Kangaroo Island
The 3rd largest Australian island sits off the coast from Adelaide and has achieved a unique fauna and flora because of it's isolation. The aborigines consider it badlands so hunting has been unknown other than the 19th century seal trade which saw some 100,000 seals killed. Our guide for the 2 days was Michael who is also mayor of the island.
Sheep shearing at Charlie's
A chance opportunity to see shearing and Charlie the owner took a lot of his valuable time out to explain to us the process and grading of the wool. These traveling shearers manage around 400 sheep sheared per day each. They are paid around a £1 per sheep.
Australian Seals at Seal Bay
This very carefully protected seal colony is a mixture of sandunes and a white sand shoreline. No-one is allowed closer than 10m to the seals to maintain their independence.
A whale skeleton
Our guide and very patient companion for the two days..... Mayor Michael
The ant-eating Echidna
Wallabies ....aaarr!
Koalas
There are some 30,000 koalas on the island and their numbers exceeds the ability of the vegetation to support the population. Culling koalas is a very emotive issue, but may be the only option because of genetic weakness that prevents them surviving if relocated.
Overnight at Emu Bay
Our overnight was at Seascapes overlooking Emu Bay. Our hosts JP (Jean-Pierre) and Jenny looked after us in style. Their beautiful 3 bedroom B&B was built by them in 2001 and is very sumptuous.
The dawn over Emu Bay from our bedroom (7am)
The post office at Vivonne Bay
The postman only delivers twice a week and the locals use discarded refrigerators as post boxes.
Laurie is approaching horizontal chill...
Kangaroos feeding
Another Echidna
This local Rosenburg Goanna is quite a fearless creature, it's only predator is an occasional eagle. When settlers introduced rabbits to the island ithe goannas welcomed the new source of nourishment and wiped out the entire population. This saved the island from the fate of the mainland where the artificially introduced rabbit population devastated the vegetation.
