G'day So after saying bye bye to Perth we headed to the airport on Friday the 23rd of November and were on our way to Adelaide, South Australia. It was about a 4 hour flight from Perth. We arrived safely, collected our luggage and caught the bus to Gleneilg Beach hostel where we were staying for our first night. From Adelaide the plan was to do a day 2 day trip to Coober Pedy which is an underground opal mining town in the outback, 12 hours North West of Adelaide but we also wanted to go to Kangaroo Island which is a small island just off the Coast about 3 hours from Adelaide, 2 hours in a bus 1 hour in a boat but with only 4 full days in Adelaide there was not enough time to do both. So the first night was spent on the Internet trying to decide which one would be best to do. After a lot of humming and haying we decided Kangaroo Island, mainly because we were put off by the 12 hour bus stint there and back to Coober Pedy. On the Saturday Morning (24th November) we checked out our hostel as they could only keep us for 1 night and moved from Glenelg Beach to "My Place", a nice backpackers hostel in the city close to all the pubs and nightlife. Once we booked in we enquired about a 2 day trip to Kangaroo Island but they were all full so we had to take the 1 day trip which was only available on the Monday. During the day we went for a walk around Adelaide to check out what was happening and ended up at the national wine centre where we spent the rest of the afternoon having a few wines in the sunshine. After a few coffee's to sober us up we went for something to eat then hit the cinema to watch Heartbreak kid" which was a brilliant film, a must see!! Marc and I were is stitches through most of this film.... "love love love... love love..... love" On Sunday we headed down to the market where Jamie browsed the stalls and I sat and watched some live music, there was loads of live music on in Adelaide as the Guitar Festival was on. We headed to Haigs chocolate centre for some free Samples which were awesome. Feeling sick from all the chocolate we jumped on the tram and headed for Glenelg beach to the "Rodney Fox" shark experience, Rodney fox was attacked by a great white whilst spear fishing in SA waters over 30 years ago and now has a museum all about Great Whites which was interesting. Him and his son now run a boat charter from Port Lincon where you can do a 3 day cage dive with the sharks, if we have any money left before we leave Oz we are gonna do it. That night we went to the Hotel across the road from our Hostel which had an open Mic night, it was a quality little hotel with some amazing acts, especially Brad on the Sax and Davie the slug Bisset on guitar!! Check out the pics! It was an early rise on Monday morning as we were getting picked up at 6 o'clock to head for Roo Island. We never really thought about the weather being cold on Kangaroo Island as it was mid 30's in Adelaide but the 2 hour bus journey was freezing and when we got off the bus it was just as cold, i think it was because of the Southerly wind coming from the Antarctic. Anyway we got on the ferry and the ride was a little less than calm, the boat was swaying back and forward but after an hour we were on the Island and our bus awaited us. It was a bus tour which was gonna be stopping throughout the day to show us some of Kangaroo islands hot spots. Kangaroo Island is 155 km long and 55 km wide its the 3rd largest Island off the mainland and was discovered in 1802 by Mathew Flinders. One third is conserved national parks which is what makes it good for seeing wildlife. There are over 4000 residents on the Island. The island is the only place in the world to make pure Honey something to do with the Bees not cross breeding, supposedly people have been trying to steal the Queen Bee to sell. (typical Yanks) So our first stop of the day was Seal bay. Its home to the Australian sea lion, when we got down to the beach we expected to see 2 or 3 but there were a few dozen as well as some baby seals which were pretty funny to watch. I was really excited to be so close to such beautiful animals, as you can see we took a lot of photo's the last few of the show off are my favourite, he was soooooo cute. So once we had exhausted the camera it was back to the bus and off look at a few Koalas...Sorry no good pics as they were all sleeping really high up in the trees, Typical! The Koalas are actually a bit of a pest on Kangaroo Island. Bit disappointing that they were so high up, I was expecting to get to hold one, never mind still time to do that another day. to "Beckwiths Farm" for a lovely lunch. Marc was slagging me off because when we first got on the bus the lady asked if there were any vegetarians on board so that they could organise lunch, so I put up my hand, then Marc pulled it down, then I put it up, yeah you guessed it...Marc pulled it down! (I decided I was vegetarian just for that day) so the lady was rather confused counting "so that's 4 then, oh no its 3...No its 4??? Yeah ok Ive got 4" Marc was like, "whatever"... ha ha the joys. So I got a sticker saying "Vegetarian" and Marc wouldn't let me ever try his chicken or sausage!! From there we went to Flinders Chase National Park which is one of Australia's largest and earliest conservation parks, this led us to the "Remarkable Rocks" which from the pic you can see were very "Remarkable". We were well warned to stay away from the edge as an English man had died trying to save a German guy who fell in. And yes the German guy lived. Sad story but fantastic rocks, great for a game of hide a seek!! The beach around this area reminded us of Lunanbay, and because it was so cold that day it actually felt a lot like Lunanbay. After this we passed the Cape Du Couedic Lighthouse and admired the scenery as we drove towards Admirals Arch. Admirals Arch has been formed by erosion from the pounding sea. This whole area is the breeding ground of a colony of New Zeland Fur Seals. We could see them frolicking in the water and on the rocks. Thankfully they were not too close as they were a lot bigger and more fierce looking that the seals we had seen in the morning. As our day on Kangaroo Island came to an end our final destination was the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre where we had a coffee and a walk. Before hitting the road back to Adelaide. All in all a great day, definitely glad we seen it. Especially now that there has been a bush fire on the Island for the past 10 days or so. I think they have it under-control now, I dread to think how many poor animals have been effected by the fire, boo hoo!! Our last day in Adelaide was spent down at the Botanic Gardens where we sat in the sunshine all day, Marc practised playing the guitar and I made some Jewellery.... So overall we enjoyed Adelaide and are glad we made the stop over. We were up early to catch our plane to Melbourne, where the REAL FUN BEGINS........ Until next time, Jamie and Marc xxxxxxx