Kangaroo Island–the nature parks

There are so many wonderful sights to see on KI - we spent a few hours at the Flinders Chase National Park which houses so many things - I walked and walked and walked.  The following photos are from "Remarkable Rocks", a natural rock formation that is like massive man made sculptures.

There are no fences, and you are in danger of simply falling off onto the rocks below.  We had a very firm eye and grip on our kids, but some parents scared me silly with their lack of attention to their children - I had to just take big deep breaths and leave them to it.

It's so windy there that it felt as though you would be picked up and thrown off all by yourself.  I stayed firmly in the middle.  It was fairly amazing though at how they were formed.  It was all rather complicated - all to do with different sorts of rocks millions of years ago, with a bit of volcanic activity thrown in for good measure.  My husband tried explaining it to me.  I didn't really listen.

I never tire of gumtrees.  Filled with colour and light and birds - just lovely.  And everywhere.









I think these are younger trees.  The size of the trunks is small compared to those around here.


















I tell you, so many quilts in my head after this trip.  So many quilts.



Also in the national park was the walk to Admiral's Arch.  You'll see how it got its name later down.



You have to climb lots of boardwalk to get to the lookouts.  The wind is so strong that you literally cannot talk, it takes the breath from your mouth.  Amazing.


















 So you walk and walk and walk, see lots of major rocks, see many seals sunbaking on the rocks, and then you go down this long steep staircase, and you are met with this:



Admiral's Arch.  I went to KI when I was ten and I still remember this view vividly.



That little cove down there is filled with seals.



And though you can't see them, they are all over the rocks on the left, just chilling.



A crack of sunlight.  My girls thought it was the cave of a dragon.



Haven't a clue what these are - some random beach grasses but they really took my fancy.



After our visit to the wilds of the coast, we moved to another side of the island where we came to Seal Bay. Seal Bay is exactly what the name suggests, seals come and sun themselves while they recharge from fishing.



We were escorted by a guide who (rightly so) didn't let us get too close - the bull sea lions are not the type to be trifled with if they are in a mood.




























And again, rocks, rocks, rocks.  It was blowing a gale here and it was the height of summer.  I can only imagine how much it blows in winter.



As we were leaving I had to take a photo of this awesome tree.  I love how nature adapts to its circumstances.

So that was the nature parks.  Tomorrow we visit the wildlife section of our tour of KI.

Till tomorrow,

Suzie

Adelaide

I love Adelaide.  It’s not as big and bright as Melbourne, or as rushed as Sydney.  But I love it all the same.

Hubby’s conference was at the Adelaide InterContinental Hotel, and we had to wait at the end of the final day for him to finish.  Adelaide is built on the banks of the River Torrens, so lots of the lovely architecture fronts it.

All these cranes are rebuilding our Cricket Oval.  I’ve been there once, when I was a much younger individual.  Everyone is in such a tizzy over whether or not it is a good idea to redo the cricket oval to allow the state footballer team (Australian Rules, not soccer) access.  I don’t care one way or the other, but I have learnt one thing in my married life – you don’t mess with cricketers.  They often have very strong opinions.  Just ask my husband about whether one day cricket or T20 cricket is ‘real cricket’. 

The only real cricket goes for five days, they have to wear white and it mostly ends in a draw.  That’s real cricket.  Apparently.

Look at that lovely blue sky.  The day I took this photo it was 25 degrees.  The day before that, it was 43 degrees.  Australian weather is a very complex and frustrating thing, let me tell you.

I am such a bad Adelaide-ian that I can’t tell you what this building is.  I think (forgive me if I am wrong) it is either the old Courthouse or the Railway Station.  Didn’t they make the best railway stations back in the old days?

This could be the back view of the hotel hubby’s conference was held in.  The Intercontinental used to be the Hyatt.  Lots of famous people stay here, and there were a group of giggly little teenagers camped outside this one on the day we were here.  Apparently Robert Pattinson was in town.  Meh.  He doesn’t do much for me.  I didn’t get into the whole Twilight thing, I suspect I’m a bit too old these days.  Give me Daniel Craig any day.

Now there’s a man.  But back to Adelaide.

This one is easy.  This is the Festival Theatre, which is Adelaide’s venue for plays and things.  It gets a bad write up fairly regularly as the whole complex is really in need of some refurbishment.  Our government is having quite a lovely spend up building a new hospital and updating cricket ovals, so I guess they haven’t much money left over.  I went there a while ago and the toilets – well, they weren’t pretty. 

The beautiful old mystery building again.  Wish I knew what one it was. 

There are many lovely old buildings and churches in Adelaide (in fact, Adelaide is known as the City Of Churches) but I always forget to pull out the camera and take a picture.  I need to remember to think about you guys when I’m out visiting places – I’m sure there are millions of you (snort, like I have a million readers) who haven’t visited South Australia before and I need to remember to take all these photos so I can blog about them!

Hope you enjoyed my little wander around the back of the Intercontinental Hotel.  When I’m back in town I will take more photos and share them with you.

Till tomorrow,

Suzie