Kangaroo Island!!!

On Friday I went to class like normal, then got home and packed my bags. 2 of my friends and I were going to Kangaroo Island for the weekend! We knew which bus we had to catch so we had to walk about 20 minutes to the bus stop and got there early. The bus we were supposed to take (the 400) came and we got on but it was an earlier bus than we had anticipated getting on. We drove for awhile and then the bus stopped and we were told it was the last stop. We got off the bus totally confused because it was a 400 and it was supposed to go to the airport. Thankfully the stop he let us off at had another 400 come along and this one was indeed going to the airport. We got on that bus and got to the airport at 6:50 pm (the plane was leaving at 8:45). We were flying Tiger Airways (which I DONT recommend) and at 7 pm one of the guys at the desk called final call for our flight. The whole line was trying to get on our flight and everyone started to panic. Then he realized that he called last call an hour early. Our flight ended up being delayed an hour anyway which they failed to inform us of until after we were supposed to board. We finally got into Adelaide and to the hostel around midnight. It was COLD! Brrr! The hostel was really cool looking... it kind of reminded me of the houses in Boston that are narrow but have the super high ceilings. Just our luck, the hostel was lacking heat! So I slept in ALL the clothes I brought and still froze my butt off!
We woke up at 5 am on Saturday morning and was SOOO cold! And I walked out of the room and into the hall way and some people in the middle of the night had used the fire extinguisher all over the hallway... what a mess! Not really sure why, there was no fire to my knowledge but I’m not positive. We got picked up outside our hostel at 6 am by the tour we were taking. We drove in the bus for about 2 hours to get down to the ferry and out to the island. By that time it was raining, along with it still being freezing. That night they were predicting snow in the mountains of Adelaide, and here the mountains aren’t very high either. We rode the ferry across to Kangaroo Island and drove around the island for awhile.





We found a couple of them and then went on our way to see the Bird of Prey show. It was the coolest one I have ever seen because we actually got to hold the birds! I got to hold a kestrel (which is a type of falcon) as well as a Kookaburra (which was by far the coolest!).








After that they led us down to the beach where we got to see a bunch of Australian Sea Lions. They were everywhere, in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. It was cool because one came really close to us!







Because of the rain we had to change our plans a little bit and our guide took us down to a deserted beach and we went on a walk up the river. The river was brown because of the oil from the tea trees!





It was neat because our tour guide grew up on the island so he knew where to take us to find cool stuff, and to not be in crowded areas. It was cool to see because a lot of places were where he had hung out growing up. He was telling us that growing up on the island was quite an experience because there is nothing really to do. So he really learned to appreciate nature and what is has to offer. There was no cinema, bowling alley, mall, nothing like that. So as kids they did a lot of goofing around at the beaches and in the countryside. We then went up to “Little Sahara” and got the opportunity to try out sand boarding! We climbed to the top of a sand dune and rode wooden sleds down it. It was so much fun! It was a bit rainy so that kind of stunk and it was also super windy but it was fun all the same. It was a bit too rainy and the sand was a bit too sticky (and I was just bad at it) to get down the hill on the board that was similar to a snowboard. I got part of the way down the hill and wasn’t getting caught by the momentum and gave up. It is incredibly hard for people to make it down the hill without falling and I really didn’t feel like falling and getting hurt either. By the end of it I had figured out how to run and throw the sled under me and fly down the hill on my stomach. It was great fun! By the end I had sand in every place imaginable! Even in the pockets of my jeans, it was crazy! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take any pictures as he told us our cameras would most likely get ruined if we brought them and I didn’t want that. After that our guide took us down to the ocean to a spot where the ocean is especially powerful and we just hung out there for awhile. We waited for it to get dark and then we went looking for fairy penguins! They spend all day in the water and then come back up on the shore after dark. They had to walk up this huge hill of rocks to get back to their holes so we waited for them and then got to see them climbing the hill. They are surprisingly good at climbing up the rocks! There were also a couple of babies around so it was cool to get to see them too. When we were back at the cabin around the fire our guide found an echidna and caught it! It was so exciting because it is one animal I haven’t been able to see in the wild yet! I got to touch it and it was very spiny, reminds me a lot of a porcupine.




On Sunday we were awoken with the smell of pancakes. Our guide had made us pancakes for breakfast! Yummm! We then went on a koala walk where we saw at least 10 koalas, and 3 kangaroos.






We then went over to a place called seal bay and saw a bunch of New Zealand fur seals. They were funny to watch as they interacted with each other and swam around. We also got to experience Admiral’s Arch which was pretty cool.






We then drove over to the Remarkable Rocks, which were indeed pretty remarkable! It was weird to see them sitting there, as they are really in the middle of nowhere, and the formations are so random! We got to climb all over the rocks, and really get to see every bit of them.







Because of the weather, we then checked out an old one room schoolhouse and it was pretty neat to see how they used to have schools.



Then because of the weather we went over to a honey factory. We learned that around the world bees are being infected with a fungus and the bees on Kangaroo Island do not have any of them so they are being exported to places around the entire world. We checked out the factory, had some honey bee ice cream, chocolate covered honeycomb and just hung out. We then got back on the ferry and took it back to the mainland, and yes, it was STILL rainy and cold! We got back to Adelaide around 9 pm and went wandering for a restaurant to eat dinner at. We ended up at this nice, little Italian restaurant and I had a super delicious pasta. It had lobster in it with a tomato cream sauce. We stayed in the same hostel and we made sure to ask for extra blankets this time! It was much warmer tonight, it was comfortable even though the heat was still lacking!

On Monday we woke up early again, and went to catch our flight. We got to fly Qantas this time which was WONDERFUL! Unfortunately though, the flight was delayed due to weather in Sydney. It was so nice being on Qantas though, the service was great, there was so much space at our seats, and we got individual TVs! It was also nice because we got breakfast on the plane! We were not expecting it so it made it that much better. We arrived back in Sydney and I went home and spent the rest of the day catching up on life and finishing up a paper that was due tuesday.