Definitely No Wombats!

Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park

There are no wombats on Kangaroo Island. This was a pity, as we had booked this side trip from Adelaide in the hope of seeing some. (Note to self: do not trust the husband to do the research next time.) We did however get to see a lot of other native wildlife, including of course the eponymous kangaroos

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We booked a package through the ferry company, Sealink which combined two of their popular one day tours, staying overnight in Penneshaw. The first day was the ‘Seal Bay Discovery Tour’, first stop Clifford’s Honey Farm. On arrival, we were given a honey-based soft drink to try, whilst a member of the Clifford family gave us an introductory talk about the history of the farm. Clifford's was originally a family sheep farm. They started keeping bees as a sideline 40 years ago, but the business has grown and now they can produce as much as 20 tonnes of honey in a good year. They move the beehives every 6 to 8 weeks to follow the flowers. Local farmers let them put hives on their land in exchange for a bucket of honey. Honeybees were imported to Kangaroo Island in the 1880s from Liguria, and these are now believed to be the last remaining purebred strain of Ligurian bees. Some bee-keepers on the island breed queen bees for export elsewhere in Australia and around the world. We were shown the container in which queen bees are packed for travel: about 3 inches long and with three circular cells for the queen and about 8 other bees. Apparently it is very straightforward to send queen bees by post within Australia. Overseas deliveries can be more difficult!

The tour ended in the farm shop where we were able to sample the honey. (I felt a bit like Winnie the Pooh, having honey at mid-morning!) We tried three types of honey: spring honey, mainly made from rape (canola), mallee gum and sugar gum. I preferred the lighter spring honey, perhaps because it was more like the honey I get at home. The shop also sells other products, including mead, honey ice cream and handmade beeswax candles.

We then went on to Seal Bay to see the colony of Australian sea-lions. Unlike seals, sea-lions can move quite fast on land as they are able to walk on all four flippers.  Visitors must keep together in a group and stay 10m away from animals, both to avoid disturbing them (sea lions cannot sleep whilst out at sea catching food, so need their rest on land) and for safety, as they can move faster on loose sand than humans can.

Raptor Domain

Although Seal Bay was supposed to be the highlight of the day, I found our next visit, to Raptor Domain, a rescue centre for birds of prey, more interesting. Most of the birds at the centre have been injured or orphaned and cannot be released back into the wild. They take part in demonstrations which show their natural behaviours. We arrived just in time for the 2.30 p.m. free flying demonstration in which Don Irwin and one of his helpers introduced some of the residents, and demonstrated their particular abilities. The first bird was 'Shush' the Barn Owl, who was hiding in a hollow tree and came out on cue when we called. A black-breasted buzzard called Slim demonstrated an interesting technique for getting into an emu egg.

Visitors have plenty of opportunities to don a leather gauntlet and hold one of the birds. I got to hold Omen, the Sooty Owl. Among other birds we saw were Chipps the kestrel; Kylie the hobby falcon, two wedge tail eagles, and Banjo and Clancy, the laughing kookaburras. Kookaburras have the ability to hold their head still while their body is moving, which was very entertaining when demonstrated.

The final visit of the day also involved feathered friends. John feeds the pelicans at Kinsgscote wharf every day. The birds had got into the habit of being at the wharf when the fishermen brought in their catch, as they threw the waste away. After this practice was stopped, John felt sorry for the disappointed birds, and got permission to feed them. He does it every day at 5.00 pm., at his own expense, though he charges a $5 donation towards expenses. John's commentary is very entertaining as he expresses some forthright opinions. He informed us that whilst there are pelicans elsewhere in the world, the Australian pelican 'is the biggest and best-looking pelican.' He also spoke admiringly of a pelican that had justified its existence on the planet by swallowing a Chihuahua!

Pelican feeding at Kingscote

According to him, there are no penguins left on the island as the New Zealand fur seals have eaten them all. Before he started the feeding, he warned the audience not to panic if a 'very happy pelican' should wander among them. The pelicans grew quite impatient whilst John was doing his introductory patter as they wanted him to stop talking and get on with the feeding. When he did start feeding, he tried to ensure that the gulls weren't left out.

Despite the fact that it was very cold and windy for sitting around on a wharf, this was one of the highlights of the day. 

Our next day’s tour, the ‘Remarkably Wild’ tour also started with a farm visit. Emu Ridge is another sheep farm whose owners decided to diversify, producing oil from the native Kangaroo Island Narrow-Leaf Mallee. They now have a harvesting machine that can do in 10 minutes what it used to take them 2 1/2 hours to do by hand, but the still remains a traditional and very simple process. The eucalyptus is put in the top with water, a fire is lit underneath and the resulting steam is then condensed to produce oil and water, which are separated. The oil then goes through a second process to refine it before bottling. The eucalyptus leaf residue is used as mulch.

They also produce tea tree oil, and are aiming to diversify into other native plants. There is a shop where you can buy their Eucalyptus oil and related products (including sweets and toiletries), which is also a gallery for local craftspeople and artists.

At Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park we finally got to meet the native Kangaroo Island kangaroos.  All the animals in the park are rescued ones which cannot be released back into the wild and many are tame. We were able to hand feed kangaroos, and to stroke koalas. There are also free-roaming peacocks who seem to enjoy eating the kangaroos’ food.

Remarkable Rocks

In the afternoon we visited some interesting rock formations: Remarkable Rocks and Admiral’s Arch. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, and some members of the party decided to stay warm and dry on the coach rather than to go down the boardwalk in the rain to see Admiral's Arch, but I persevered. It was worth it when I reached the bottom and was able to see the natural arch formed from a collapsed cave and the New Zealand fur seal colony that lives there.

Despite the lack of wombats, we enjoyed our trip to Kangaroo Island, though in retrospect it would have been even better in summer.  If visiting in winter months, waterproof clothing with a hood is essential!

The Manchester of the South?

Adelaide

I have always been a bit wary about visiting Australia. One hears stories about deadly spiders and snakes. Not to mention the heat and the forest fires.And then there are all those bronzed, athletic Aussies putting pasty northerners like me to shame.


However, the solution proved to be a visit to Adelaide  during their winter. In fact, Adelaide has quite a European feel. It reminded me of Manchester, only with better weather, and parakeets (both plusses, in my book). Like Manchester it has several universities, an excellent shopping centre, a rather good Art Gallery, a major sporting venue, free city centre buses and a tram. 

Adelaide Oval

Owing to a cricket-mad husband, our very first stop after checking in to our hotel was the recently-redeveloped Adelaide Oval, where he wanted to visit the Don Bradman Collection museum. We found Adelaide Oval easily enough, but finding entrance for Bradman museum was a bit harder. There was a surprisingly relaxed attitude to allowing public to wander around inside the stadium. No one seemed worried about two random visitors looking around.

Once we actually located the entrance we found a small but interesting exhibition about the life and career of Don Bradman, the Australian cricketing legend who made Adelaide his home. It includes items from his personal collection of cricketing memorabilia spanning the period 1927-77. Bradman’s career coincided with the introduction of radio commentary. He was an amateur and earned a living from journalism and stockbroking (although I suspect probably only had many of the opportunities because of his cricket). 

Rundle Mall

Both cities also have some quirky sculpture. Manchester has a giant Vimto bottle. Adelaide has bronze pigs roaming Rundle Mall. "A Day Out" by Marguerite Derricourt is one of the more casual pieces of street art that I have come across. It comprises four bronze pigs who look completely at home - one of them is even rummaging in a litter bin. The artwork was commissioned as part of an upgrade to Rundle Mall in 1999. A public competition led to each of the pigs being named. Horatio is the sitting pig, Oliver is the one rootling in the litter bin and the other two are called Augusta and Truffles.

Haigh's have been making and selling chocolate in Adelaide since 1915. The original site was at Beehive Corner, where there is still a Haigh's shop today. The factory is however located in Greenhill Road, and it has a Visitor Centre which offers free tours where you can find out why Haigh's don't make white chocolate, and see how truffles are coated by rolling them in tempered chocolate. On arrival, visitors are offered a complimentary tea or coffee. After a talk about the history of Haigh's and how chocolate is made from cocoa beans (with a chance to try some Haigh's milk and plain chocolate and chocolate speckles), visitors can view chocolates being made in the factory itself. We were told that employees are allowed to eat as much chocolate as they like. I would have thought that this would put them off eating chocolate for life, but we were assured that this is not so! Several children present on our tour were very interested in how they might apply for jobs. The tour only lasts about 20 minutes or so, but it's free, interesting, and you get to eat chocolate, so well worth a visit.

There are two kinds of museum - the traditional kind with object in dusty glass cabinets and the modern kind with lots of interactive, multimedia activities but fewer actual artefacts on display. Most museums fall somewhere on a scale between the two. The South Australian Museum is pretty much at the traditional end of the scale. I happen to like that type of museum, but it can be less interesting for children.The exhibits mainly comprise ethnographic material about Australia and the Pacific, palaeontology, mineralogy and natural history. One of the prize exhibits is a giant squid exhibited vertically in a stairwell over several floors. The ethnographic gallery dealing with Polynesia dates from 19th century. The curators appear to be a bit embarrassed about this particular gallery and there are notices explaining that it is old and does not reflect current attitudes, but is retained as a sort of museum of museum practice.

The Migration Museum, housed buildings that used to be part of Adelaide's Destitute Asyslum, is rather more modern in approach, It tells the stories of those who settled in South Australia, and the effects of the European migration on the indigenous people who were already there. Between 1815 and 1930, approximately 3.5 million people from Britain and Europe made the long journey overseas in the hope of a new life in Australia, though a far smaller number came to South Australia. There are documents, photos and personal possessions, as well as personal stories. Under the ‘White Australia’ policy, migrants who were not white British had to take a dictation test in a language they didn't know, such as Hungarian. I find it hard to comprehend how anyone could have come up with this scheme.

Elder Park is a pleasant park by the river Torrens. There are some interesting water features and sculptures to look at - I particularly liked the sculpture that resembled paper boats. The birds are also fun to watch - I watched as a pelican managed to get some food, then waddled to the waters edge where all the ducks and other waterfowl queued up expectantly beneath, waiting for him to drop it. From the park you can take a trip in 'Popeye'- a 40 minute cruise, with commentary, which goes as far as the weir in one direction, than back and along as far as the zoo. Tickets are available for the round trip or a one way ride to the zoo. We opted for the round trip - tickets were $15 each. Our ride was slightly more eventful than usual, as the boatman had to stop to come to the rescue of someone who had fallen in the river (not one of the passengers). Fortunately, he was OK.

A version of this formerly appeared on my Virtual Tourist page.