Christmas Special from Kangaroo Island

It is January 2^nd and we are on the train heading back to Melbourne. Having just crossed the Murray River we are approaching the state border. As a lifetime member of the South Australia Library Service it saddens me to think I may never make use of this service again.

 Kingscote was our nearest town, the biggest in Kangaroo Is lands with 1,500 souls, a filling station, hotel, supermarket, a number of gift shops,  a coffee shop and a fantastic little library in the Town Hall with internet access free to all comers. With Christmas fast approaching and precious  few cards sent we spent many hours in the library sending our festive emails to the four corners of the globe (of course, as we have now seen for ourselves, the globe does not have corners but is, in fact, round)

 Ships that pass...

As we drove back and forth to Kingscote on the single sealed  road that bisects the island we began to notice that each driver we met (there weren’t that many) acknowledged our passing with the raising of a single finger from the wheel. At first we worried that , given it was a local vehicle, the other drivers thought it was their neighbour at the wheel and that we might start a blood feud by not responding but we eventually asked and were re-assured it was a politeness extended to all, islanders and visitors alike. We soon refined our technique, learning to restrain our traditional Yorkhire greeting(raising 4 fingers with the thumb hooked inside the wheel) which would have been seen as excessive, almost Italianate, in its exuberance. It then became a small pleasure to demonstrate our intimate knowledge of local custom  and practice to day-trippers and new arrivals - to their undoubted confusion.

 Thje majority of the road network is unsealed, either limestone or ironstone gravel which means you travel along leaving a trail of white or red dust behind. Fortunately you can drive most of the day without meeting anyone so its only a problem for the odd wallaby waiting to cross the road but if you happen to fall in behind someone you can't see a thing, including the fact that they may have decided to stop dead in their tracks so it best just to pull over and let them get ahead or take a left at the next crossroads.

 The roads are surprisingly well graded and levelled but nevertheless often get corrugated. Four wheel drive is essential and ours was pretty comfortable but Mark (our host) advised us to drive at over 80 kph as this smooths out the vibration. It certainly worked but at that speed on gravel braking is not too effective so we were very glad, thanks to constant concentration and not driving at night, not to add to the toll of roadkill.

 Where Peter andf Margot are bounced by Kanga...

 Having spent a lot of time in the libray at Kingscote we didn’t have time to explore too far and Monday had us lunching with Pelicans at Kingscote and then visiting Murray lagoon. It seemed at first the main wildlife here was flies and, after a years drought, we never did see the lagoon. However, on the way back to the car we , almost literally, bumped into a 6 foot kangaroo. I think we jumped as high as he did but fortunately he bounded off  as I wouldn’t have fancied my chances mano a mano.

 Tuesday we got some fresh whiting and prawns for our Christmas meal and went on to a ‘cellar door’ at the Bay of Shoals vineyard for some local produce. Bought a bottle to bring home but decided it was too heavy and drank it instead.

Sea Lion Action with Kylie

 From there we  had time to cross the island and get to the 330pm guided tour  of Seal Bay where there is a colony of (wait for it) sea-lions, the seals having unhelpfully moved up the coast to Admirals Arch.

 Our guide for the day was Kylie, who promised – if we kept together and behaved ourselves – she would get us close to some ‘humping action’. She was also keen to share with us the intricacies of retractable penises and rotating nipples. Entertaining as Kylie was the sea lions were even better and we were able to watch their social activities from quite close without them seeming to be at all bothered.. The older males were huge and very territorial and Kylie promised to intervene if they turned nasty. Not sure what she planned to do but I think my money would have been on Kylie.

 Christmas Day 

The day got off to a lazy start with breakfast in bed and the opening of presents. We had brought a couple of less bulky items from the UK and Peter had bought Margot a pair of binoculars  in Melbourne as he was fed up with her borrowing his and messing around with the focus. Margot had at last found a genuine Aussie hat at Seal Bay for Peter.

 The hat was only just in time as after lunch the weather cleared and it got pretty hot as we set off for a bike ride to Prospect Hill, at the top of whose 512 steps you can see both sides of the island.

When we got back there was just time for a paddle across the lake before Christmas dinner. It was lovely looking out over the lake as the sun set but it would have been nice if you could all have been here too.