Trains and boats and a plane - pt 4

So we were in Darwin...

   There were a lot of people on the coach who were staying at the Central. On the way into town Michael and I planned our strategy. As we were sitting in the front seats, as soon as we arrived at the hotel I would jump out and go and register, he could then wait and collect our bags off the coach. It worked perfectly - by the time I'd registered he was waiting by the lifts with the bags, and there was a long queue of people waiting to register.

The Central Hotel also charges for wifi (do all Aussie hotels?) They charge $2 for 24 hours, $2 is hardly worth arguing about, but then again it's so little it's not worth charging. Right next door to the hotel is McDonalds, so there's our wifi connection.

We familiarised ourselves with the room and then around 7.30 walked around the corner and walked along the main street, Mitchell Street. There were lots of places to eat and drink but we opted for Indian. At the Darwin Tandoor. It was only a tiny take away place run by a young couple, assisted by their young toddler, son. We sat on some outdoor tables nearby and really enjoyed our meal. Very, very good. Then we walked around the block before heading back to relax in front of the telly.

The next morning, after breakfast we confirmed that we had a pick up arranged for the afternoon city highlights tour and then walked down passed the Parliament House to the Esplanade and Bicentennial Park, overlooking the Harbour. 

The Cenotaph is in Bicentennial Park and flanked by memorial plaques dedicated to those who were killed in raids on Darwin in WWII.
It was a very pleasant park but unless in the shade was very hot.

The humidity was increasing too so we walked up through the Mall, bought some sandwiches for lunch and went back to the hotel.

I had the clothing all planned for the next few days, but with the humidity it was nice to change clothes a couple of times a day. Maybe this is why the hotel has a mini laundrette for guests. I did a load of washing whilst waiting for our tour pick up. Much nicer to feel fresh during the day.

We were waiting in the lobby, in the a/c when our mini bus arrived. It was going to be a full bus, so Michael jumped into the seat up front next to the driver. I sat in a single seat a little further back, much better to be comfortable rather than cramped together.
 We stopped at a few other hotels, and crammed in the other passengers. It was a tight fit. Then we were off around the city. We drove down to the Harbour, passed the WWII Oil Tunnels, that we had thought of visiting but were happy to have this 'drive by'. Then we drove out of town to Charles Darwin National Park, to the South East of the city and had a great view of the city of Darwin. It's really busy, with lots of building happening, mainly high rise apartments. Don't know where all the people are going to come from to buy these apartments, some priced around $800,000.
Also in the Park were some WWII munitions storage bunkers.

We drove up the Museum and Art Gallery, and had an hour to explore.
The most famous exhibit is 'Sweatheart' - oops, sorry about that should be 'Sweetheart', (it was very hot and sticky.)

Sweetheart is the Northern Territory's famous icon. In the 1970s he gained notoriety for attacking dinghies at a popular Darwin fishing spot. On 19 July 1979 he was trapped, but unfortunately drowned in the attempt to move his bulk ashore. 
He weighed - 780 kg
Total length - 5.1 m
Length from snout to vent 2.4 m
Maximum girth - 2.3 m

After staring at Sweetheart for a while we explored the rest of the exhibits, there was a very interesting area showing the devastation caused by Cyclone Tracy, on Christmas Eve 1974. There was a totally dark room where they played a tape of the sound of the cyclone raging outside. Outside the room there was a sign advising that it may cause distress to anyone who actually experienced the cyclone.

Then we looked around the Art Gallery. Michael missed one exhibit but it was so good that I went and fetched him back to see it - these wonderful pots.

Then it was time to continue the tour - we drove out to Fannie Bay (passed the gaol) and from the East point reserve looked back at the city.

Then we drove back towards the city centre and went into the George Brown Botanic Gardens. We had about 20 minutes to wander, but the gardens are quite vast and so interesting, it was only a taste of the wonderful garden. Which had to be replanted after Cyclone Tracy, the head gardener responsible for the replanting and the care of the garden was - George Brown.

Then as the sun set and the bats started flying overhead we got back on the coach and headed back into the city centre, and our hotel drop off. We headed straight out to Mitchell Street and decided on pizza for dinner. Then we could completely relax all evening, in front of the telly.
 The next day we were feeling quite jaded, and decided to cancel our trip to Lichfield park due the following day. The thought of sitting a whole day in another coach and just a few minutes at each Park stop had lost its' appeal. We wanted to relax, try and clear our sinuses, get rid of our coughs before getting on the plane in a couple of days time. Lichfield Park and Kakadu are on our list of places to visit in the motor home, and have plenty of camp spots so we can visit them at our leisure. I contacted the tour company and cancelled so that they wouldn't be looking for us tomorrow morning.

We had a very lazy day, just a short walk through the Mall stopping for lunch at for Chinese in the food court.  It was very, very hot, even some locals were complaining about the heat. There are 2 cyclones to blame, Nathan is over northern Queensland and Olwyn is over the coast in northern Western Australia, between them they are apparently sucking the air out of the Northern Territory.
Our day of rest seemed to have worked and we were both feeling a lot better.
We were up in our room reading and noticed big black clouds over the harbour.

 
We sat and watched the cloud move over the city, the little rain that fell, fell heavily but only for a short time. It started to rain outside our hotel at 5.58pm and was over by 6.04pm.  So, we had experienced 'The Wet'!
We knew when we booked the trip that it was still 'The Wet' in Darwin and would be quite sticky and humid, but the timing of the trip on the train was right and we do have only a few days in Darwin.. If we'd been in the motor home, spending weeks in the area we'd be limp, sodden wrecks by now. We are definitely coming in 'The Dry' next time.

The next day we were able to have a late breakfast because we'd cancelled our day trip. We had a long breakfast, chatting to a lovely couple from Canberra who we'd met on the Ghan. Then we ventured out into the heat and walked a couple of blocks to the Chinese Temple and Museum. There was a lovely little temple, which was a cool, peaceful oasis in the high rise concrete jungle and humidity.

 Then we went to the museum, next door. The gentlemen at the museum were very nice and friendly and very interesting to talk to. One of them had been evacuated to Claremont in WA during the war. When the Chinese returned to Darwin, they found that the old China town area was no more - it has been levelled. The houses and shops may be gone but the community spirit is as strong as ever.

We had a snack lunch at a shopping centre and then sat in a cafe on Mitchell street watching the world go by until returning to the hotel in the late afternoon.

Another shower came over the city that evening but was just gentle rain, not the heavy (but short) downpour of last night. On our last night in Darwin we opted to return to the Indian place, we were not disappointed, another brilliant meal.

The next morning after breakfast, it was time to check out. Check out time was 10.30 so we had time to kill before heading out to the airport. We sat in the air conditioned lobby reading the paper before calling for a taxi.
Our drive out to the airport was uneventful, and interesting to note that like nearly ALL drivers in Darwin, our driver didn't stop at STOP signs either.

We were early so went and had a cup of coffee whilst we waited for those on earlier flights to complete their check in. When things quietened down, we checked in. The flight was not full so we were given 2 seats in a row of 3, with the seat between vacant so we could spread out. Then we found some comfortable seats and relaxed with the rest of the paper.
It was a smooth flight back to WA, out of the window we saw that lovely red dirt under us.
We actually arrived back in Perth early. We collected our bags, had a coffee and people watched until our due collection time. As Julia was driving down from home there was no point in phoning her, she was on her way and would be on time. It was actually raining again.
It was raining when we left, has it rained in Perth all the time? (The answer is - no).

Julia arrived right on time and by early evening we were back home, relaxing in our favourite chairs in front of the telly.

A fabulous holiday. We both really enjoyed the trains, the service, the staff, the food, everything was excellent. The hotels were 4 star, pity about the wifi. It gave us a taste of coach touring, and we found it quite tiring, but not onerous.
Now it's only about 8 weeks before the next adventure - a coach tour and river cruise in Europe. How tiring are we going to find that?
Not at all - it's all too exciting!

Trains and boats and a plane - pt 3

Another day, and another train..... The Ghan.
We were still feeling rough with the beginnings of head colds but were excited about our next train trip. We had plenty of time after breakfast to pack and then check out of the hotel, we grabbed a taxi to take us back to Parklands Terminal and check in.
 As you would expect there was free wifi at the Terminal so we caught up with our mail, getting a message from Michael's cousin that she would be at Alice Springs to meet us. This cousin, Margaret, is sister to the cousins in Sydney that we recently 'discovered' when checking into the family tree. We missed out on meeting her when we drove around Aus.  By the time we'd found that she existed, and where she was living, we'd been through Alice Springs and were a 2 day drive south.
As usual with Great Southern Rail everything went very smoothly and we were soon called to board the train. The train was so long that it was over two platforms so once everyone was on board there was a bit of shunting to connect the two halves. The train actually had 37 coaches and was 924.8 metres long. Almost 1 kilometre.

We were delighted to meet up with Casey, the dining hostess from the Indian Pacific again.She had had a few days break in Adelaide and was now working The Ghan up to Darwin.
We left on time, passing through the Adelaide suburbs and out to Port Augusta. Travelling into Adelaide we'd passed through here in pre dawn darkness so it was interesting to see the area in daylight. Across the Spencer Gulf we could see the industry at Whyalla and then after Port Augusta as the train rounded a bend we could see the end of the train against the backdrop of the Flinders Ranges.

We continued on the same track as the Indian Pacific had taken but at Tarcoola we headed directly north.
We settled back into train travel mode, a lovely way to travel. We both have sniffles and now a cough developing.
We were getting the hang of sleeping on the train and had quite a good night. After breakfast the next morning we were all getting excited about our arrival in Alice Springs at lunch time. After passing through Kulgera they announced that we would be passing 'The Iron Man'. Kulgera is the southern most settlement in Northern Territory. It is the closest point on the Ghan to Uluru. We stayed here overnight on our bigtripalmostaroundaus.
The Iron Man is a 1m high monument built by railway workers to commemorate the one millionth concrete sleeper laid on the stretch of railway between Tarcoola and Alice Springs, completed in 1980.Everyone gathered around windows on that side of the train, after 10 minutes the consensus was that we'd missed it, then they announced that the driver had just told them that we were approaching the Iron Man now.  Cameras back on, and yes - there he was.

Then we slowed down and the cameras were out again as we crossed the Finke River. I had stood in the middle of the Finke River when we were travelling around Aus. Quite safely, as there was no water in it, there rarely is. There was a tiny puddle in it now.

We arrived in Alice Springs ahead of schedule, surprising our welcome party. We were waiting on the platform, 'under the camel', when she arrived.

Margaret runs a B & B in Alice Springs and had guests to meet off the train. We all piled into her car and headed back to the B & B to check the guests in. What a lovely house. Her guests were enthralled and after a quick snack and cold drink headed off to see some of the local sights. We sat with Margaret and went through the family photos that we'd brought with us. All too soon it was time for a little drive around Alice before being dropped off back at the station.
Although it was a short visit, it was one that we would not have missed. Finding new family members is such a delight.
We asked a fellow passenger to oblige us and take a photo of the 3 of us.

Then it was time to re board and continue on north to Katherine and Darwin.

We  saw the sun rise the next morning and after an early breakfast arrived on time, at 9.00am, in Katherine. There were plenty of buses lined up to take us off on tours. Everyone was off to see Katherine Gorge, now called Nitmiluk Gorge. Some tours were a little more strenuous than others. Ours involved some walking over rocks between the 2 gorges that we were visiting. There are 9 gorges all together but in our short stop over we could only do the first 2.
The boarding of the boats was very well organised and to help keep up our fluid levels in the heat we were given a can of soft drink, a bottle of water and a small tub containing fresh fruit.

The gorges were spectacular and our guide entertaining and knowledgeable. The walk over rocks between gorges was an easy one, but it was very hot in the sun. As usual, it was over all too soon.  We got back on the air conditioned coach and had a tour of the little town of Katherine. We made a mental note that all the larger parking area had signs prohibiting motor homes or caravans. We won't be welcome here when we do another trip around Aus.
As we headed back down to the station our driver stopped on a bridge to show us the river depth markers - impressive and if you're not familiar with just how much rain can fall in a short period quite hard to fathom.

We boarded the train and headed straight into the shower, to cool off and refresh before lunch. We left Katherine for the final leg of the journey to Darwin.

The scenery was distinctly tropical and the cattle were no longer range Herefords but more exotic Brahmin.
We arrived in Darwin, on schedule at 5.00pm.

I think that this was the first time that Great Southern Rail had organised coach transfers to Darwin hotels, and it did not go smoothly. It was not the fault of GSR, they were their usual pleasant, efficient crew. The coach drivers seemed confused as to where they were to pick up passengers and although our coach was full, we couldn't leave until all of the other coaches were full,  so that no one was left behind. 
We sat there for 40 minutes. 

Then we off into Darwin and our next stop, the Central Hotel.

Trains and boats and a plane - pt 2

Part 2 of our adventure covers our stay in Adelaide.

We happily checked into the Stamford Plaza Hotel on North Terrace, in the city centre, opposite Parliament House, a short stroll from the main shopping street, Rundle Mall and just down the road from the casino (which strangely enough is in the railway station building).
We were up on the top floor, and although at the rear of the hotel could see through buildings to the hills. We had a quick unpack, a little rest and then around 8.30am we hit the streets looking for breakfast. We walked through Rundle Mall, but apart from McDonalds didn't spot anywhere open. Then we saw a very popular breakfast cafe, lots of people - $18 for breakfast or $12 for a Turkish BLT. We walked around the corner and there was another little cafe - $11 for breakfast or the daily special - an egg and bacon toasted sandwich and a small coffee for just $8. (we decided on that and chose to upgrade the coffee to a medium for an extra 50cents.) If breakfast hadn't been included in our hotel package this would be our start to every day in Adelaide.

Then we walked to Victoria Square and caught a bus down to Port Adelaide.

I had decided that we'd had enough rest on the train and we needed to get out and about. We'd checked out what was on in Adelaide and what we wouldn't be seeing on our included tours, we decided to visit the National Railway Museum.
The bus took us through some interesting suburbs and we were soon in Port Adelaide. We vaguely remembered visiting the Port when we were travelling 'almost around aus' but had been to visit the markets not the museums.
We walked around to the museum and found that the SA Aviation Museum was just down the street, and the SA Maritime museum was close by too. They had a special offer whereby if we got a 'stamp' at our first museum we would get 25% off admission at the other museums, within a 3 month period. What a good idea.
It didn't cost any extra so we got our stamp.

We had a lovely wander around the trains and exhibits in both sheds, investigated the goods yard and went for a ride on the little train around the site so it was time for an ice cream and a sit down.
We were sitting in the shade when one of the volunteers came by and we started chatting. He took Michael off to show him something particularly interesting and when they returned we asked for a recommendation where to eat lunch. He started to tell us and then decided that as he had to move his car anyway he'd drive us around there and drop us off.
We had a choice of two cafes, one had a large lunch menu and the other was a busy bakery. We chose the bakery and enjoyed a very nice Spinach and Feta Quiche (me) and a meat and potato pie, which was like a shepherd's pie, in a pastry shell (Michael).
Then we walked back to the Railway Museum (only got slightly lost) and continued down the street to the SA Aviation Museum.

 We got our discount admission and entered. It was just one hangar but the exhibits were well presented.

 Their pride and joy was a Spitfire, but it is privately owned and only open for close inspection on certain days of the year, at an extra charge.(today was not one of those special days).

There were a couple of interactive displays, an early simulator, and a 'press button' for the Red Baron's plane's propeller to rotate and guns blaze.
 (I did that one twice).

 We decided not to 'do' the Maritime Museum, 2 out of 3 was enough for us so around 2.15pm we found our way back to the bus stop and got the bus back to the city, and our hotel.
We went up to our room and both relaxed so much that it was 5.30pm when we woke up.
Around 7.00pm we ventured out to look for dinner. We found the fact that smoking is still allowed if dining al fresco quite strange and very off putting, (as well as making the place really dirty with butts lying everywhere).
We walked around the block and ended up with 'Australia's Best Pizza'.
We dined in as we didn't want to take the pizza back and smell out the hotel room. A very nice 'Beef Diablo' pizza it was too. Then we went back to watch tv and relax before our 3 days of tours began.
We asked about wifi in the hotel and were not surprised to find that it is not included (unless on a different/business package). The charge was 40c/minute and could be booked in 20minute sessions! It's not even free in public areas, why is Australia so far behind the rest of the world? When looking at hotels overseas nearly all of the hotels offered free wifi and reading trip advisor and travel writers' comments, most people expect it these days. Most cafes offer free wifi so what is the issue with hotels?

After an excellent, very relaxing sleep we woke at 7.30am, showered and went down to breakfast. What a feast, the orange juice was so good we had 2 glasses. There was so much to choose from and the chef was there in a cooking area in  the centre of the dining a room to cook any eggs fresh for you.
We couldn't linger too long over breakfast as we had to get ready and be outside by 8.40am for our coach trip.
Today's tour was the half day Adelaide City Highlights.
It was the usual, hotel collection run around and then back to the bus station to disperse into various coaches for various tours. Today our collection coach was going to be the city tour coach so we didn't have to change seats.
There always seems to be something happening in Adelaide and at the moment the Fringe Festival is on, Womadelaide music festival is about to start and the touring cars were racing around the streets last weekend. As one of the parks that we were going to visit is the site of the Womadelaide event we couldn't go in, the driver did a quick diversion and we sat on an overpass road to see an O -bahn bus go by. (Been there, done that).
 

We stopped for a look around St Peter's Cathedral. The foundation stone was laid on St Peter's Day (29 June) 1869, and although services began in 1877 the structure was not completed until 1904. There were lots of lovely stained glass windows. I love stained glass windows, but don't usually like modern ones, I love The Magdalene Window.

 It was installed in 2001, it 'acknowledges and celebrates the role of women in the Scriptures, in the history of the church and in the forefront of social change in SA'.
The coach stopped for about 30 mins at the Cathedral but my quick look around didn't take that long and when I spotted the Anglicare Op Shop around the back, I was off. I bought one blouse and was back in plenty of time.
The next stop was the Haigh's chocolate factory, which everyone on the coach (apart from us) was really excited about. As the door of the factory/shop opened and that sickly sweet smell hit us, we headed off for the coffee machine and sat outside whilst they indulged. We were traffic watching (like people watching in shopping centres but done outside), and spotted a bright red Ferrari gurgling slowly along. It turned into the parking bay at the factory and the guy headed into the offices - obviously a Haigh himself, there's good money in chocolates (even if no one outside SA has heard of Haigh's chocolates!)
The chocolate shop was the last stop on the tour and we were dropped off in the city centre, at the top end of Rundle Street Mall, next to a Haigh's chocolate shop. We wandered down through the Mall, doing a little shopping and stopped for lunch at a food court (Felafel and salad sandwich for me, Vienna burger for Michael). The food court ran between Rundle Mall and Hindmarsh Square, it was almost next door to the little cafe where we'd enjoyed breakfast on our first morning in town.
Michael went back to the hotel, to read the paper (siesta) and I wandered around the shops. I took my time and even tried on clothes that I wouldn't normally look at - nothing bought though.
The rest of the afternoon was spent just relaxing and reading.
Dinner was at a little curry place near the hotel, next to student lodgings so quite cheap and cheerful. I had a really great fish curry but Michael's beef curry was a little too authentic for him - lots of bones and gristle. Two curries and a shared iced tea cost us $25.40. On the way back to the hotel we bought dessert - an ice cream, then we settled down for another night in front of the telly.

Another good night's rest, shower, lovely breakfast and wait outside the hotel and we were ready for our tour of the Barossa Valley and Hahndorf.
This time we had to change coaches at the terminal but everything went smoothly and we were soon away. We drove up to the vineyards through the Adelaide Hills, a scenic route which avoided the burnt out area and road closures from a major bush fire about 6 weeks ago.
First stop was morning tea at the Lyndoch Bakery - coffee and Beesting cake.

 The cake wasn't as rich as I'd thought it was going to be, but we still shared a slice rather than a whole one each. Then it was on to more serious things - wine tasting at Jacobs Creek Winery.

We had a little talk on the history of the vineyard and how things are today with the company now being owned by a French company. There are some cork trees on the estate but the first 'harvest' was not succesful, the cork was too uneven in quality. They are hoping for better luck next time, but in these days of screw caps it's not a great disaster.

Then we had a 'sensory experience', smelling a couple of 'flavours' and then tasting the wines. We had a 'blind tasting' to finish off and I'm slightly ashamed to say that I got it wrong and Michael (who was only smelling, not drinking the wines) got it right!

All of this before lunch -
we headed back to Lyndoch and the Chateau Barossa for lunch.

It was a very, very nice 2 course meal and I enjoyed a glass of sauvignon blanc to wash it down. We had a quick look at the Hermann Thumm collection of antiques, mainly glassware. The pride of the display was a Meissen porcelain figure of a coach and horses, apparently there are only two of these particular pieces in the world, one here in the Barossa and the other in Buckingham Palace. The other connection with the Queen is a 30,000 roses, rose garden which was opened by Her Majesty (QEII) and is the largest rose garden in the southern hemisphere. When she visited and opened the garden the Queen had lunch in the 'Barrel Rooom', where we'd had our lunch, I wonder if she had a nice glass of wine too? We didn't stroll around the 30,000, I just took a quick stroll across the lawn.

Then it was back on the coach and a drive across to the village of Hahndorf.
Hahndorf is Australia's oldest German settlement, with tree lined streets, quaint cottages, craft shops and galleries.

We had 45 minutes to wander around. There was a very 'commercial' German shop selling cuckoo clocks, cow bells and liederhosen, all the things a tourist could want, but at a highly inflated price.  (Aprons that made you look like an Alpine maid were $17.50 in Lyndoch at the bakery, here in Hahndorf the same thing costs $27). In the free on board magazine on the Indian Pacific there had been an advert for Hahndorf with a note saying 'Bring this ad into the tourist centre and get your free gift' - so I did. I don't think many people actually bother because the gentleman in the very sleepy centre, was a bit taken aback. He eventually produced a box and asked me what colour I would like - I got a free pen. But it doesn't have Hahndorf written on it, it's from the Adelaide Hills Tourist Office.
We found a cafe with outdoor seating and watched the world go by.

 A little out of place but very friendly this panda was really sweet. Then it was back on board the bus and a scenic drive back to Adelaide. Our driver, Martin, took the old road down the Hills and as there was virtually no other traffic we were able to crawl along spotting koalas sitting in the tree tops. The SA koalas are bigger and darker than the other Aussie koalas, we saw about 5.
 What a great day out - free wine and then koalas!!!
We were back in our room by 5.30 and decided to get a take away for dinner, I went to find something but after discounting a couple of old chicken rolls from Woolworths decided that Subway was the better option. A $5 bottle of local Merlot helped it go down rather well.

Another day, another tour so we were outside waiting for the coach by 8.40. Once again the coach was going to be the one for our day trip so we stayed aboard, changing seats this time to get up front. It was a full bus, 45 of us.
 Our driver, Terry, seemed a little 'wooden' but he gave an interesting commentary.(By now we are very tired of hearing how SA is the only Australian State not founded with convicts, they were free men. Let's not mention how poor the state is, the convicts got the better land!?)
We headed up through the Hills and even though we were on the new freeway not the old road I did spot a couple of koalas in the tree tops.
Around 11.00am we arrived at the Murray River and Proud Mary.

We had a welcoming cup of coffee as we boarded and took a seat in the dining area next to a window. Coffee over we headed outside, up to the upper deck and enjoyed the scenery as we slowly cruised along the river.

We saw quite a few pelican, egrets, heron, galahs and corellas. There were lots of willow trees on the river banks, although not Australian natives they are thriving. They were planted by early river boat men, to help define the banks of the river. As with lots of 'good intentions' they are now causing a problem and there is some effort being made to remove them in some sections of the river. The red earth of the banks, the cliffs and the white barked gum trees were very pretty.

Then we were called back to the dining room for lunch. Everyone was being very polite and returning to the seats that they'd had for their coffee so we had a lovely window seat to watch the world go by as we enjoyed lunch. An excellent lunch it was too. Chicken, ham, crayfish, prawns and lovely salads. All too soon we had returned to shore and it was time to disembark.(And time for the chef to relax, and have a cigarette).

We got back on the coach and drove to Mannum.We got out at the town's lookout and enjoyed the beautiful views up and down the river.

Then we went into town and had about 45minutes free time to wander around town. We hopped on board the  free, chain ferry across the river, staying on board for a round trip.

Then we walked up and down the main street, bought an ice cream and (once it was finished) re boarded the coach.
We drove to the little village of Woodside where we stopped at a chocolate factory - not an expensive, flash place like Haighs this place, Melba's was much more low key. More interesting and openly commercial selling lots of 'moo cow' oriented produce. Next door to the chocolate place was a cheese factory, Woodside Cheese Wrights. They had a lovely selection of cheeses, including goat's cheese rolled in ash. Haven't seen such nice cheese since we were in Tasmania.

We bought a nice cool drink and sat in the shade before heading back on board and heading back into Adelaide. We decided not to change buses at the bus station, we decamped and headed down the street to Chinatown.

We had dinner in Chinatown, in a very noisy, busy food court - very authentic asian. Then we strolled through the malls and made our way back to the hotel.
We ordered our 'boxed' breakfast for the morning as tomorrow we have an early pick up - 6.15am.   So we had an early night.

Next morning we were up bright and early, having our box breakfast (cereal and milk, juice, very small muesli bar and even smaller biscuit). The hotel dining room opens at 6.00am so we went down and got coffee and toast whilst waiting for the coach.
The coach arrived a little late, 6.25, and filled up from hotels all over Adelaide. More people got on at the bus station and then we headed out of Adelaide, south to Cape Jervis. We were towing a trailer with mail for the island and stopped in the little town of Yankalilla to pick up some pastries from the bakery, to take over too.
In Cape Jervis we boarded almost straight away and found seats at the front, looking out across the water.

                      

It was so cold on board the ferry, we didn't have coats, Michael just had a lightweight denim shirt and I had a lightweight scarf. We snuggled together to keep warm. The ferry left on time, 8.50am and we slowly edged across the Backstairs Passage to Kangaroo Island. The trip took 45 minutes and then we were off to look for our island tour coach. There was quite a bit of confusion but we got the right coach and climbed aboard, finding the last 2 seats together, right at the very back. More people boarded and we soon had a very full coach of 45.  Glen was our driver, tour guide. He was Kangaroo Island born and bred, having given up farming to be a tour guide.

 Our first stop was at Seal Bay, home of the Australian Sea-lion, and the second largest breeding colony in Australia. We walked down to a platform overlooking the beach with a ranger. Then we were escorted onto the beach, there were strict safety rules in place for our protection as much as the sea-lions, we had to keep at least 10 metres from the animals.

We only had about 10 or 15 minutes on the beach, but saw lots of seals in that time, lying around on the beach and surfing ashore. On our way down to the beach we hadn't noticed but there were quite a few seals lying in the sand dunes, one or two lying under the platform. Once we'd spotted on or two, we saw them everywhere.

Then we were back on the coach, off for lunch.
Lunch was described in the brochure as 'aussie style lunch in a charming country setting' it was at Vivonne Lodge. Well, I've had better meals and I don't think I've ever had a potato salad with uncooked potatoes before.
 I have since contacted the tour operator and told them my gripe, and have been in touch with the Lodge manager, who strangely seems to be more occupied with the notion I had that the lodge was for sale than my comments about the food quality).
We continued our tour of the island's west coast calling in at HansonBay Wildlife Sanctuary. We did eventually spot a couple of koalas sitting up trees. Then we realised that there were orange marker posts under the trees that had koalas in them. It was still difficult to spot the little grey balls in amongst the leaves.

All too soon, time to head back on board and carry on westward to the Flinders Chase National Park. We headed down to the Remarkable Rocks,a cluster of granite boulders sculptured by the weather, perched on top of a granite dome which rises steeply out of the ocean. We went for a walk and a climb.

Very interesting but then the weather turned chilly and it started to drizzle.

We drove down past the Cape du Couedic Lighthouse and then we got out of the coach to walk along the boardwalk with a viewing platform overlooking a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals. Michael stayed up and chatted to Glen whilst I wandered along the boardwalk to the first viewing platform and looked down on a group of seals lazing on the rocks below.

The pathway continued and went down to the beach via 40 or so steps, where there was a view of a rock formation called The Admiral's Arch. I didn't carry on down to the beach, 40 steps down meant 40 steps back up!
We had a quick stop at the visitor's centre on the edge of the National Park
and then it was time to head back to the eastern side of the island.

 We arrived back in Penneshaw with time to grab a bite to eat before boarding the ferry and sailing back to the mainland. It was just as cold on board, but this time we had a nice hot coffee and found seats out of a draught.
Back at Cape Jervis we found the coach back to Adelaide hotels and were surprised to find the seats behind the driver vacant. We sat down, strapped in and were soon enjoying the nice smooth run back into the city. We were dropped off at 10.20pm and enjoyed a nice cuppa tea and a hot shower before bed.
What a long day and we seem to have picked up a virus - sneezing, sore throat runny nose and cough. Bugger!