No Worries Mate

Day 35 continued.

We arrived at the ferry to see all kinds of fire apparatus disembarking. It seems that Kangaroo Island had been experiencing some serious forest fire activity over the last week but thanks to some wet weather, they had it all contained and some of the crews were returning to their home bases.

Day 36 and the view from our hotel room indicated that a cloudy and cooler day was in our future. There would be lots of driving and hiking today with the hope to see a few kangaroos in their natural habitat.

But no trip to Kangaroo Island would be complete without a visit with some sea lions. So we were off to Seal Bay, a protected area home to a large colony of sea lions.

Sea lions are dark brown, bark loudly, walk on land using their large flippers and have visible ear flaps. Seals have small flipper, wriggle on their bellies on land and lack visible ear flaps. Both are pinniped, which means “fin footed” in Latin. (wikipedia)

Arriving early to Seal Bay, we scored a private tour with one of the guides as we were the only ones there. We were able to walk down to the beach and get up close and personal with the sea lions. The smell was certainly memorable. 

The sea lions use both their front fins and rear tail fins to lift themselves up and can cruise along for 10 or 15 metres before running out of steam. A short rest then up and at it again. Looks very awkward.  

Off to Little Sahara for a quick walk up onto some natural occurring dunes with the opportunity to rent a snow board for some gritty boarding down the steep, 70 metre dunes. We enjoyed watching Chinese tourists careen down the dunes, filling their cargo shorts with sand as they wiped out. 

Still no kangaroos, but “no worries mate”, we still have lots of time. Next stop was a hike into the “Remarkable Rocks”, which more than lived up to its name.  

500,000,000 years of wind, rain and waves have created unique sculptures that are, shall we say remarkable.

Admirals Arch was 1,000 years in the making, a rock bridge with peek-a-boo views of a fur seal colony swimming and resting in the protected bay while stalactites hang over their heads.

It was then up to Cape Couedic Light House and the start of a 5 kilometre hike into Weir Cove and the possibility of a kangaroo viewing  or two.  

90 minutes later, not one kangaroo was seen but the cliff-side trail provided some awesome views of Weir Cove and out into the Great Australian Bite.

“No worries mate.” but we are running out of daylight and still no kangaroos in their natural environment.  We decided to take the longer route back to our hotel, on some lesser traveled roads. We are sure to see some kangaroos here.

We are now close to home and have finally started to see lots of kangaroos in what looks to be their natural habitat. Sadly it was as road-kill on the side of the road. We seem to come upon carcasses every few kilometres. Most kangaroos are classed as diurnal and are active during the daytime but it seems that Kangaroo Island kangaroos may be nocturnal.

To test my mettle and to wash off the dust of the days hiking, I decided on a swim in the local swimming hole across from the hotel. Our hosts thought I was crazy when I asked them for beach towel. I explained I was from Canada, and that seemed to quell any further questions they may have had. 

Damn, it was freaking cold.

Tomorrow we start our trip home.