Day 27: Kangaroo Island Weekend, Part One

I mentioned that when we reached Adelaide last night, those in our group who were travelling onward to Kangaroo Island were booked into the YHA hostel. I had not stayed at a youth hostel since the 80s; they now have groovy Ikea furniture and wifi, or at least this one did, and no more chores, or at least this one didn't! But what I didn't like then and I still don't like now was sharing a bunk bed filled room with people who turn in at 8:00 pm; the early sleeper also had very stinky socks. The room was ultra stuffy too as the window only opened a couple of inches. Needless to say I did not sleep very well and I needed to get up at the crack of dawn, too.

We had to be at the bus station, luckily only a few minutes away, at 6:30 am. We then were taken by coach to the ferry, and when we landed on the island, we boarded and minivan and met our leader for the next two days, Dani.

If you ever embark on a tour on Kangaroo Island, I highly recommend that you try to book one led by Dani. She has lived on the island most of her life and knows everything about everything. She rarely stopped talking even as she was driving but was never boring; she had some quite funny stories too! We were amazed to learn that this was only the second tour she had ever led! (Her daughter, who we met at our lunch stop, Emu Ridge (an emu farm and eucalyptus oil emporium) told us.)

However, our first stop was Rob's Shearing. I think many visitors to Australia end up experiencing a sheep dog and shearing demonstration and as this is the only one I have ever experienced, I can't compare it but found it also interesting and entertaining. Plus the dogs were very sweet and happy!

The sheep might look a bit annoyed here but she was definitely very happy when it was over; that wool weighs a lot, and summer was coming!

Before lunch we went for a walk on some cliffs:

From the shop at Emu Ridge:

Next, a visit to Seal Bay. It really should be called Sea Lion Bay, as these are all Australian Sea Lions.

At first I did not realize that we could go down on the beach with them...

Yes, I have a lot of sea lion photos! I have posted fewer than half of them...

There was some drama...

A real poseur...

After that, we went sandboarding. It was hard work trudging up those dunes - one step forward two slides back. Thankfully no one videoed my pathetic attempts... Either I wasn't moving anywhere or I was tumbling off the board. Here are a couple people from our group who had the knack.

In the late afternoon we arrived at our lodgings for the night at Vivonne Bay, where we later had a BBQ dinner and sat around a bonfire, roasting marshmellows after dark. Before dinner we had a couple hours in which to hike the various trails. I don't seem to have any photographs; I think I was just enjoying the birdsong and the occasional glimpse of a wallaby hopping through the woods.

However I'll close this day by posting photos of some of my favorite signs viewed this week: