We set the alarm early, but we both woke before it. We finished packing our suitcases, went down and had breakfast before checking out.
We got a taxi to the airport, checked our bags and waited in the Virgin Lounge until our flight.
It was an uneventful flight home. We arrived into Brisbane just after 12:30, collected our bags and drove home.
Unpacked, did a load of washing and relaxed for the evening.
Where will we go next??
.
Another quiet day for our last day in the city.
A quick bus trip to Elder Park and a sightseeing trip on the iconic “Popeye”
This service has been running since 1939 delighting Adeliade locals and tourists alike.
The 45 minute trip up and back on the Torrens River included commentary with many facts of the river and Adelaide in general.
From there, another short bus ride ( nothing is very far in Adelaide :). ) took us to the Haigh’s Chocolate Factory and Visitor centre. We booked a self guided tour and had a look at the factory. It was smaller than I expected, but apparently they are building a big new factory shortly to handle the growing demand. I would think that when the new factory comes online, we may see a Haigh’s outlet in Brisbane.
Back to the city we bought some salmon to go with the last of our veges.
We packed our suitcases ready to have the last few bits and pieces to pack in the morning. We check out in the morning. 🙁
I had planned a fairly easy day today.
First was a visit to the National Wine Centre. This is located quite close to the CBD in the Botanic Gardens.
The centre has self-guided walk with lots of sign boards explaining the history of the wine industry as well as stories of the people that have been involved over the years.
Back to the CBD and I wanted to look at the Adelaide Railway Station building. This is another sight I had been told to do. I know why!! It is a grand old building with towering ceilings and ornate decorations. With its large curved glass walls at each end it reminded me of Grand Central Station you see in the American movies
From there we caught a tram all the way to Glenelg. The tram takes about 40 minutes. We had a lovely lunch overlooking the ocean at the Pier Hotel before walking past a water park that has a waterslide winding in and out of a building
Further along we stopped and had a look through the Town Hall museum that has displays all about the history of Glenelg. Glenelg was always a summer holiday place for the wealthy business men of Adelaide with many building elaborate holiday houses there.
We caught the tram back to Rundle Mall, bought some lamb chops and veges and had a nice dinner in the unit.
After a busy day yesterday, we slept very well in a lovely comfortable bed.
Given the lack of food yesterday, we thought we would use up the rest of the ham and make some sandwiches to take with us today just in case needed them tonight.
Our plan was to ask the driver today what time we would be getting back to Penneshaw tonight and to ring Fire and Smoke when they open at 4:30 and order a pizza to be ready for us as soon as we arrived.
We had breakfast included and were not sure what to expect as the restaurant in the hotel was not open for dinner over the break.
We were very pleasantly surprised as we were given a menu to choose from. I had smashed avocado and poached eggs and Mick had the “big breakfast”.
Our bus arrived on time and we were told by our driver, Kevin, that were due back at 6:00- 6:30pm this evening.
Our first stop today was Raptor Domain for a free flight bird presentation. We had not been to one of these in a while and it always amazing the size of the big wedge tailed eagles. As always, the information from the keepers was fascinating. We were shown a barn owl and told that they can hear mouse rustling in the grass at 3kms away and can hear its heartbeat from 3 meters. They can also see light in the UV spectrum so warm blooded animals show up in the dark brightly.
From here we went to the Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillery for a tour and lunch.(Chicken salad and cake again)
The KI mallee eucalyptus bushes are very high in oil content and completely regenerate in just 2 years after they harvest them down to a mere stump for processing.
The fact that these trees are so full of oil and are so prolific on KI is what caused such severe fires, as the tress literally blew up, spreading the fire quickly.
Next stop was Clifford’s Honey farm where they have a type of Italian bee that is now the only one of its kind in the world, for a tour and tasting.
Our final stop was a wine tasting at False Cape Wines. I tasted a few and they were very nice. While we were here, Mick rang the pizza place and was assured that it was not a problem to have a pizza ready for us when we got back..
We arrived back to Penneshaw and sure enough our pizza was just about ready. I think they must have had it ready to throw in the oven as soon as they saw the bus arrive.
We sat in the park opposite the shop and ate it overlooking the passage. Soon enough we were back on the bus and taken down the hill to the ferry terminal and given our boarding passes. We had a short wait for the ferry to board, but soon enough we were on our way back to Cape Jervis.
Another coach was waiting for us at the other side and we made the trip back to Adelaide. We had a number of people to drop off and we finally made it back to the Mantra at 11:00pm.
We did not even have a cup of tea, just fell into bed tired but happy.
Today we are setting off on a 2 day organised tour of Kangaroo Island. When I began researching this trip, I quickly discovered Kangaroo Island was going to be expensive. With the need for a hire car, the ferry fare and the time to get there and back, this tour seemed to be a viable option. Our alarm was set for 4:30 AM this morning and it woke both of us. Surprisingly, we didn’t wake before it and both woke with a bit of a shock. We had showers and made breakfast and waited downstairs for our 6:15am pickup.
The coach traveled around the city, picking up people ready for our tour. We ended up with 46 by the time we left the city. from there it was an approximately 90 minute drive to Cape Jarvis, where our ferry was waiting for us. We had been given ferry tickets when we boarded the bus so we were able to walk straight onto the ferry as soon as we got to the wharf.
We settled in at the front of the ferry and enjoyed the 45 minute crossing. It was not very rough, but did rock backwards and forwards a bit. Mick has discovered that, although he has never suffered from any seasickness, now with his sight, he could not focus on the horizon and he got dizzy. He said he did not feel sick, just dizzy. Once he found a spot on the boat to focus on he was fine.
Arriving on Kangaroo Island, we walked off the ferry and our coach was waiting for us with our driver Danni.
Our first stop, was the Australian sea lion colony at Seal Bay, a short walk down a fairly steep path and then down 42 steps down onto soft sand.
The sealions were very close and we were able to watch them for about 30 minutes
We learnt the difference between sealions and fur seals
Sealions have a pelvis like ours and are able to move their rear limbs and flippers independently. Seals have a fused pelvis and cannot move them same. They move as if their legs are joined all the way down to their ankles. They can wiggle their flippers but not each limb.
Another difference is their hair. Sealions have short hair quite similar to ours in density, this means when go they go into the water, they get wet and cold. So they come to shore and need to sit on the warm sand and rocks to warm up. Seals have very dense hair and their skin does not get wet when they swim. In fact they can get quite hot and you can often see them laying out flat on the cool rocks or with a flipper raised to expose a large vein under their “arm” to help cool their blood.
We had to all stay together as a group as it is currently just before breeding season and a lone person could be seen as a threat. As mentioned before, sealions have a pelvis like ours and they can actually stand up on their hind limbs. The males are most likely to do that as an aggressive display. So it makes sense that a person on their own could easily be mistaken for an aggressive male.
The group we were watching closest to consisted of a teenaged “boys” that were picking fights with each other. there was one older “boy” that was harassing the younger ones, they were getting their own back though 🙂
We watched the action for around 45 mins before heading back to the bus and off to our next stop for lunch.
We had a lovely lunch of chicken salad and cheesecake at the Vyvone Bay Lodge. As we were traveling through the countryside, Danni was telling us about the devastating bushfires in 2019. You can clearly see the number of dead trees and the new growth slowly coming back.
After an enjoyable lunch break, we were off again, this time for a visit to the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park. The park has been an essential part of rehabilitating many animals after the fires. While KI (as the locals call it) did have a problem with over population of Koalas, It is estimated that over 60% of them were lost to fire.
It is always fun watching international tourists “oohing and Ahhing” at our native wildlife. I said to Mick that we really are lucky to have our native icons so friendly. You can’t imagine going to America and cuddling a bear or Africa and hand feeding a lion with no danger.
The next stop was Flinders Chase National Park. This park is the first national park in SA and one of the oldest in Australia. We were here to see “The Remarkable Rocks” and Admirals Arch. The Remarkables are a rock formation of granite that have been eroded by the wind and sea for millions of years. They are a rusty orange colour due to the lichen that grows on the rocks. It was very windy here so we decided to not go walking on the actual rocks themselves and stayed on the boardwalk.
Further through the park we came to Admirals Arch and the Australian Fur Seal Colony. Admirals Arch was formed in the same way as the 12 Apostles on the Victorian coast. Again it was very windy so we stayed on the path. Also on the rocks were lots of fur seals sleeping on the rocks. Every now and then one would casually go for a quick swim and launch themselves back up on the rocks. They were too far below us to get any good shots of them 🙁
Back on the bus and we headed for our accommodation for the night. Danni told us about the food options in town. She mentioned 3 or 4 options in town where we could get dinner.
We checked into the Seafront Hotel just after 7:00pm and quickly found out that 2 of the 4 options Danni had mentioned were currently closed for the Christmas break. We thought the Penneshaw Pub might be a good option but on arrival found out that there was a 45 minute wait for food :(. Down the road at Fire and Smoke pizza shop was similar with a 1 hour wait 🙁
The only option left was the IGA Supermarket. Sadly, it had been stripped bare of food. No hot chooks, and just one loaf of bread. As our hotel room did not have a microwave, we could not even get a frozen meal. We ended up with the loaf of bread and a packet of ham ( no butter) and a litre of milk. I toasted my bread and at least had a hot ham toastie, while Mick had his cold.
We made cups of tea watched some TV and went to bed. We were being collected in the morning at 9:15am
The dinner food issue was the only complaint we had about the whole day. I would have been much better if SeaLink had organised some meal options available, especially for those people who needed to be on the 7:30pm ferry back to the mainland.
