Wonderful Kangaroo Island!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody!

Hard to believe that it’s getting cold in parts of the U.S. and that everybody is now contemplating turkey, all the fixings and naps! Oh well…as R says, we’ll do our own Thanksgiving dinner when we get back!! (and caught up on sleep…and chores, etc…)

We were invited next door to Miriam & Ray’s for dinner last night, and went over there about 6. This is, of course, between loads of laundry and needing to pack so that we could be out of the house by 6 a.m. you understand, to catch the ferry at Port Jervis. Lovely dinner; lightly breaded fresh whiting with veggies; really good! (and you know I’m not a fish person…); lovely meringue with strawberries for dessert. This did, however, throw a spanner into the works, as R was going to make his famous pasta sauce last night … no time for that, so decided to just transport everything to Kangaroo Island (locally known as K.I.) We managed to get home around 10 p.m., which was REALLY late for me, considering we’d been up to midnight the night before! However, got everything done and the bags all packed by 11 p.m. And, like when we have to get up early to catch an airplane, I was probably up more of the night than asleep, as I kept looking at the clock to see if it was time to get up yet! Finally up at 4:45 a.m. and we were ready to go, everything cleaned and put away, and in the car by 5:30 a.m.

The drive through Adelaide and down to Port Jervis was really lovely! Not much traffic at all, even in town, but once we were past the airport, there was practically no one on the road! And even some lovely views as we drove down the peninsula, occasionally catching glimpses of the water. I was thinking that we needed to fill the car up with gas, and that for sure there would be a gas station somewhere along the way…wrong! After we left the city limits of Adelaide, there wasn’t much of anything at all! A few VERY small “towns” mostly consisting of resort cottages for rent, and perhaps a craft shop – but made it all the way down to Port Jervis and no gasoline available at all! In fact, nothing much there in the way of services – no stores, grocery or otherwise, to speak of, at least that we could find! So, we drove to the ferry terminal; got there about 7:15 a.m. (and were the first in line…surprise!) The boat was there waiting for us, but that was about it! The office didn’t open until 8, and boy, the wind was blowing something fierce, and of course our jackets and sweatpants were all comfortably packed in our suitcases…We did manage to remember to each take a dose of “Kwells,” the Australian equivalent of Dramamine or Bonine. It’s only a 45-minute trip; approximately 9 km, but we didn’t want to take any chances on getting sick, especially as the water was so rocky!

The doors opened at 8 as promised, and we were able to check in with our reservation number. They do something we both found odd – ONLY the driver can drive the car onto the boat – any passengers MUST board through another door! That was a trifle tricky for me, as I don’t much care for driving on to big boats, but R hadn’t driven this particular rental car, and with the manual transmission on the other side, he preferred to remain a passenger. So…I was the first one on (fortunately!) and made it successfully on to and parked on the ship. Then headed upstairs to find R; very confusing, as they hadn’t started the walk-on passenger boarding yet!! Was nice to be first, though, as we were able to get great seats right at the front of the ferry; great view!! The ship carries approx. 350 passengers and 50 vehicles per trip, and while the vehicle deck was certainly full (including a couple of semi’s) there were probably only about 100 people in total heading over. (There is a bus that brings down folks from Adelaide, which makes it very convenient to get there.) Lovely (albeit rocky!) crossing, right to the jetty at Penneshaw, and again, drivers only on the vehicle deck – which really made for a mad scramble as cars drove off – people running across the streets, etc. I’m really surprised someone hasn’t gotten hurt in the process! And, we were able to get gas at the only gas station in Penneshaw … resolution: Will top up whenever possible, to avoid running out of gas! Further note: This is a BIG island; very surprising! Probably something like 100 miles long and 25 miles across. Not that easy or quick to get from place to place!

We decided, as we had food in the car, to head to our rental cottage first, in Vivonne Bay. We weren’t scheduled to check in until 2 p.m. but figured that if we could at least get the groceries into the fridge, that would be a help. It took an hour and 10 minutes from Penneshaw to Vivonne Bay; will need to remember that when we leave here on Saturday morning, at 8:30 a.m.

Found Island Breeze (interesting name…) cottage very easily about 11:30, and all was ready for us, so we moved right in. I was really exhausted by now, and R still had to make pasta sauce, so I went to bed for a nice long nap, and R made dinner! The cottage is very nice; two bedrooms, one split bathroom, and laundry room (but no dryer!!) and then one L-O-N-G room in front, with living room, then kitchen, then dining room. Great wrap-around balcony all around the house, so lots of windows and plenty of light. Obviously furnished by the same folks who did the Adelaide condo! (I recognized some of the pieces; must have bought in bulk!) NO TV reception, however, and a VERY poor selection of movies…unless you like westerns, which are definitely not my movies of choice! Also, we were unable to hook up with the internet, as the landlords have limited the access on the phone, so R unable to call the nearest Earthlink number… bummer… will need to find someplace else for access! Also, interestingly enough, it seems that most of the houses on the island, ours included, are hooked up to ENORMOUS water storage tanks, and there are pipes on the gutters directing all the rainwater into storage! So, we need to be VERY careful how much water we use; good practice generally, but here, specifically!

I finally dragged myself out of bed, and boy, did the house smell good!! LOTS of garlic! Yum! Decided that we needed to do some exploring, (and see if we could find some internet access) so loaded the computer into the car along with binoculars and camera, and headed out to Kingscote, supposedly the largest town on the island…we’ll see…First stop, though, was down at the end of our road, to see Vivonne Bay beach – and to say it is spectacular is truly an understatement. Apparently it has been voted the #1 beach in Australia recently – and we could certainly tell why! See the pictures! Drove from one end to the other, and then headed out, stopping first at Vivonne Bay Grocery, which is a small (very) combination of gas station/take-away food/hamburger stand/general store. The two ladies who run it (one the store part, the other the cook) were just terrific! When we asked them what they recommended we see first, brought out a great KI visitor guide book which they gave us, pointing out lots of things to see – hard to figure out what to do first! Oh … and they also carry Magnum Classic bars, so you can be sure we’ll be stopping in their fairly frequently!

It took about 45 minutes to get to Kingscote – roads really good; no traffic at all to speak of! R doesn’t have to worry about there being too many people here – we went almost 65 km without passing another car!!

Kingscote is a nice small town; two banks, one hotel, one small grocery store that’s not too bad, two gas stations and then miscellaneous other services. We headed first to the Ozone Seafront Hotel (what a name!) and R was able to find wi-fi in their restaurant/lounge/bar. Fairly pricey--$11 AUD for 45 minutes, but as it’s most likely the only game in town, figured it was worth it! R checked email and did business, while I wandered through the general store and then picked up a few more groceries. He was finally finished, and we decided to take the “long” way back to Vivonne Bay, which is through the rolling hill country on the north coast. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL drive. This is INCREDIBLE country; hope the pictures do it justice!! Most of it was on dirt roads; some in great condition, and others very washboard-y – but we basically had all the roads and all the beaches ALL to ourselves! R spotted some kangaroos – And Katy, they were K.I Kangaroos, which is a subspecies of the Western Grey Kangaroo; real cuties! It took us hours to get home, but we’ve now covered a fair amount of the island, and have a plan all ready for tomorrow on where to go and what to see! Had planned on looking for the Fairy Penguins tonight, but ran out of steam and decided to head back to the cottage for dinner!

While R finished up dinner, I put out some of the “approved” animal pellets that were provided in the cottage – and was disappointed when I didn’t see anything! However, as we were sitting down to eat, I suddenly needed some fresh air (U.T.E. (unplanned thermal event) … and if you don’t know what that is, don’t even ask!) when I opened the door, and voila, there they were! The cutest little wallabies!!! There were four of them grazing – we were able to walk out onto the deck and they were right below us! Katy – they are Tammar Wallabies; extended viewing opportunity! Supposedly we should also get some possums, but haven’t seen them as of yet…

So, dinner over, I’m needing to finish the blog, as R has some “real” work he needs to do. So, wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving, more later!!

Much love,
m