KANGAROO ISLAND

We got to the airport early, and took a 9:20 flight on REX airlines (regional express) to Kangaroo Island.  We were met by Tim, our guide, who took us around for a whole day.  First stop, a wood workers house for a tea/coffee and snack.  We had Lemington's (a cake covered in chocolate and sprinkled with dried coconut) Really nice, and a chunk of carrot cake.  The dog in the photo is Casey. The tree I'm standing next to is called a yellow wattle - it's the national tree of Australia.

We then drove off through the bush to the southern tip of the island.  There had been a fire in 2007 that was started by lighting strikes.  The soil of the island is iron-rich and there we more than 1000 strikes an hour.  Remarkable - and awful - it caused an enormous fire that raced across thousands of acres of the bush and basically destroyed the cover near the southern national park called Flinders Chase Park.  In the years since, a lot has regrown - but from the photos, you can see dead sticks from the former fire harmed plants.  The birds are remarkable - we saw a lot of the Cape Barren geese.

We ended up at the Southern point of the island near the Cape Borda Lighthouse.  We walked down to an overview with a lot of fur seals.  There was a nifty lighthouse as well.  The seals, somehow, manage to drag themselves up on the rocks for sun - how do they manage the climb?

After quite a long time, staring at seals, the sea, and the rocks, we drove on to Remarkable Rocks - a view from far and close below.

My even closer view of the rocks doesn't have any perspective - so it's hard to tell how huge they are up close.  We went back to the national park head quarters for a lunch.  Immense lunch with cold chicken, salad, wine, on and on ..  I won't starve here - I might be too heavy for the plane, however.  After lunch we drove to a reserve to see koalas and kangaroos up close

I have to go to breakfast, I'll finish yesterday - later.