Trekkin

Day 39 – October 9 2012

This morning was packing up camp & leaving Flinders Chase & we headed off for Kingscote.  The drive was uneventful, only a few cars heading the other way, none passing us & we only travel slowly.  The road is a pleasant drive, with natural bush on both sides of the road mostly, with farmland directly behind hiding the fat sheep.  Just before Kingscote we stopped at The Beehive where we tried their famous Ligurian honey.  Kangaroo Island’s pristine wilderness is the only area in the world where pure Ligurian bees are known to exist, we bought some to take home.  In Kingscote we had a short walk around town, checked out the shops, bought a few groceries & had lunch at Roger’s Café, disappointing after the quality of food at Flinders Chase Café.  We also had the mandatory walk on the local wharf, chatted to the solitary fisherman having no luck using maggots for bait.  There were 3 seals sunning themselves on the rocks at the start of the wharf, apparently they eat a lot of the squid & small fish that usually inhabit the wharf area & the local fishermen are not too happy about them.

On the short drive to Penneshaw we came across some rain showers & got to the caravan park just as the rain stopped.  We quickly set up & just as we finished it started to shower again, lucky for us.  A quite afternoon.

Day 38 – October 8 2012

This morning we decided to head to Seal Bay & take the guided tour onto the beach with the seals.  We only saw 1 echidna on the drive to Seal Bay, we have seen so many since we have arrived, there must be lots of them on the island.  The National Parks Island Pass gave us a “free” pass onto the beach with hundreds of seals of all different shapes & sizes, from the small cute pups to the 300kg big bull seals, they are really big when you  are close to them.  The wind was a bit cool, straight off the Antarctic, however, the sight of the seals made up for it, especially the small ones playing in the surf, catching waves & generally mucking about, the rest just lay in the sun & snoozed, some little pups snuggled up to their snoozing mum & sucked away.   There were a few seals up in the dunes, sunbaking & feeding their pups.

Next it was off to Murray Lagoon & we stopped at the Timber Creek Walk & had lunch at the picnic table.  The 3km walk started out interesting, we had only gone around 50 metres when I stopped Tereza, there was a dangerously venomous Black Tiger Snake, around 2 metres long, just on the edge of the track.  We stopped (of course) & watched it for a while.  The snake appeared to be trying to force its head into a small hole in the sand at the edge of the track, we can only assume it was chasing a lizard or some other small creature.  We took a few photos & moved on, the snake was not the least bit interested in us.  The walk meandered along the edge of Murray Lagoon, although there were not many water birds around, perhaps the large wedge tail eagle roosting in a tree close by was keeping them away.  There were lots of small birds flitting in & out of the undergrowth, lots of blue wrens & small honey-eaters.  The walk through the small ti-tree undergrowth was OK, but would have been a whole lot better with some more birds.  All was not lost, Ron found a couple of great feathers for his hat, I am getting a bit concerned that he might take flight & people will start photographing  believing that he is some rare Kangaroo Island bird species.  On the walk back we kept our eye out for the tiger snake & it was still there, in the same spot with it’s head in the same hole.  We watched it for a while, Tereza kept edging closer to the snake to take more photos & I tried to keep her back from it.  The tiger snake eventually pulled its head out of the hole & we decided to leave it alone & head back to the car.

We headed next for the Bald Hill Walk, only 500 metres to the top of a small treeless hill & a platform overlooking Murray Lagoon, across in the distance some sand dunes covered in vegetation, except the tops were snow white, they really looked great. On the way we spotted a large goanna, just sunning itself at the side of the track, it took no notice of us as we took a few photos & we left it in peace.  The bird lookout platform had a great view over Murray Lagoon, but not too many birds to be seen.  The walk back was pleasant, looking over another small lagoon, though the goanna was gone from its basking spot.

Time to head back to camp, we are early enough today so only spotted 1 kangaroo dashing across the road & a couple of wedge tail eagles riding a thermal.  Another very pleasant day with some cheese & bikkies to cap it off back at camp, with our personal resident koala in another tree next to our camp.

Day 37 – October 7 2012

Well, daylight saving tricked us & we lost an hour this morning – we had a BIG SLEEP IN & it was more than one hour to compensate for the one hour  the clock was turned forward. We did the washing & moved our Karavan to a new site in the campground.  Tomorrow a bus load of college students are due to arrive & we were right in the middle of where they are going to be (we heard from James not too many years ago what these students can get up to).  A bonus with the new site, we have our very own resident koala in the tree next to us.  After completing setting up again & hanging the washing out (all very boring & mundane but has to be done even when we are on holidays) we headed out.

On our drive to the centre of Kangaroo Island we came across 2 echidnas & stopped both times as they trundled across the road.  Our lunch destination was again the Andermel Marron Café where again we had some deliciously cooked marron with salad.  If you ever visit Kangaroo Island this café is a must for lunch.  After lunch we went next door to the wine cellar & tasted some of the “Two Wheeler Creek” wines & liquors while chatting to the hostess about the marron farming process.  A very pleasant time.

After a filling lunch it was time to walk it down so we he headed back to the South Coast Road & Vivonne Bay where we enjoyed a very leisurely walk on the sand.  This beach is considered by some to be one of the best beaches in Australia (this statement is debatable although it is a very beautiful beach).  We were intrigued by the fossils in the limestone exposed on the beach, there was a distinct band in the limestone that was absolutely packed with fossil shells & now & again a crustacean.  The storm last week certainly left its mark, the sand dunes are really washed away, the waves must have been enormous.  The cloud formations looked good, the ones on the southern horizon looked just like giant icebergs floating up from Antarctica, the cold wind certainly felt like it.

Back to camp before it got too late, again having to brake for kangaroos, a wedge tail eagle (feasting on a road kill) & another echidna.  At camp we set off on the Lagoon Walk & got back to the Karavan just as the sun was setting.  This caravan park is so big, lovely & peaceful (most likely until tomorrow when the school kids will get here) teeming with so many wild animals & birds.  We had another great day.

Day 36 – October 6 2012

A little bit of rain overnight – showery stuff with the air a bit cooler this morning, threatening to shower again but didn’t.  We headed off to the Flinders Chase National Park again, this time for the Rocky River Hike, a moderate 9km walk.  This walk starts from the visitor centre & starts along the same path as the Platypus Waterholes Hike for around 2km, then diverts & follows the Rocky River towards the sea.  The walk was very pleasant, cool to start with but before long we had to remove our rain jackets as the clouds cleared & the sun shone through.  The wildflowers are really starting to get into full flowering mode now, there are so many different species of plant out in flower, a really pretty sight.  The park is slowly recovering from the 2007 bushfire, but a lot of the large trees are dead & with the recent strong winds last week they have lost lots of branches or have been blown over.  At times there is a jumbled confusion of dead trees & branches with new plants in flowers all around them.  The Rocky River water has a slight tannin stain & was flowing well from last night’s rain.  We didn’t spot any platypus or marron, however did come across a nice large goanna sunning itself.  There are lots of birds flitting around & chirping, with a red-breasted robin sitting still & posing long enough for us to take a photo.

The last part of the walk had a little bit of uneven ground to contend with as the limestone was at the surface, but otherwise, a good track.  Once back at the visitor centre it was lunchtime & again we had the garfish, whiting, salad & again it was just as good as last time.

This afternoon we headed back down to Admirals Arch on Cape Du Couedic & this time we did the Lighthouse Heritage Walk. This is a short stroll looking at the history of the lightstation, including the 3 lighthouse keeper cottages, the stables for the horses & cart, storehouse & flagpole.  Another interesting piece of history with the stone cottages being restored & in excellent condition, apart from some minor wind damage to the slate roofs from the strong winds last week.

We then headed down to Admirals Arch.  We spent a fair bit of time looking at the seals playing & the large waves crashing into the rocks as the sun sparkled off the water through the limestone arch.  We were protected from the wind a bit, but after a while the southerly breeze straight from Antarctica made its presence felt & we started to feel cold.  We wanted to see the sun setting through the arch but it was too cold & getting too late for the drive back as it is dangerous with so much wildlife around.  On the way back to camp I had to slow down a few times for kangaroos & once braked hard for a kangaroo that wanted to commit suicide & raced straight out in front of the car.  We were very lucky I was travelling slowly & spotted the kangaroo in time.  The heart was beating a little faster after that little episode.  We decided not to have dinner as we were still too full from the delicious lunch we had.  We once again had a great day but we are tired, so after the blog an early night for both of us.

Day 35 – October 5 2012

We decided to venture a little further today & drove north to the Western River Wilderness Protection Area & walked the Waterfall Creek Hike.  The dirt road in was in very good condition & when we got to the small car park there was only one other car there, from the ACT & the couple live in the same suburb we do just a few streets away – a small world.  The first 2km of the walk was fairly easy, along an old road that had been washed & eroded in places, but generally fairly easy downhill.  The last 500 metres was where it got tough, up & down & around, over rocks, tree branches before arriving at the end of the track looking down at the waterfall whence Waterfall Creek gets its name.  There was not much water trickling over the falls, but it was a very pretty sight anyway, a lot better than the photo shows.  I can only imagine what it would be like in full flight dropping the 30 or so metres to the small valley below it.  We had a very pleasant walk back to the car chatting to the other Canberrans.

We then headed to Stokes Bay, through lots of farmlands that are yellow in colour, either from the canola crops or the native yellow daisy that is everywhere, & the famous Rockpool Café for lunch.  People travel from everywhere to eat at this café (we certainly did since there isn’t any other place to eat anywhere near).  It is small & beach shack in style & served a nice seafood meal & good coffee, looking out over the small Stokes Bay, a fisherman’s paradise.  After lunch we walked to the beach, the sign on a large rock pointed to the beach, but it pointed straight at the cliff – we thought someone put the sign up as a joke. When we got closer we found that there is a tiny winding path through the eroded limestone cliff that goes through a cave that has entrances on both sides, opening out onto a beautiful sandy beach.  It was really very special walking through this cave for access to the beach.  There were a few families with kids playing in the sheltered rock pool as soon as we stepped out of the cave & the rest of the beach was empty, there were signs warning of strong rip currents a little further along the beach.  We walked the length of the beach & were treated to the sight of a pair of hooded plovers, a rare & endangered bird species of southern Australia.  They are small black & white birds with short legs, unusual for a beach bird, they looked cute when they were walking, their legs couldn’t be seen as they moved.

We enjoyed the beachcombing, the views changing with the changing light & the sheer beauty of the seascape.  The drive back through the rolling farmland was enjoyable, we called in at Parndana to stock up on a few groceries (another place people drive for miles just to shop there, ha ha), then made our way back to camp before it got dark.  We spotted an echidna on the side of the road plus a wedge tail eagle feeding on a dead possum in the middle of the road.  Of concern though was the large number of kangaroos on the side of the road or on the road itself, only moving when I braked & nearly came to a stop, fairly scary & I slowed right down as the light was fading in the showering rain.  We got back to camp safely despite the near misses & there is a few sporadic showers coming through.  Another great day.

Day 34 – October 4 2012

Another perfect morning in paradise, sunshine, blue sky, warm & windless, just right for the Discovery Walk where we discovered that we could not find one single thing we were supposed to. We then tried our luck with the Platypus Waterholes Walk starting from the visitor centre in Flinders Chase National Park.  Our walk took us across the Black Swamp, no water but lots of Cape Barren geese, some with goslings feeding alongside.  The walk took us around 2 km to the waterholes in the Rocky River, through lots of flowering wildflowers.  There is such a variety of flowers, so many different shapes & colours, a lot of the plants we have not seen before.  Some plants are soft to the touch, lots of plants are very prickly.  The plant flowering best at the moment is the prickly wattle, very pretty yellow flowers all over them, growing a bit over head height mostly, but so many sharp thorns.  There are lots of different birds calling & flitting between the bushes, we met a few people on the walk that seemed keen bird-watchers.  The Platypus Waterholes look very pretty, have plenty of large marron (freshwater crayfish) in them, but we didn’t see any platypus.  The walk was very pleasant nonetheless, quietness (apart from the birds) & lots of wildflowers.

After the walk we stopped at the Flinders Chase visitor centre café for lunch.  The fresh garfish & whiting with fresh salad was absolutely delicious, it was so good we may go back there again just for the fish & the freshest salad.

Our next destination was Hanson Bay, a small sheltered beach with a few fishing cabins & not much else.  We had a quick walk on the beach, admired the views of the waves & the different colours of the waters.  We then drove to Vivonne Bay once more, this time along the Jetty Road & stopped at the jetty for a look & walk along (of course).  The jetty is used by the crayfish boats during crayfishing season & is in need of repair.  We met & had a chat to a couple of government engineers surveying the jetty for repair works.  The colours of the water in Vivonne Bay are all different shades of blue & look great contrasting against the white sand.  We wandered up to the small low headland where a safety beacon is located & had great views both east & west along the coast.

Back to camp & we located 3 koalas in different trees in the campground, right amongst the tents & caravans, they don’t seem to mind people at all.  Two of the koalas were actively feeding & the third had a baby koala nestled in its arms & was asleep.  All very cute.

Day 33 – October 3 2012

Another magic day, sun beaming, totally blue cloudless sky with a slight breeze.  Our venture today was to Cape Borda, on the northwest tip of Kangaroo Island, with bitumen for half the distance & the other half, reasonably good dirt road.  We did see a black tiger snake, one of the most venomous snakes in the world, making its way across the road.  The skin on this tiger snake is so black & shiny it looks like a piece of bright plastic, its hard to believe an animal could have a skin that shiny.  The lighthouse at Cape Borda is unusual in that it is square & short, whereas most lighthouses are round & tall.  The Cape Borda lighthouse sits on a very high cliff, 155 metres above sea level, so the lighthouse itself only needs to be 10 metres tall, thus it is square because square costs less.  The Cape Borda lighthouse started operating in 1858.

Firstly we walked the Clifftop Hike, from the visitor centre down to the viewing platform on the edge of the cliff.  It is certainly a very long way down, though the view is fantastic, today we could see the coastline of the Yorke Peninsula on the mainland plus a few islands around 40km away.  Next we took the Guided Tour hosted by Mick, the very flamboyant & colourful ranger living in one of the lighthouse keeper’s cottages & caring for this part of the park.  Mick took us through the small museum, explained & showed the history of the different types of lights used over the years in the lighthouse then took us into the lighthouse & showed us the revolving lens of the lighthouse plus explained a little more history around the shipwrecks & the lives lost, plus the hardships suffered by the early lighthouse keepers & their families.  The highlight of the tour was the 1 o’clock time signal fired by the cannon.  This cannon is the original cannon that has been used over the years to signal the time at 1pm & is extremely loud.  Mick was very entertaining & I would recommend this tour to anyone.  He mentioned that on Friday during the severe wind he recorded a gust of 64 knots, which is 118.5 kilometres/hour.

After our entertaining tour we started heading back & stopped at the lookout at Scott Cove, the view from here is stunning looking east along the coast.  Our next stop a short distance along was the lighthouse cemetery, a very poignant reminder of how tough life was in the early years of the lighthouse operation, with visits by the store ship only occurring every 3 months & no access to any medical facilities.

Our next stop was the campground at Harveys Return, a very pleasant spot under some beautiful gum trees where we sat & had lunch.  After lunch we ventured down the track of the Harveys Return Hike, originally used by the lighthouse keepers to haul stores from the small cove back to the lighthouse.  The first part of the track is OK, fairly eroded, but you can still see in places where cobblestones were put to make the road better for the horse & dray.  The second part of the track is pretty horrendous, this is very steep & is where the stores where hauled up from the cove at Harveys Return by capstan & horse using light rail carts.  The very steep track down is very eroded & a lot of hard work to get down & then back up.  There is not much remaining of the rail tracks, the crane, the engine house nor the storehouse. The huge seas that thrash the coastline at times have washed most of it away. The last part of this steep hill was too much for me so I sat on a rock in the shade while Ron the mountain goat went down & took some photos for me to enjoy at leisure.  Whatever you take into a National Park you must take out & poor Ron would have had trouble to haul me out of there.

On our way back to camp we saw an echidna crossing the road, the first we have seen on Kangaroo Island, they are smaller than the mainland echidnas, though just as prickly & cute.  We walked the Koala Track in daylight once back at camp but didn’t spot any koalas, lots of Tammer wallabies though.

Day 32 – October 2 2012

West Bay was our destination this morning, about 28km of fair dirt road.  This is the westernmost bay on Kangaroo Island & was the site of the shipwreck of the Loch Vennachar, a 3 masted ship, in 1905.  Today was glorious, not a cloud in the sky & a pleasant 22C with a slight breeze.  We had the beach to ourselves & walked to the end & back, barefoot.  We did contemplate a swim, but the water is freezing cold.  A bower anchor from the ship has been recovered & preserved & is on display at the car park in memory of all the crew who perished at West Bay.  All hands on board lost their lives when the ship crashed into the cliffs.  As we were leaving West Bay a few fishermen arrived to try their luck.

We drove back past Breakneck River & Sandy Creek before turning off & stopping at Snake Lagoon for the Snake Lagoon Hike.  Well, there is no water in the lagoon & thankfully we didn’t see any snakes.  The walk took us down to the Rocky River & followed along it to the mouth.  It was a fairly rough walk, lots of up & down, stepping over rocks & uneven ground, so not ideal. We stopped & had our lunch at the small wooden footbridge that crosses the river. The river lives up to its name, it is very rocky, though picturesque, with a surprising amount of water flowing down it.  The river meets the sea in a very small bay, with some huge waves greeting the river as it flows out.  Some people even swam there, personally, I think they are crazy, it just looks too dangerous, there is a huge volume of water pushing into the bay & there must be a huge rip taking it back out again.  It just didn’t look safe.  We took it just as easy going back to the Snake Lagoon car park & we were a little tired & thirsty by the time we got there, so we sat at the picnic table in Snake Lagoon & had a rest, drink & snack watching the swallows & blue wrens flittering around.

Back to camp, dinner, then another Koala Walk.  This time we only saw 1 koala (sleeping) 2 possums & an owl.  The night is quite mild & very pleasant walking, the sky is cloudless & the stars are very bright, another great day.

Day 31 – October 1 2012

Flinders Chase National Park was our destination this morning.  It is only a short distance to the visitor centre from our camp. There are lots of Cape Barren Geese feeding on the grass near the visitor centre, after calling in & paying the national park fees we drove to the Cape Du Couedic through some different types of landscape.  Today was the first time we have seen large trees on Kangaroo Island, mostly the trees are the shorter mallee gum.  As we got closer to the coast the effects of a recent bushfire could be seen, with the dead skeletal remnants of trees poking out above the dense new growth. Closer to the coast again & the vegetation became very low & windblown, scattered amongst the rocky limestone ground.  The Cape Du Couedic lighthouse stands sentinel over this part of the coast & was completed in 1909 after a number of shipwrecks on this southern extremity of Kangaroo Island.  We had a look around the lighthouse before heading down the hill to Admirals Arch.

Admirals Arch is the site of a large New Zealand Fur Seal colony.  We spent a long time looking at the young seals playing around in the water, leaping out like dolphins & chasing each other around.  The older seals generally just lay in the sun sleeping, occasionally waking & moving when a wave disturbed their slumber.  The way they move on the rocks is interesting & looks awkward, though it is effective.  We finally got to the arch, down the boardwalk & many steps, it is an arch cut by the action of wind, waves & water through the limestone rock.  Eventually it will collapse & create a new island, not in my lifetime though.  The timber work of the viewing platform has really been worn by the force of the wind & water roaring through the arch, it is amazing the type of wear on the timber where it is exposed.  Where it is not exposed there is no weathering.  We spent ages viewing the seals antics through the archway, we could have stayed a lot longer, they are so interesting to watch.

Next stop was Weirs Cove, the site of the supply landing place for the lighthouse before a road was built.  There were steps cut into the limestone cliff for men to carry the supplies from the lighter in the sheltered cove up the cliff to the storehouse.  The supply ship came every 3 months & in those days the power for the light was kerosene, so a lot of very hard work carrying the supplies up.  After a number of years a flying fox was built to aid in carrying supplies & people up the cliff face from a small jetty a long way below, still a lot of hard work.

In the distance we could see the stark granite dome that is the site of the Remarkable Rocks, our next destination.  When we got there, we could see why they were called Remarkable Rocks, they really are remarkable.  These granite rocks are sitting on top of a granite dome that forms a headland, they are really huge & shaped into some extraordinary shapes by the action of wind, water, salt & erosion.  The geologists say that this process has been going on for 500 million years at this location.  It is also remarkable to see streambeds cut into the granite from where water flows off the top of the dome.  I can’t imagine the countless years it must have taken for water alone to cause erosion on the bare granite to that extent, it is really pronounced.  We had a lot of fun posing photographs with all the unusual rock shapes & again we spent a lot longer than we expected at the Remarkable Rocks.

It was getting late afternoon so we headed back to the visitor centre café for a late lunch, then back to camp.  We walked the Koala Walk at the caravan park, but didn’t see any koalas.  We also did the Lagoon Walk again, even prettier than yesterday now it was sunny with lots of kangaroos & Tammer wallabies, some of them had the cutest little baby Joeys peeping out of their mum’s pouches.  After dinner I did the Koala Walk at night with my head torch & saw two koalas, one asleep & one feeding, plus a small possum & two large possums.  There are lots & lots of Tammer wallabies out feeding at night, I am nearly tripping over them. We had another great day.

Day 30 – September 30 2012

There were light showers passing through as we packed this morning & departed Kingscote.  Our first destination was Seal Bay, aptly, to see the seals, or more correctly, the Australian Sea-Lion.  We paid our fee to the National Parks people to use the boardwalk down to the beach & the viewing platform as we decided we didn’t need the guided tour & walk on the beach with the seals.  We were in luck, bumping into Libby again returning from viewing the seals, the rain showers had eased & we had the viewing platform all to ourselves for a long time.  There were lots of seals lying on the beach & in the sand dunes sunning themselves, the young seal pups waiting for their mothers to return.  The males are very large animals, weighing up to 200kg, they are certainly formidable looking up close.  We enjoyed watching all of the interactions between the seals as they moved around, playing in the water, asserting authority over another, feeding the young pups.  We could have stayed watching them for hours, but we noticed a large rain squall coming so decided to walk back up to the shelter of the information centre.  There was also a large whale skeleton laying in the dunes.

We then drove to Vivonne Beach, supposedly ranked one of the best beaches in Australia.  Well, we drove around the dirt road on the cliff top, couldn’t find a place to park, so kept driving.  None the wiser for how good or bad this beach is.

Next stop was the Andermel Marron Farm & Café for lunch.  The marron is a form of freshwater crayfish & here they farm them commercially for sale to restaurants, either live or frozen, all over Australia.  The marrons are raised in large dams & take 2 to 3 years to reach the right size for sale.  Needless to say, we both had marron for lunch & it was absolutely delicious, the chef did a fabulous job.  We left very satisfied.

We continued on towards Flinders Chase National Park & stopped just short of the park entrance at the Western Kangaroo Island Caravan Park.  This park is set amongst some trees, with some open grassed area leading down to a lagoon, then sheep paddocks further on.  After setting camp we went on the Lagoon Walk, in light showery rain.  We saw so many Tammar wallabies, there must be hundreds of them here, a few kangaroos & lots of different birds, a veritable bird-watcher’s paradise.  The Cape Barren Geese seemed very quiet & let us get very close to them.

Tonight is a full moon & outside on the grass there are hundreds of these little Tammar wallabies feeding, you can walk right up to them, they are so cute looking.