airport hotel before heading off for nearly two weeks in Tasmania. Bev and Lester told us we had to see the film The Red Dog an Australian film based upon a book by Louis de Bernieres and it’s available in the hotel so we’re looking forward to it. We were so taken by Hobart on our last trip that we decided to return and then follow the east coast of Tasmania to Cradle Mountain in the north.
Click below to view map:
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