Thursday, January 12, 2012

Kangaroo Island

Well wow, just wow. We are just back from two weeks on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. And it was stunning. We stayed in our camper van in some pretty isolated spots, lovely to be away from the world, but as with a lot of camping, wonderful to come home to what now feels like 'luxuries' - hot showers, dishwasher, clean sheets! What an amazing place it is! Everything from the vegetation, wildflowers, grass trees, the regrowth from the 2007 bush fires to the wildlife and whoa what a never ending parade of animals and insects there was! Fur seals, sea lions, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, pelicans, and there was this little guy who hung out on the beach with us:


The landscapes were stunning, the beaches, cliffs, even the roads with their changing colours from white to red and back again so quickly. There were wetlands and deserts, farmland and native bush. Stunning natural features like the Remarkable Rocks which Geordie used to take a wee nap on. 


I was of course a nervous wreck climbing over the steep rocks so close to the top of the high cliffs, but the kids were like little mountain goats. So I played official photographer from dead centre of the rocks while the kids and Matt skirted around the edges. 




Also amazing lighthouses (and beacons!), bush walks and lovely little food producers to visit .. mmm sheep cheese. Mmmmm honey ice cream.  

But my personal favourite was the beaches. And this was one of the best I've ever seen, Wheatons Beach on D'Estrees Bay. The amazing aquamarine colour, the sting rays gliding in the shallows along with hundreds of tiny fish. A sea lion with it's tracker attached which had landed on the wrong beach. It was a long beautiful beach and we often had it to ourselves. That's my kind of holiday. Below you can see my little chair set up to stare out to sea with my book in hand. There's not much on earth I enjoy doing than hanging out at a beautiful beach with my family, sunshine and a book. Swimming, surfing, fishing, bodyboarding, running races in the sand. 




It would seem Geordie enjoys it too. We drove down for a quick visit to Hanson's Bay near the amazing Southern Ocean Lodge and as you can see, it made him so happy he had to do a groovy dance!


We spent the last few days of our trip by the Chapman River, but I'll do a separate post about that. Thank you Kangaroo Island for your beauty and peace and quiet. Loved the ability to find our own space and truly relax.