Adelaide + Kangaroo Island (KI)

Early departure got us into Adelaide around noon. Thankfully we had a non-stop flight from Cairns which took us straight through the heart of Australia (imagine flat, flat, flat). The Hilton Hotel is right on the central square and adjacent to a fantastic market. We wandered around town where we found some fountains and a statue of Queen Adelaide. We spent most of the time in the Botanical Gardens where we managed to catch a lorakeet in flight and came upon a heart-warming ediface dedicated to the Americans as a rememberance of their help in defending Australlia in WWII. It's also home to the Wine Center which showcases the region's wines.

A local recommended that we try the local custard pies. So we scampered off to the market and scouted out the situation. We couldn't remember which custard vendor the man had recommended, so we decided to be better safe than sorry, and we purchased several. Yum! The very best were the custard buns from the Chinese vendor which included a sugar cookie on top. How decadent. We ate 1 immediately and bought 2 more for breakfast...and a couple meat buns for the trip to Kangaroo Island tomorrow. Wish we had these in the States.


Upon leaving Adelaide, we hit the market very early and picked up some fresh bread for our trip. We took a 3 hr coach ride to Cape Jervis where we picked up the SeaLink Ferry to Penneshaw, KI. We picked up a rental car (complete with a 100 km per day allotment for driving on an island that is 200 km long) around noon and within 5 min had a big 'roo jump across the road in front of us. The Kangaroo was as big as our car. Half scared to death, we took a leisurely drive to the Pavillions, KI, on the Cygnet river (a self-contained, rural B&B, where the breakfast is not included. Turns out, many Aussie proprietors seem to think a room without breakfast is still a B&B).

We stopped at several beaches, one where black swans were swimming. The most beautiful beach was Pennington Bay where we hiked to the top of Prospect Hill for a panoramic view of the island.

We visited Clifford's Honey Farm where we enjoyed honey ice cream (KI claims to thave the purest strain of Ligurian bees and therefore the best honey in the world) and the Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Oil Distillery - the oldest (and now, only distillery running in Australia.) Arrived to our wonderful accomodations (a full house on a 2-acre lot) in early evening, then drove to Kingscote for dinner, but couldn't find a restaurant that was open.




So, instead we provisioned at the bottle shop, local market, and the butcher (lamb chops), which made for a tasty dinner. New Zealander's haven't quite the huberis of Australia, where only Australian wines could be found. We opted for a local 2006 Shiraz that we enjoyed immensely.

After a wonderful, self-prepared breakfast (We paid the proprietor to stock the kitchen), we drove toward Seal Bay the south side of KI, driving warily due to the Kangaroos.



On the way, we stopped at Little Sahara, a giant sand dune that people ski and snow-board down. There, we spied the Ferry Wren and also an Enchidna (looks like a small porcupine with brown quills and a long nose).


We had dinner and then went on a night-time critter crusade. Koala, 'roos, wallaby (just like a kangaroo, but less than 20 kg adult mass), and opossum are all nocturnal and the little blue penguins make their return from the sea each evening to feed their chicks. Notice a bit of fluff on the picture with 2 penguins.



Opossom and wallaby were easy to find and we found a few koala, including one with a baby. At the end, we went to the blue penguin rookery and saw both adults and chicks. We did quite a lot of driving, so fortunately the fuse that controlled the odometer came loose during the day -- which allowed us to avoid some pesky overage fees. Whew!


The next day, we headed to the SW corner of the island to Flinder's Chase National Park. There is a wonderful lighthouse with a view of powerful waves crashing due to the coastline shape that causes swells to crash one into another.



Just below the light house is Admiral's Arch, so-named as it resembels an admiral's hat (with some imagination). There were loads of New Zealand Fur Seal settled on the jagged rocks taking a rest from the furious waves. Unfortunately, we were there near noon and there was too much light contrast to take many good pictures. An sunrise, the near side would be lit with warm light instead of in shadow. When we go back, Steve will hit it at sunrise!



Nearby were the Remarkable Rocks -- and they were indeed, remarkable. With magic light, these could be truly remarkable shots. Also, early/late would avoid the tour buses that come from the ferry that arrives around 11 am.

We attempted to find platypus next, but after driving 10 km, we found a sign saying the road was closed. We hussled back to Penneshaw to catch the evening ferry for a moderately-rough ride back to the mainland. The coach dropped us at the hotel around 10:30 pm. The next morning we flew from Adelaide -> Auckland -> Christchurch. Flying east, with customs & immigration, and the layover, we arrived around 10pm in Christchurch. We were thankful they didn't weigh our carry-ons as was threatened, so we had no problems with luggage. Upon arrival to Christchurch, had a bit of trouble finding a shuttle to the hotel - they were only queuing at the international terminal. We arrived at Hotel Grand Chancellor in late evening and found a free upgrade to a penthouse apartment with 2 full King Suites, an extra bathroom, a kitchen, and a million dollar view of the city. Wahoo!

Cairns and Port Douglas

Having finished our sail, we flew from Hamilton Island to Cairns, by way of Brisbane. If you look at a map, you'll see that's like flying from Portland to Seattle by way of San Francisco. In Cairns, we arrived to the hotel around 8pm, found a pub for dinner (Pizza or Fish-n-Chips are the choices everywhere). In the morning, we walked to pick up a rental car and drove north along the coast toward Port Douglas. This drive is billed as one of the top 5 most scenic drives in the world. Yawn. OK, it's a decent drive along the coast and is a pleasant drive. Not nearly as nice as the drive from the Kangaroo Island Ferry Terminal I'll cover later. Not nearly as scenic as Hwy 101 on the Oregon Coast, the Hana Highway on Maui, the Washington county scenic loop, North & South Rim of the Grand Canyon, the 40-miles into Arches National Park (you get the idea...marketing hype is a bunch of bull everywhere).

On the way, we stopped at Hartley's Crocodile park. They have a great show with a dude who, knowing the croc's instinctual behavior, moves around within a couple of feet of the croc. This 14' long critter could CHOMP and move wicked fast - but the guy would tell us what behaviour he was going to stimulate and BAM! that's what the croc did.

We toured their lagoon in a boat, where another trainer got a croc to leap out of the water (driven by its tail). Don't want to be within reach of any of these guys!

They had Koalas here and a sign claimed that although they may look and act drunk/hungover, they are not. In fact, the eucalyptus leaves they eat are low in nutrition and slightly poisonous so it takes all of their energy to digest the stuff -- they sleep up to 22hrs/day. We noted that eucalyptus oil for sale has a skull & crossbones. We prefer to think of them as harmless drunks... They also had a cassowary - really cool bird, but don't get him mad at you!



We drove on to our self-contained (full complement of dishes & appliances) apartment, then drove the few km to Port Douglas where we had dinner at a bar whose featured attraction is cane toad racing. A bit of wandering found most of the shops closed in the cute town (it was after 6pm, afterall). It is a curious blend of the old and art-deco new. Stopped for groceries on the way home to save some $$$ on food since we had a kitchen. They have some interesting green ants one can eat for a vitamin C boost -- we passed. Perhaps the tiny lizards like to eat them.


At breakfast the next morning, we met a couple from Auckland, Jason and Amanda. We had nice conversation with them each morning and they invited us to call them up when we arrive in New Zealand. Our goal for the day was to visit Mossman Gorge and Daintree National Park. We started the drive and a few km letter it started to rain, so we did a U-turn to pick up coats, but was in the right-hand lane after the turn around and surprised to see on-coming traffic. Managed to swerve into the left lane after first instinct was to go right. (Remember, this was our first time driving here on the wrong side.)

Back on the LH side of the road with coats, we picked up some delicious tree-fallen mangos on the way to Mossman Gorge where we found some short tracks (hiking paths) leading to a steep, moss-covered gorge full of large, rounded boulders. Beautiful and serene. One could find some very nice photo spots in the gorge, but with the rain and coolish temperatures, we did only a bit of that and also resisted the swimming. One of the larger trees is a strangler fig. It germinates in the crotch of a tree branch, sends roots to the ground and eventually strangles the host tree.


We then drove up to Daintree and were surpised at the lack of access. We watched another deluge from the car with some interesting photos through the windshield and during a brief lull sprinted to a steel-roofed cafe for a noisy lunch.

To see some of the park, we took a Daintree River tour where we saw a single croc's snout for just a second, a nesting frogman bird (2 pictures - one nesting, one on a branch), some green tree snakes, and a couple of other birds whose name I can't recall.

For the last day in Port Douglas area, we drove up to Mount Molloy. We thought it would be a scenic vista, but it ended up a small mountain town with no view. They do have several building lots for sale, if anyone is interested. To conclude the day, we re-visited the Croc Adventure. We had hoped to get out to the Great Barrier Reef one more time, but it was rainy with 25 knot winds and 1.5 meter swells...not really the best conditions.

Next AM we arose early, drove the windy road back to Cairns, turned in the car, and picked up a coach (tour bus) to the Kuranda tram. This tram goes through rain forest (sometimes above, sometimes below the canopy) to Kuranda, with two stops on the way up and views of a terrific waterfall that cascades down a steep gorge. Kuranda is a town nestled within the rainforest and it allows you to get close up and personal with it.

At Kuranda, we saw a butterfly exhibit where they feature the Blue Ulysses Butterfly. It only lives in the Australian Rainforest. BTW - that Blue Ulysses Butterfly is reputed to be the most difficult to photograph. About 200 shots gave this one...

We took a scenic train ride down the mountain. The train was originally built to assist in the building of a huge dam above the gorge. Now it's primarily for tourists.

Our final night in Cairns, while enjoying some "canapes" for dinner, we fell into conversation with "Shady" McGrady of the Australian Police who was quite entertaining. The people have been really great and very welcoming.