September 27-28, Day 6-7 Kangaroo Island

Enjoyed the soft grass of Kangaroo Island when we were pegging out the aircraft for the next few days.  An ill wind out of the west was forecast for the morrow and we were very careful to ensure that our wings were securely fastened against it. Grabbed a moment for a chat with the bloke driving the loader for the crop-duster as he found the makings in his shirt pocket and rolled himself what we used to call a 'durrie'. 'Yeah mate ... boring ... fucking boring I can tell you'. Understood. So what's the go on the Island? 'Stokes Bay mate ... take the kids up to Stokes Bay'. Fair enough.

A few of us popped down to the terminal to show them our parole papers in return for a hire car. Sweet. I just love hire cars. Then we loaded the bags and formed a convoy into town where we were staying for the next two nights. It was on the water; we were stuck out back; but it was nice enough. Restaurant was expensive; the company was great. A quick lunch and then we split up so we could cover the island more efficiently. The plan was to play up like crazy, mention Fox Commodities a lot, and give Andrew's name if anyone asked us who we were.

So the Walkers buggered off to see the sea lions on the south coast, the Freers took the kids and Maddie to the Bee museum. Love u Maddi ;o) Thought the entire A team should have done the B museum so they could all C what was happening. (Sorry been a long day). Anyways that didn't happen. The Lee McSweeney's? well they headed off cross-country for Stokes Bay. We wanted a swim before the toxic weather turned up. The sky was already glazing over. So we sped off across country and and left the sealed roads miles behind us. It was a scenic drive over rolling hills through rich countryside and the occasional stretch of scrub or forest. The odd pond or lagoon looked fetching and we spotted water birds and kangaroos without too much effort. Almost collected two of the roos as hood ornaments. Passed a pretty weird looking leggo castle in the wilderness but we had our full complement of princesses and didn't feel the need to do more than snap its picture.

Stokes Bay was cool. You walk onto a pretty modest beach and follow it east to a rocky cape until the track enters a series of caves which take you through the little headland for about 40 meters. At the other end the sea was sweeping into the cave and so I waited for the lull and skipped through onto a beautiful protected little beach in the bay beyond. The western side of the beach had a sheltered rock pool about the size of a tennis court or two and that protected the cave entrance. There were some nice rocks scattered on the beach itself and it was a pretty spot. Quite overcast now though and far too cold for a swim so we returned to the car and conducted a scenic tour of the northern coastline.

There was a plan to go down to the jetty after dinner and take in the Kangaroo Island Penguin show; so that's what we did. Excepting me: I bailed. Apparently it was really, really good and they almost caught a glimpse of two penguins. I felt really bad not almost seeing them but I used my time for good and not evil and took notes for the blog. There was also a guide ... not Trev to be sure ... but a guide. Andrew texted me all about it but he has to tell that story.

Next day dawned wild and a little wooly. Walkers were off east to check out the wineries at Penneshaw. KI from space looks a little like a guy in a wing suit flying east and Penneshaw is about where the ears on his head ought to be. His nose needs surgery. The Freers and us were going to head south and west but in our own good time. We stopped at the Bee Museum for a nice breakfast of freshly baked scones and honey. A little ray of sunshine brightened our day for the 30 minutes or so we were there. Then we popped into the airport on our way south to check the tie downs in the strong winds. The weather was deteriorating as the day progressed.

Our next port of call was the Seal Bay Conservation Park where you could get down and dirty with a big colony of Australian sea lions. It was a picturesque little spot. Alternately cold and windy then all of a sudden slapping up the sunshine. Pretty funny sort of day: imagine Melbourne (the weather not the wankers).  Anyways we wandered around the sea lions for a while. Popped down the beach with our guide and said hi to more of the locals. Then walked the platforms for great views of the coast, the bay and the Great Southern Ocean. There was a baby whale skeleton lying stranded on the beach: couldn't remember eating that.

At the Flinders Chade National Park a high wind was a blowin. We stopped at the little sheltered Park office to pay our dues and then headed for the Cape de Couedec Lighthouse. The cape lies on the extreme south west tip of the island. It was named by a French explorer who wandered past in 1803; just a year after Matt Flinders and his boys stopped for water and some roo burgers up near the wineries. But it was pretty treacherous stuff down here with shallow reefs and rocky islets extending off shore a fair ways. They lost 14 ships and a lot of lives here. So just after Federation they decided to build a lovely little sandstone lighthouse from 2000 pieces of local stone: imagine a little circumcised penis with a red hat and a light in it and you'll have the picture.

We moved on down the hill to Admiral's Arch which is a nice rocky arch framing a thrashing ocean.  A colony of fur seals sheltered here from the wind. Smaller than the sea lions and black as the ace of spades. Cute though. Difficult to get good pictures of this because it was blowing a gale. Wind must have been over 100 kms/h and we really struggled to stay upright on the boardwalk. The sea was convulsed in massive swells which smashed into the rocky coastline about us. The air was a wall of sea spray. We were bashed and battered and soaked as we staggered and crawled and stumbled our way to the temporary shelter of the point and a look at the Arch. It was heaps of fun though and we laughed and laughed. Pretty spectacular stuff. You could watch the squalls come screaming in over the water with soaking rain and such was the wind that they would only last a few minutes and then you would be standing in bright sunshine watching the next forbidding cloud rushing down upon you.

We saw a small patch of good weather and decided to head off to the Remarkable Rocks - a famous geological feature on the Island which I had always wanted to see. So we left the Freers staggering down the boardwalk looking for all the world like they had all taken the Walker option and spent the morning getting pissed at the wineries. Sam does a pretty impressive drunken soldier impression. One last look caught everyone hanging off Anthony like he was a christmas tree.

Well I have to tell you that the Remarkable Rocks are remarkable. Absolutely! I took lots of pictures racing around the rocks trying all the time to block out a host of punters who for some reason were allowed to look at it at the same time we were. WTF? It was a matter of running around corners and catching the patches of sunlight before they moved on with the sweeping clouds. All of a sudden I realised the entire place was colour coded. Someone had painted some sections of the rock bright orange. These orange bits were the best places to get good pictures. What a great idea I thought. Certainly came in pretty handy. I was glad Trevor wasn't here. Bet you orange bits are every bit as sacred as pink bits. Anyways on the way back I saw a big sign saying stay off the orange bits or you will fall into the sea and die. Should have brought my PFD.

Decided to take the long way back so we could have a look at the center of the island. It was a long, straight, excellent, abandoned road through nowhere: scrub, scrub, all around we saw. There was really never ever any doubt that we would run out of fuel well before civilisation and so we stopped at Pandana in the middle of the island for a healthy lunch of potato chips and chocolate milk and then bought the most expensive gas outside of Innamincka.

Hey ! we've got gas! what should we do with it? I know lets drive all the way to the other side of the island and look at the wineries. It was an excellent suggestion and so that is what we did. The wheels of the car went round and round and we made our way east then south then across the narrow isthmus to the head of the guy in the wing suit. Stopped at Penneshaw for a moment to watch the ferry copping an absolute pounding from the high seas. It is a two story craft and it was completely disappearing in the swell and then smashing its way through it. Spectacular! Soon found ourselves enjoying the view across the water to the mainland at Dudley's Wine outlet where we tasted a little, bought a little.  Then in answer to Andrew's call, we returned to the car and headed back to the Hotel.

Andrew was excited because tonight was the launch of the Kangaroo Island Food and Wine Spectacular. We all agreed to wander down to a really crowded, really noisy shed where the chief attractions appeared to consist entirely of machine guns and boobies. We didn't stay long but the Walker's and the Freer's, whose idea of a party as we know is to 'get nekked!', stayed somewhat longer. I overheard them all talking about it when they got back but I was pretty sleepy and only caught the gist of it. Apparently the belly dancer asked Andrew for his number and one thing led to another and so Anthony bought the Remarkable Rocks off of an old English sheepdog called Shep and that was why the next day we all had to quickly leave the island. Go figure?