May 9th, 2016

Day 41: Kangaroo Island – Part II

The morning was rainy, rainy, rainy. We asked for a late check-out, as the weather was too stormy to go sight-seeing anyways. The manager at reception said there was no problem with a late check-out, and by the way, did I know that ALL THE FERRIES HAVE BEEN CANCELLED? We got on the phone with the ferry to rebook for the next day – while the 5:30AM was available, the agent warned us there was a good chance that one would be cancelled too if the winds didn’t dip below 40KM/H, 11AM had two spots left so we decided to play it safe. The ferry operator also found us a new hotel for the night (the YHA Hostel in Penneshaw – 50% discount off their ensuite family room – score!), and our accommodations on the mainland had no problem rescheduling our reservation by one day without charge, so all-in-all the whole thing was a minor inconvenience. Luckily we had a buffer day scheduled in Adelaide (on purpose this time!), so we still had time for visiting the Barossa before our flight to the Red Centre.

So much rain. Why even get out of bed?

We spent the rest of our second afternoon on Kangaroo Island driving around, hoping for a break in the rain. We drove out to Stokes Bay to try and visit a rare-breed animal farm, but the downpour and ginormous waves chased us away.

 

Driving up to Stokes Bay – look at those waves! That’s one walking trail we will definitely skip. 

As we got closer to Penneshaw, the clouds started to lift, so we braved the dirt roads to visit Clifford’s Honey Farm and the Emu Hills Eucalyptus Distillery, where we picked up a bottle of KI bubbles for dinner.

Weather starting to clear up as we head inland

Some interesting sights made us pull off the road: an echidna and a really odd art installation in an empty field

 

A herd of baby llamas grazing just outside Clifford’s Honey Farm

This place got us really interested in bee-keeping when we get back to the US – the farmers here move their bee houses around the island when differ flowers are blooming in order to get different flavors of honey. The hives in KI are the last “pure” breeds of Ligurian Bees in the world, since the wilds bees in Italy have been cross-breeding with other types of bees.

 

Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillery (with a resident emu!) – if you want to see the place in production, you have to come in the summer. We still got to watch an informational video, tho.

While the weather still looked to be clearing up as we headed for Penneshaw, we passed warning signs for a storm surge. We arrived at our hostel just before sunset, and grabbed some groceries before running down to the shore to join a nighttime penguin tour. Our tour guide informed us that it wasn’t the best time of year, type of tide, or type of weather to see Little Penguins, but we would go on the “hunt” nonetheless. After walking quietly in the dark for about an hour, we finally saw one penguin standing outside his nest! Our tour guide was so excited to finally see one, she offered to take the group out again to try and find some more – and we did glimpse about 4 more, but they were too quick for a picture.

 

“Hunting” for the Little Penguin – he finally made an appearance just before we gave up!

Feeling satisfied with our unplanned evening in Kangaroos Island, we headed back to the hostel to cook up some homemade Indian food, and enjoy a bottle of bubbles and quality Aussie TV.

Igor raising a glass to Lindsay’s mad cooking skillz in a hostel kitchen

Kicking back in front of the telly with a glass of bubbles – this show had us in stitches: imagine a televised version of NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” – hilarious!