July 2 - Kangaroo Island

Today was our big trip to Kangaroo Island. We left the hotel at 6:20 am, and rode in a beautiful coach bus (btw, Australia doesn’t have yellow school buses) down the coast to the Port (passing a few cute sheep and kangaroos grazing on the way). The ferry to Kangaroo Island was at 9 am and it was mostly a smooth ride out to the island.

Our guide’s name was Steve, who has been on the island since 1985. He told us everything we wanted to know!

- The island is 155 km long, 55 km at its narrowest point and has a population of 4,500. Yes, you read that correctly.

- The main occupations on the island are 60% farming and 40% tourism.

- The Island began with the explorers Nicholas Bodan (French) and Matthew Flinders (English) in 1802. It started off as a hub for whaling and sealing, with no women on the island.

- By 1985 National Geographic came down and named the island the 5th most eco-friendly place in the world.

With this knowledge under our belts we had our first stop at a nice remote beach called Pennington Bay where local surfers love to go. What we passed a few times and were very interesting to note were 7 sandpipes coming out of the land in the island. Since the Island is very dry, the pipes hold water, and when the island runs low on water, people have to pay $1,000 for 18,000 liters. That may sound like a lot of water, but remember, there is a lot of farming here so water (and lots of it) is crucial for successful crop growth and feeding the animals. Farms nowadays grow canola for butter and oil, beans, wheat and grain, marino wheat and beef- only 1 sheep dairy farm. Most of the dairy products are imported- everything comes across on the ferry and only one out of 3 ferries operates during winter months.

I cannot imagine living on an Island with 4,500 people and only having one ferry as the lifeline back to the mainland. We also passed a cool eucalyptus distillery on our drive. There, they boil the eucalyptus leaves, the oil comes to the top and then they collect it to make multiple products. The next part of the day consisted of seeing seal bay. We walked down the beach and already saw 2 on the pavement!!

We walked around them and saw them rolling in the sand and playing in the water. Seals are my favorite animals and I have around 60 stuffed animal ones at home. I loved seeing them in a place where they are looked after and free to do whatever they want. We learned a lot about the Australian sea lions as well!

We stopped for lunch at Vivionne bay Inn, with lots of yummy food, including date pudding. I want to learn how to make it – seems super simple and is very tasty. Some of the crazy facts we learned about kangaroos on the bus were that they are not maternal animals at all since they have babies every 43 days. If the mom is being chased by a predator and has a baby joey in her pouch, she will sacrifice the child to save her own life!! She will also abandon the baby if it is born with a defect such as being albino. Every aboriginal tribe has a different name for kangaroos. Kangaroo Island was actually originally built because the British were killing so many animals in southern Australia that they built a national park on kangaroo island between 1885- 1918.

We also learned heaps about koalas and saw them at a sanctuary.

They eat 6 varieties of trees on kangaroo island. They eat 3 kilos of food a day and have no predators- doesn’t sound like the worst life does it? Another stop was Flinders National Park, which had been devastated by fires in 2007 all over the island. The problem with the high heat was that the eucalyptus trees literally boiled and exploded. 75% of the national park burned down. Then we saw the remarkable rocks and admiral’s arch. The sights there were stunning!

Some random facts about the island are that everyone owns a swag bag (all weather sleeping bag). The families bring swags and have a big sleepover. People also join in sports to become part of the community. There are 6 Christian churches and 2 Buddhist temples. Our ferry ride back to Adelaide was ROUGH. Felt like a rollercoaster in the dark. We collapsed when we got home. Been a long day. Sorry about the choppy recollection of the day! Lots to write about :)