February 14 – Kangaroo Island, Australia

Today we have a tour of Kangaroo Island which is just off the southern coast of Australia and not too terribly far from Adelaide.  We are in groups of six in four-wheel drives.  Our driver is a lot of fun and could be considered a “character”.  She lives very remotely on the island and told us of some of the challenges of living “off the grid”.  She cares for injured animals on her farm and rehabilitates them so that they can be released back into the wild.  During their winters she goes to the island nation of Tonga where she runs a whale watching business called Whales in the Wild.  It sounds like the encounters with the whales are phenomenal.  Perhaps we need to go to Tonga.

Our first stop was Seal Bay reserve where there is a large colony of Australian Sea Lions.  So of course we saw lots of sea lions...

 

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Watch video of sea lion.
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Sea Lions fighting

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Watch video of sea lions fighting.
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Watch video of a sea lion playing.
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including some babies playing in the surf and waiting for mom to come back from her fishing expedition.

We also saw a flock of crested terns…

and a few endangered hooded plovers, also called the hooded dotterel.  There are only about 800 of them left in southern Australia.

We stopped for lunch in Flinders Chase National Park.  The tour company had set up tables with white table cloths and stemware for wine.  The freshly barbecued steaks were served with salads, rolls and spiced pears for dessert.  A typical high quality Crystal event.

Next was Remarkable Rocks.  And the wind and sea carved rocks were pretty remarkable.

Then it was on for a drive by the Cape du Couedic lighthouse…

and from there a short walk to Admirals Arch.

From this area we had great views along the coastline...

and the interesting vegetation.

We stopped at a farm that was a haven for wildlife, icluding quite a few kangaroos…

and koalas.

And we even got to see an echidna wandering around.  The echidna is one of only two egg laying mammals (the other is the platypus).  They are little, spiny and rather adorable. 

Digging for food:

We made it back to the port shortly before the last tender left for the ship.  There were lots of pied cormorants on the break water near the dock.

Today was Valentine’s Day so they decorated the Crystal Cove with lots of pink, red and white balloons and all of the lady’s got a red rose at dinner.