My first excursion once I arrived in Adelaide was a two-day trip to Kangaroo Island. We left before 6:30am (joining the coach) on Saturday the 21st of September, and I arrived back at my hotel sometime just after 10:30pm on Sunday the 22nd. Those hours in between are almost indescribable.
Of course, there was the long bus ride to Cape Jervis to join the ferry, which in turn was about an hour-long journey across to the island. Once there, we found our respective tour guides, and I was lucky enough to be on a 7-passenger car/van with one Italian couple and one Spanish couple. Last, but certainly not least, was our tour guide Jess (only known as Jessica when she's in trouble, as she said. What a force of nature she is. In her early 30s, completely enthusiastic, and amazingly friendly, knowledgeable, and solicitous of all of our needs. The two day would have been wonderful in any case, but she raised it to a completely new level. She also had lots of places, not necessarily officially on the tour, but where she 'likes to take her people' to find the elusive koalas, or kangaroos, or the best view, or whatever else she thought we would enjoy. Thanks so very much, Jess!
I took hundreds of pictures in the two days. Obviously, I can't show all of them here. I will include some of the best, and I will talk about a couple of experiences that were completely special. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy!
Just on the way to our first official stop
Our first marsupial sightings of the trip, including a whole family!
More seascape along the road - and look, I have proof I was there for once!
We went to Clifford's Honey Farm. This is a family owned business and they do things as much as possible like they were originally done when bees were first brought to the island. Right inside the door we found this little fellow, rescued when his mother was killed. Clifford's make all kind of honey related products (and others) that are shipped all over the world.
Kangaroo Island is the oldest bee sanctuary in the world. Ligurian bees were brought to the island from Italy in 1884, and the island was declared a sanctuary in 1885. The bees were selected because of their mild temperament, gentleness and productivity. As Kangaroo Island is 13 kilometres off the coast of mainland Australia they have been protected from disease and breeding with other races of honeybee. As a consequence, the Kangaroo Island Ligurian Bee is the purest strain of Ligurian bee remaining in the world.
Kangaroo Island itself is also unique. There are plants and trees on the island that don’t grow in any other place in the world. Over 40% of the island is composed of national parks and conservation areas, and no genetically modified (GM) grains are allowed to be grown. The bees, flora and fauna live in one of the cleanest, unpolluted regions of the world.
Our first koala, just along the side of the road up high in the tree. I'm pretty sure there is actually a joey cuddled inside Mama's arm.
Another sandy beach, and the power of the ocean. There are LOTs of beaches on Kangaroo Island, including one rated the best in Australia in 2023. More on that in tomorrow's post.
One of my favorite things ever! At Seal Beach Conservation, there is a very healthy Australian sea lion colony. We were able to walk down to the beach, seeing sea lions asleep (mostly, but not all), some with their pup there as well. We not only watched them as we walked down, we were able (with our guide) to walk out onto the sand and to within 2-3 meters of them. In fact, at one point on of the pups, yelling loudly for his mother, was within a couple of feet of our group. So spectacular! (And again, proof I was actually there!)
This was our last activity of day one - but we did see this on our way to our respective hotels.
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