Australia February-March 2016

We flew from Melbourne to Adelaide, a flight of just over an hour. After a enjoyable day in the city and an overnight stop, we drove down through beautiful countryside to Cape Jervis for the ferry to Kangaroo Island.

The island has abundant wildlife, including 100s  of Australian Sea Lions  at Seal Bay:

Koalas are a species introduced to Kangaroo Island and we saw a few, including a male adult outside our room one evening at American River.

This chap is not venomous but I almost trod on a black king snake when we visited Dudley Wines!

Driving is a pleasure on Kangaroo Island - straight and traffic free roads. However, you have to watch out for sunbathing goannas and at one point we had to stop because a mother kangaroo and its joey were sat in the middle road. They only moved on the toot of a horn.

Below is the beach at Red Banks where I had a marginal encounter with a shark.

Admiral's Arch. There are about 7 000 New Zealand fur seals in total here and around the rest of the western coast of Kangaroo Island.

The 'remarkable rocks':

 Like a Dali painting.

Antechamber Bay and yet another beautiful, deserted beach.

Dudley Wines Cellar door - a lovely lunch and a meeting with a snake!

After six great days and nights on Kangaroo Island we got the ferry beck to the mainland and drove along the Fleurieu Peninsula to Victor Harbour where we stayed at a fabulous B&B just outside the town - Austiny.

A visit to Goolwa and the Coorong National Park at the mouth of the Murray River:

Granite Island at Victor Harbour also has some remarkable rocks. We did not see any penguins or seals but did find this skink sat on a path:

Following our return to Melbourne we hired another car for a trip to Lorne on the Great Ocean Road. Lorne: A lovely place and our tree top cottage suited us fine. The cockatoos liked it too, as you can see...

Are you coming in or what?

We went Platypus spotting at dusk on Lake Elizabeth near Forrest. It was like looking for the Loch Ness Monster! We managed a few glimpses of the elusive creatures. A landslide blocked the river in 1952 and thus the lake was formed and some of the trees perished. No idea where the platypus came from. A beautiful place, as you can see...