We had a nice breakfast at Wanderer's Rest with delicious bacon, eggs and Hallumi cheese. Amy was excited to try Vegemite. And then quickly regretted it. After breakfast, we packed up, said our goodbyes to Chris and Ros before Brian and Kate picked us up for the day's tour. We had to pick up people at the airport, including a Court of Appeals Judge from Washington State and a Polish couple.
We could tell right away that it was going to be a hot one. We were told that we were here for one of the hottest days in Adelaide for this time of the year. Lucky us, the temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (100+F)
We made a brief stop to look for koalas. Amy spotted a rare cockatoo and in that same area we spotted yet another koala way up high in a tree. It looked down at us as if to say "what is that ruckus down there?" then proceeded to go back to his chilling. This koala was a little bit better looking than yesterday's koala. At least this one knew to climb up a Eucalyptus tree!
Before going to Flinders Chase National Park, we stopped by a wood shop for our afternoon tea. Today, it was carrot cake and something called Lammingtons, which were moist cubed cakes rolled in coconut. Not as tasty as yesterday's, but still a nice treat. The wood maker was not there, but we were greeted by his dog, Rosie, which looked a lot like Momo. She was very playful and definitely liked all the attention from us. James nicknamed her Booger.
Our first stop in Flinders Chase were the Remarkable Rocks, formed over the years by wind, rain and salt. From a distance
, it looked like a camel. It was quite scenic and would have been perfect for a picnic. If only there was a solution to those aggressive bush flies which attacked from all directions. We then stopped at the Casuarina Islets to check out the the New Zealand fur seals. It was cool to watch the seals playing in shallow pools of water, sunbathing, and just riding the waves. We had lunch at the Visitors Center, where Chris and Kate prepared the table with chicken, cheese and feta salad. Again, not as good as yesterday's lunch, plus the flies were nonstop, making it an uncomfortable eating experience. Wearing a hoodie or a shirt over your head helped a little. One thing the girls found gross were the bathrooms. Although it was a regular flushing toilet and wasn't dirty, it had all these dead flies on the ground and around the sinks (Theresa says "hundreds"). No idea what happened there.
We then left the Visitors Center in search for more kangaroos. We stopped in this open area where kangaroos were laying down under the shade of the trees. Because we couldn't get too close to the kangaroos, we were stuck in the hot sun. Too bad the weather wasn't better, otherwise the animals would have been more active.
Like the animals, we needed to cool off. So we stopped at the beach for a swim. The water seemed a little colder, probably because we were not outside as much as yesterday, when all you wanted to do was go in the water. The waves were a bit rougher there too. That was our last stop before we headed back to the airport.
We were able to dry off in time for our flight back to Adelaide. The Kangaroo Island airport is pretty simple and the smallest we've seen, one counter and one airplane on the ground at a time.
In Adelaide, we were in the mood for Chinese food. So we asked the Asian girl at the reception for a good place thinking she would be "in the know". She recommended one place in Chinatown that we also saw in one of our guide books. Theresa took one look at the restaurant and turned around. If there are no Asians eating in a Chinese restaurant, it's not a good sign! We found a decent restaurant called T-Choy. We devoured the food we were so hungry. We then bought some gelato for our walk back to the hotel. We passed out quickly after a long day.
Beach day tomorrow!
Day 52 - "There's a Rat, Run!" - Adelaide, Australia and Sydney, Australia
Since we were only 20 minutes from the beach by tram, we thought it would be a good place to spend the day before our flight. It must be nice to have a beach so close that was warm enough to go and swim. Glenelg was a cool, little beach town with a surprising number of people on the beach for a Thursday. The girls were in the mood for massages that day. At first, we stopped at a couple of nice places and they were booked up for the day. The third massage place was called Go Massage (Chinese place) - slightly more ghetto establishment. Two guys worked there and it sounded like their schedule was wide open! Amy and Marianne got massages while the rest of us wandered the streets.
We later all had lunch at Nandos, a Portuguese restaurant specializing in flame-grilled chicken with different levels of hot sauce. Very tasty, even our non-chicken eater enjoyed it. We then chilled at the beach for a little bit, then made our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags. (As a side note, we were later told that Adelaide is notorious for shark attacks. Good thing we didn't venture into the water there!)
We then headed back to the airport to catch our flight to Sydney. Sadly, we didn't get fed on our budget Virgin Blue flight, while Amy, Mar and James got deluxe accommodations in the sky with pasta!
In Sydney, we checked into the Park Regis. Not as nice as it sounds, but it did the job. Clean with a really convenient, central location. We were a little hungry at 11 at night, so we headed to the nearby McDonalds for a snack. Australian McDonalds are nothing special. In fact, quite dirty with people leaving their trash without taking it to the bins.
Afterwards, we decided that we needed bottled water. We headed to Woolworth (one of the big retail chains here) to find out it was closed. At the same time, two street cleaning trucks were headed right for us, one on the road, the other on the sidewalk. So we ran to cross the
street to avoid whatever was being sprayed from the trucks. We ended up at the convenience store across the street from our hotel, which is conveniently located next to an adult bookstore. heh. A little sketchy because there were no prices. While we were asking the cashier what prices were on certain items, out of nowhere, a rat runs past us from behind! It must have been more than foot long from head to tail. I pointed it out to Theresa, who then freaked out, yelled "Rat!", ran and pushed Amy out the door. I followed. James, unphased, took his time and stayed to buy a drink. Guess he must be used to the rats in Boston. Once outside, again the street cleaning trucks were coming right towards us. We ran across the street and back to the hotel. James said that one couple also saw the rat, told the cashier and he just laughed. It must be common because it looks like the doors are always kept open. This one will continue to haunt Theresa for a while. She never came close to that convenience store again.For the pictures of days 51 and 52, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=bigtandeze&target=ALBUM&id=5404299898189837537&authkey=Gv1sRgCJ701bn__vbfhgE&feat=email
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