A really nice day on Kangaroo Island

(Kangaroo Island, Australia, 23rd of February 2017)

This day we had booked a bus trip to Kangaroo Island. As our hotel is set back from the center the shuttle bus did not pick up at our hotel and to be sure not to miss the departure from the central bus station, we booked a taxi. Ugh, it’s tough to get ready for departure already at six o’clock in the morning … Once we came to the bus station the bus of course was not on time (so we could have taken a city bus if we had wanted) and the information was not so good on how the procedure with buses to Kangaroo Island worked. Finally, we went up to some kind of desk where there sat a man and then finally we got our tickets and were also told which platform the bus would departure from. A small sign of some kind with information to the lost bus tourists would be a preference.

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The bus we took to the ferry was a common large coach with a mixed kind of passengers, not only those who had signed up for our “adventure tour”. The boat over to Kangaroo took only 45 minutes, just enough time be able to buy and drink a cup of coffee. It was fairly calm weather but despite that the boat rocked pretty much. The speaker told us that we were lucky with the weather, the day before the boat had been rocking so much that a lot of people had been seasick.

Once on Kangaroo Island, we walked past the big flashy buses and found our little bus, which turned out to be of the same kind as the one we rode with up in to the Outback.

Our guide was called Greg and the bus was of significantly better quality than the previous one. Our fellow travelers turned out to be 13, of which half were Chinese, a couple from Slovenia and a family from Canada. Greg was a talkative guide and it immediately became a good mood. The average age of this bus was probably around 40 years, on the last trip all were 20-30 except for us, so it was both unexpected and nice.

Our first stop was a sheep farm where we got to see how to shear a sheep. Rob was an unpretentious man who offered an interesting show, it was really fun to see how much he looked like to enjoy life together with his sheep and dogs.

We also stopped at bought two bottles of oil, the packages were so small that I decided that I would be able to bring them with me in my bike packing. To know that the emu oil was made of fat extracted when the emus were slaughtered was a little hard to hear, but at the same time, it is good that all aspects are taken care of once it occurs.

In the afternoon, the kangaroos and koalas were in focus. We saw kangaroos on the side of the road on several occasions. They often stand still and just look at the cars passing by, so they are really easy to photograph. They are smaller than I imagined, but very cute.

Before we went to the campsite were we were going to spend the night, we got a chance to visit “little Sahara” – a huge hill of sand. So fun but hard when you got sand in mouth, eyes and ea

The night’s accommodation took place at a lodge, in quite ordinary rooms and not in swags as in the “the outback”. We were even upgraded from dormitory to double room which was very nice. We had some time left when we got there and we borrowed some mountain bikes and cycled down to the beach nearby. A beach that apparently won a price because it is so beautiful. Well, it was beautiful, but also fate and very difficult. It was cold and windy so the visit did not become very long.

We were served a very good barbecue dinner with chicken, beef and sausages and lots of good salads and sauces. Luxury and good. Additionally, there was a bar in the place where it was possible to buy beer and wine, so this adventure was definitely a upgrade to the outback trip last week.

/Christel