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RETURN TO ADELAIDE Monday
The first day we paddled to the south end of the island and spent the night in a spot that was nestled away from the beach and surrounded the saltbush and scrub bushes - big mistake! We were camped right in the middle of a pathway, which was used by the penguins as they marched down to the sea. So they were pretty mad at us humans for obstructing their course to the beach, and spent the night squawking at us and making all sorts noises that kept me awake most the night. However, the sky was clear of all clouds and the stars were absolutely brilliant. The second day we paddled for a couple of hours and then found a suitable beach and set up our volleyball net, and played for awhile. We then continued on to the southern most tip of the island and set up camp on what we thought was a high enough spot. As the sun went down we started to hear the penguins, and again they began their march to the sea, it was incredible. This night, however, it wasn't the penguins that kept us awake. Before we went to bed we had checked the boats to be sure that we had pulled them up high enough, and the high tide was already in so we felt comfortable with where the boats were. At 4:30 in the morning I woke up to waves splashing against my sleeping bag, and people running around shouting. A tide came out of nowhere and had come up higher than we anticipated. The problem was that with this high tide several of our boats had become dislodged and had began to float out to sea. So all of us were swimming after boats, paddles, spray-decks, and anything else the tide had gotten. Luckily, after an hour of running around in the dark we were able to retrieve all that had been lost. The only casualty was a paddle that got snapped in half when a boat banged it against a rock. If we had have lost a boat we would have been in some serious trouble, it would have altered the entire trip. Later that day we began to paddle around the other side of the island, and visited several isolated beaches and did some snorkeling and fishing. We made it to our campsite at the northernmost part of the island late in the afternoon, and then swam out to Goose Island (wildlife refuge). It is an island that is a bird sanctuary, as well as a host for seal and sea lion colonies. It is of importance to note that these animals are a integral part of the white pointer's (Great white shark) diet. Therefore, certifying their presence in the waters we were in. We decided to snorkel across to the island and have a look around. I must say that throughout the entire swim I was freaking out and looking for sharks ( I suffer from the JAWS syndrome). As we were swimming back my goggles were fogging up and I couldn't see that well, but I had caught a glimpse of this shadow that was underneath us. I got really spooked because I couldn't really see what it was. I stuck my head out of water to see where the others were, and then this face popped out of the water about 5 feet from me. It was a sea lion. It turned out to be about 5 sea lions who had come over to check us out. We ended up swimming with them for close to two hours. It was an awesome experience. They would mimic us and follow us everywhere we swam. They just wanted to play. It was the coolest feeling to go under water and have these animals looking at you and studying you, and only being a few feet away. The next morning was the day we had to paddle back to mainland so we where trying to get an early start. Yet, as soon as the sea lions saw us paddling in our boats they all started to barking and doing their awkward walk across the rocks to the water. They still wanted to play. So we got out of our boats, and swam with them for an hour. It was just about the coolest thing I've ever experienced!! Unfortunately, as with all good things the trip came to an end, but I walked away with some really good mates and some most excellent experiences. So the past couple of days have been pretty insane. With mum out of my hair and no school I have been having a ball here in Adelaide. Been to some crazy parties, and went to the Australia vs New Zealand one day cricket match at the Adelaide Oval. It was a sell out crowd and heaps of people were turned away outside the stadium. I discovered why Aussies like cricket. It is because you just sit outside for 8 hours drinking beer. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard listening to people yelling, cheering, and jeering. I was surprised to see mum and Rusty on my doorstep yesterday morning. On my calendar they were not supposed to get here until the 11th. I had plans of going down to Goolwa with some mates to do some surfing. So mum and I are gonna have to reach a compromise of when we are leaving for New Zealand, so as to allow me some time to go shred some waves. Looks like today we are gonna go to the zoo so mum can see the kangaroos. She gets loony when it comes to animals. She'll start talking in a soft voice, and pretend like the animal is listening to what she is saying; its embarrassing. Then I think we'll do some errands around town. Then mum and Rusty are having dinner with a friend of theirs here in town. As for me I got a hot date with this girl from Tasmania. You gotta love Australia!!!!!!!! Andrew Then we knocked on Andrew's door at 9:30am he had this big look of surprise on his face. He said he wasn't expecting us until 11. Later in the conversation we realized he didn't mean we were 2 hours early but 2 days early. He thought we were coming back on the 11th and not the 8th. Communications fail everywhere. Jane and Andrew are trying to refigure when to head for New Zealand. I leave out for home before noon tomorrow. R Our day today was pretty laid back and that was nice. We did laundry and had lunch at a little sidewalk cafe while that was going on. We caught a nap in the afternoon and we had the computer running for hours. We had never found a place to get on line in Tasmania so Rusty got us all caught up. It was a rainy kinda day which was the first one we've had...other than that little evening shower we had in Darwin. We thought Andrew should share his tales for today's page. He had a ball!! Jane |
