Flinders Chase National Park

The big attraction on the western end of Kangaroo Island is Flinders Chase National Park.  We went there Tuesday and got to see some New Zealand fur seals at Admiral's Arch.

This colony of seals is a breeding colony and we saw some juveniles and pups.  The Bruny Island cruise in Tasmania was a haul-out of Australian fur seals where they can rest and 98% of that population were male seals.  Neither of these are to be confused with the sea lions which we saw later in our Kangaroo Island trip.:)



Admiral's Arch

 Next up were the Remarkable Rocks.  They were HUGE! 

Our last stop was the Snake Lagoon Walk which ended up being a harder walk then we were planning on after such a busy day already (we started the day with another walk in the park that was quite boring so we didn't deem it "blog-worthy!") but it was a gorgeous walk over rocks and a little bridge ending at the Southern Ocean.

Heath Goanna

Western KI

Monday morning we took the ferry to Kangaroo Island (KI).  The ferry is very expensive (we brought the campervan with us) and is a 45 minute trip.  We got off the ferry and drove to the western end of the island.

Matthew Flinders made the first recorded European sighting of Kangaroo Island in 1802.  He gave it it's name.  As he headed back to the mainland he ran into French explorer, Nicholas Baudin.  Britain and France were at war, but the two explorers exchanged information about their trips and Flinders told Baudin about Kangaroo Island.  In the summer of 1802-1803 Baudin went to Kangaroo Island and mapped the south and west coastlines giving many of the places French names which are still used today.  The first non-Aboriginal people to live on the island were sealers, escaped convicts, and runaway sailors.

We stayed for three nights at the Western KI Caravan Park.  We liked this park a lot for its rustic setting, peacefulness, and clean bathrooms.:)  When we checked in, we were told there was a mother koala and a joey in a tree nearby. 

We saw them several times during our stay at the park and at around 5 pm each night they would wake up to eat and the baby koala was jumping around from branch to branch that first night giving us quite a show.  It was so cute!  Several of us staying at the park just stood there and watched and took pictures.  It was a great start to our trip.

Cute Bird

We recently started seeing a bird around that is black with a white belly and has an adorable tail feather wag.  We looked him up and he is called a Willie Wagtail.
 

Our bird book, "Australian Birds" by Donald and Molly Trounson says, "Willie Wagtail is one of Australia's best known and loved birds.  It is familiar and tame in parks and gardens, endearingly switching its tail from side to side while running about snapping up insects, and expanding its white eyebrows conspicuously when agitated.  It is strongly territorial and drives off much larger birds."

The Willie Wagtail featured in Aboriginal folklore.  Tribes thought the bird was a bearer of bad news and could steal people's secrets while lingering around camps.  Women would become tight-lipped in their presence.

Kangaroo Island

We left for Kangaroo Island on Monday.  We won't have internet access while there.  We will be back on the mainland on Saturday to head up to the Barossa Valley region.  We are hoping for lots of good walks and wildlife sightings while on Kangaroo Island. 

Big Lobster

Next stop was Kingston to see the Big Lobster! 

The Big Lobster is named Larry.  He is 17 meters high, 15.2 meters long, and 13.7 meters wide.  He weighs over 4 tons.  He has been there since December 15, 1979.  He looks a little worse for wear with chipped paint and some broken areas, but we were still quite impressed with this Big Thing!

  

We cower in fear of Larry!





We enjoyed Kingston much more than Nelson.  The weather was nicer which definitely helped.  We had a great spot in the caravan park overlooking the ocean.  There was a paved path right across the street along the water that I ran on. 

Sunday we drove to Victor Harbor and went to the South Australian Whale Centre.  We aren't here the right time of year to see the Southern Right Whales that are around in June, July, August but it was interesting to learn about the different types of whales and we also learned about Rodney Fox, a man from South Australia who was attacked by a Great White Shark in 1963 and since has led expeditions to film and study Great White Sharks and been a consultant for many films including Jaws.  Victor Harbor seems like quite a nice town but the weather did not cooperate last night.  It was so cold and windy that we were stuck in the van for the whole night.  We're hoping for better weather at our next stop.  

Whales and Emus

We stopped at Cape Bridgewater on the way to Nelson.  We took a very windy walk to see what is called the Petrified Forest.  These are limestone rock formations created from the seepage of acidic water.

There is also a wind farm nearby.  You can see one of the turbines in the above picture.  Even more interesting than the Petrified Forest was seeing Blue Whale spouts out on the water.

We spent the night in Nelson which ended up being a kind of disappointing town, but we did see Emus while out on a walk.

They didn't want to be near us and disappeared into the forest bobbing their heads. 

Simply Amazing

Thursday we drove the rest of the Great Ocean Road and saw some spectacular sights along the way.  The first stop was the Twelve Apostles.

These are limestone formations that have been carved away from the cliffs by the unrelenting waves.  There used to be twelve of these structures but they aren't all still standing.  One most recently collapsed in 2005.

Next we stopped at the Loch Ard Gorge.  This was the site of a shipwreck in 1878.  52 people died and there were only two survivors.

This was followed by a stop at London Bridge. 

The two pieces of the "bridge" used to be connected together until it collapsed in 1990.  A man and woman were on the right side when this happened and had to be rescued by helicopter.

The last place we stopped was the Grotto.

We walked down some steps to see this beautiful place.  At the top of the steps the waves were wild.  It was foamy and looked like the inside of a running washing machine.

We ended the day at Port Fairy where we spent the night before traveling on to Nelson.