A Square Lighthouse!

Today we had a long trip to the other side of the Island. Half of the trip was along a bumpy dirt road. On the way we stopped off at the lighthouse cemetery.




From Scott's Cove we saw the highest sea cliffs in South Australia.




Brian, Janet and Jean




Because the cliffs are so high here the lighthouse did not need to be tall and strong so they could build it low and square.




It is built straight onto fairly bare rock.




This is the light that still beams out over the sea.








Here is the Kangaroo Island version of the grass tree. It is thicker and seems stronger than the Victorian grass tree.




On our return I walked around Kingscote and found the old cemetery at Reeves Point the first place in South Australia settled by the English.












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Wonderful Weather

The morning was sunny, the sea calm and we had a late start to the day. After breakfast we walked down to the pier where a couple of fur seals were lazing in the sea.








A couple in a canoe came past and the seal followed it up to us standing on the pier.


It was a short day. First we visited the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park. These are cassowary eggs.


I saw a baby koala climbing up to its mother.


We fed the kangaroos


and some nursed a baby joey.





We visited a Marron farm. They are freshwater crayfish and are farmed in a series of large outdoor ponds.


We sampled some for lunch! They are not as strong a taste as salt water crayfish.


The weather remained fine and on our return I walked up the hill and around the township. These swans were down at the beach.


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History, Distilleries and Hope

Brian drove slowly into Penneshaw and dropped us off at the Maritime Museum early so he could get the bus checked out. We found out about the early settlement and school. Brian returned happy with the problem resolved and we moved on to Emu Creek Distillery for a tour and lunch.





We were shown how they distill the eucalyptus oil made from plants indigenous to Kangaroo Island.
After lunch we moved to on other distillery! This time it was spirits! At the KI Spirits we tasted hand made liqueurs.


It was all too much for this Barbara!


Janet, Peggy, Dini( who was with us at Noosa), Annie, Thelma and Barbara

We tasted gin and tonic, a lemoncello and cranberry juice, and a liqueur over ice cream which I did not have.


Anna, Irene, Fay( who has a house in Robyn Rd Moggs Creek), Janet & Paul.



Bev, Lyn, Jean, Margaret, and Barbara


Margaret, Barbara, Bonnie and Helen.
Finally we visited the Hope Cottage Museum in Kingscote.


This was one of three houses built in 1859 called Faith, Hope and ( you guessed it) Charity. Faith burnt down and Charity is still lived in.


It has a lovely cottage garden.


This display included old telephonic gear. It brought back memories to some! I even found a copy of the Women's Handbook.


One of the initial light houses from Kangaroo Island was decommissioned and the top section restored and installed near the cottage.


These reflecting mirrors revolve up the top.
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Day Three And What Did We See?

A number of bus related problems occurred during the day! From day one the mike has misbehaved. At the back of the bus you can only hear one word in three. The door would not stay closed so the people at the front of the bus froze. First we visited Seal Bay and walked down to the beach to view the sea lions sunning in the sun.


After a cuppa we saw the Birds of Prey presentation with a tawny frogmouth,


a barn owl,


a wedge-tailed eagle and other Australian raptors.






After lunch we headed to the Flinders Chase National Park. First we saw Remarkable Rocks.





They looked like a modern art installation.






The door could at last shut but then our driver Brian noticed the airbags under one side of the bus had deflated and the bus was on an angle. Most of us moved over to one side to try to help the bus balance!





We continued onto Cape du Couedic to see the lighthouse






and Admirals Arch with the fur seals.
We returned home carefully, with a big cheer for Brian for getting us back.

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Sheep, Bees and Beach

The weather was very changeable today-windy, some rain and sunny at times. Coats were off then on and off again.


This is the view from our room. Notice how busy it is on the main street of Kingscote on Saturday morning.


We headed off to Stokes Bay. We didn't know it was a nudist beach.





We walked through a small channel which was blasted down to the beach after the second world war.


We visited the Stokes Bay Bush garden and tried to identify many of the indigenous plants.



After lunch we visited Island Pure Dairy which has 1,500 milking sheep. We tasted a number of cheeses and saw the ewes being milked. Next we had a honey tasting at the Island Beehive.


A second visit to the pelican feeding session revealed the same stories and some more interesting facts.








Once again a good meal at the Ozone Seafront Hotel and we celebrated the 45th wedding anniversary of Brian (our driver) and his wife Penny and Margaret's 69th birthday.

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