2011 Travelling Alone in Australia - Kangaroo Island, Seals Bay & Moonlight Sea－旅行は私の人生なのだ

Today is the first day for the two-day tour in Kangaroo Island. I choose the same tour company "Surf and Sun" that my friend has joined before.

About 4:30, I spent some time finishing the spagetti I prepared yesterday and store my baggages in the luggage room. A medium backpack is already enough for me when I join the day tour or two-day tour. However, the paid locker in the luggage room could be only rented for one day. Therefore, I have to bring all the important things and I lock my two baggage together to make them safer (it would be very strange if someone want to take my baggages away without unlocking them).

There are twelve people, included me, going to Kangaroo Island with Surf and Sun. The car is medium in size with a luggage cart after it. You could put your baggages in the cart but do not bring all of your big luggages, or the space may not be enough for others.

It takes about two hours to arrive Cape Jervis where we will take the ferry.

The time is still to early and the sky is cloudy. I watch the scenery outside the car with a sleepy mind. The music played in the car is unfamiliar, and we arrive at the harbor at about 9 o'clock.

The ferry from Cape Jervis to Penneshaw have to take another one hour.

I stand on the sun deck watching the scene. Some unknown sea birds are on the rocks nearby the harbor.

Though the wind is quite cold, it's better than getting the seasickness.

It's said that it's possible to find dolphins if you are lucky, but before we arrive at Penneshaw, I only find something far away that looks like dolphins. I'm not quite sure about it.

Kangaroo Island is the third largest island in Australia. It's said that there were aboriginal people living here once eleven thousand years ago but disappeared after 200 B.C for many factors.

In 1802, British explorer Matthew Flinders landing near Kangaroo Head on Dudley penisula where Penneshaw is located now. At that time, there was no inhabitant on the island and lots of kangaroos are the resource for their fresh food. In gratitue for these kangaroo as their supply, the captain named this island "kangaroo island".

Hmm, it sounds a little strange. It that an honor of these dead kangaroos? I'm glad that I didn't know about any island that is named because of the whales or other cute animals.

There are two main towns in Kangaroo Island: Penneshaw and Kingscote. Before departing, we make our last shopping in the only convenicene store of Penneshaw. Most of the attractions we will visit are the natural reserved areas.

By the way, our car in the Kangaroo Island looks like to be eroded by the sand storm and is quite awesome.

I take some pictures around here after buying some chips and a big bottle of juice.

The sea is very clear and the surrounding is so beautiful. Though Penneshaw is not so convinent as other big cities, I would rather live here and enjoy the nature everyday.

You may own a wooden house on the hill with green grass. Through the window, the scenery of the sea and blue sky is available easily. It would be good to fish on the sea in the sunny, breed some lovely sheeps on the hill, or look for the wild kangaroos and koalas somewhere. In the winter, you may be lucky enough to see the whales. How wonderful it could be!

About 11 o'clock, our driver and also the guide, Bob, take us to the first stop: Seal Bay.

This is a conservation park that you have to buy the ticket and join the guided tour. Of course, Bob is also our tour guide here.

In front of the center, I see a small beautiful bird. It's not easy to take a nice photo of the bird, but I'm lucky to take one when the bird flies back and stops on the rope.

Walking forwards to the beach, you could see the beautiful scenery of the see far away that could be amazing as what I see at the wineglass bay.

It's much surprising that we find a sleeping Australian sea-lion nearby the bushes and there are also some active sea-lions on the hill not far away. The telescopic lens is important and recommend for photographing.

You may wonder why the name of this place is called Seal Bay but all you find are Sea-lions.

I also wonder about that and I don't know very much about the difference between seals and sea-lions before I study the information on the internet.

In summary, seal is earless with a bleek, streamlined body. Their faces look like the cat and the rear foot are only for crawling. As for sea lions, they are also called eared seals. They could walk on their four foot and have short, thick hair. Some kinds of male sea-lions may have hair around the neck that make them looks like lions. There is also the fur-seals that are also the eared seals like the sea-lions.

Because the weather today is nice, the scene composed of the blue sky, sea and white sand is perfectly picturesque. Such as wineglass bay and other beautiful natural attractions in Australia, I think the conservation of nature and animals is done very well. The pure undeveloped environment should be kept forever so that we could always enjoy the wonder of the nature beauty.

Most of the sea-lions are sleeping on the beach. Sometimes some seals may get awake and do something interesting like a short story.

The story may like this one....

A sea-lions awakes in the noon with a sleey face, and he seems to find something.

Oh, he search for another asleep sea-lion and gives a kiss.

He tries to bother other asleep sea-lions but one of the sea-lions is very angry and intends to bite him.

Even so, they are families. Finally, they kiss each other when everyone wake up.

Walking along the beach, you could watch the behavior of these sea-lions and you may also have another story in your mind.

Among all the contries I have been, the number of seals in the Seal Bay should be the largest.

This perfect first stop really makes me feel great for join the tour and I'm quite looking forward to what I will experience next.

I follow the boardtrack at the other side. The beautilful sea let me take photos again and again.

On the half way, a cute seal-lion is appraoching us and seems to look at us.

Oh, he is so cute! I take lots of photos of this sea-lion for sure. That's really wonderful!

There is a viewing point on the cliff where other members want to find the appearance of the whales.

I'm not sure whether they find the whales or not. It's said that they found one.

Two o'clock in the afternoon, when we finish the visiting in Seal Bay, the next is to eat the lunch in the farmhouse.

This farmhouse is only for use when you join the tour of Surf and Sun.

They provide two budget rooms for fifteen people with a big dinning room and kitchen.

On the wall, you may find some messages left by the tourists before.

The only wonder is how they write down the messages in such a high position. It's a mystery.

We put down our baggages and prepare the lunch together.

Someone cuts the cucumbers, carrots, green peppers and cheese, and others roast some toasts and apply the butter.

When these works are done, we arrange all the utensils on the tables outside the house.

Of course, that is not all we eat. The main role is the roasted meat.

There is a iron plate heated by the gas which is used for the barbecue. If you look carefully, the middle is much lower than other sides and there are small holes where the oil will flow to.

As for the meat we eat, the one on the right is the cubed beef sausage, and the one on the left is.....

Oh My God...... It's the kangaroo meat!

Though I know it's legal to eat the kangaroo and the supermarket sell the meat, I'm still surprised.

This is the first time I taste the kangaroo meat.

The way for cooking kangaroo is different from cooking the beaf steak.

I almost ruin the meat because I don't know the cooking after Bob tells me.

You have to heat each side for five minutes before changing the side, even it looks a little black.

Because the kangaroo meat contains lots of fat, if you change the side too frequently, you will not know whether the meat is done well.

It's fine that the meat is still done properly. Besides, Bob also prepare some vegetarian sausage made by mushroom. Anyway, our lunch is finally prepared.

The kangaroo meat is not so strange as I think. Compared with the whale meat in Iceland, kangaroo meat is still tasty, but I still like the Austrlian beef that is the most delicious one.

In the late afternoon, our next stop is to watch the wild kangaroo in the grassland at Kelly Hill Conservation Park. The car is parked at the entrance on the South Coast road and then we spent about 20 minutes to walk to the grassland.

The kangaroos are jumping and finding the food around here. Of course, they are wild for sure and they will escape from you if you get too closed to them.

If you want to take pictures with kangaroos, the only possible way is going to the zoo or wildlife park.

As for photographing, telescopic lens is necessary and recommended.

Before the night is coming, Bob teaches us how to do the sand surfing at Little Sahara. The time now is also good to watch the sunset.

Though Surf and Sun provide the same itinerary in Kangaroo Island, the order of the attractions may be different in the summer and winter. In summer, you may experience the sand surfing in the early afternoon. But I think the winter time is better for you could watch the sunset as well.

Getting across the sand from the car park, The big dune is where we surf.

It's quite tiring walking on the sand, espcially climbing the hill.

However, the scene you watch on the hill is amzaing. Except the sun, you could also see the moon at the same time in the opposite direction, and both sun and moon are very clear.

Bob will apply the wax on the bottom of the board before we surf from the top. The more wax is applied, the speed is faster. I could not tell you very exactly about the feeling of surfing from the big dune. Though the deep descent will make you feel dangerous, it's really safe and exciting. It only takes few seconds to arrive at the bottom and then you have to climb hardly back to the top.

Except for lying with the face down, Bob also shows us surfing by lying with the face up and stadning on the board. That is too horrible for us.

I think it's quite nice to join the tour. I will never experience such wonderful things if I drive by myself.

Bob draws the map of Austrlia and tells us about the difference of culture development in different areas of Austrlia. I could not remember all he talks, but in summary, the culture such as music is richer in the area where the inhabitants live an easy life and have time to develop their culture. It's siad that the heights of the people in different areas are also different for the similar reason as the culture development.

Anyways, Bob is also our good teacher for understanding more about Australia.

Our last destination today before the dinner is Point Ellen where you could find the wild penguins. Just as what I've experienced in Bicheno, the flash is also prohibited. With the red-light torches, we search for the little penguins around the rocky shore and find about five (or six).

Compared with the little penguins in Bicheno, the penguins here use the holes in the rocks as their borrows. while others in Biches use the short bushes. Except for little penguins, we also find some wallaby around here but it's not easy to photograph in the dark with only the red light.

It recalls me that I've seen the nice picture of the penguins coming from the shore in the night when I was in the tour office of Bicheno. I really wonder how they took the picture in the dark without the flash light. It's a pity that I didn't ask them at that time.

In spite of the poor pictures, it's still fine to look for these animals. By the way, the moon tonight is pretty birght and clear. It's beautiful when the moon shines on the sea just as the street light on the sky.

Though I didn't bring the monopod, I use the wide-angle lens with the biggest aperture and ISO is also set to 3200. With this condition, I take some beautiful pictures of the moon and sea.

I'm quite charmed with the moonlight sea. It should be the most beautiful night scene I've ever seen.

Actually, the stars are also available here, but I need my monopod for photographing.

After a busy day in Kangaroo island, it's the time for resting and dining.

Bob prepares two dishes for us. One is the rice with white source and another is the penne with pasta source.

I'm familiar with the cooking of the spagetti but it's the first time that I learn how to prepare the white source.

First, you have to cut the onion and stir-fry it. Then, you put the tuna, sweet corns and the cream with the onion. I think the cheese would be a good choice for a better taste, or put some Italian seasonings and black pepper. It's also said that the mashed potato could make the source thicker. When the source is done, you just put the source on the rice. As for the pasta source, it's mode of onion, bacon and the tomato source.

We gather around the campfire in the yard. The weather is pretty cold in the night even it's warm in the daytime. Roasting the cotton candy over the fire, I listen to their gossip. Some of them are drinking the beer.

I don't know when will they end the night and I'm quite looking forward the trip tomorrow.