Would anybody care to explain toe me how we are nearly at two weeks into this new year? No you can't explain it either? Glad its not just me then! Things have been going wonderfully so far this year. I just said goodbye yesterday to the first of my visitors this year. But that is for another entry. Today it is time to write to you all about my incredible journey to paradise aka Kangaroo Island. Six months ago I had never heard of the place. Four months ago my Adelaide hosts told me it might be something I want to consider whilst in South Australia. I am so, so glad they did because as you can gather I absolutely loved it!

My journey started at 6AM on the 28th of December when the lovely people at Groovy Grape (the company I did the tour with) collected me from the train station. In the minivan were tired faces from all around the world. We had a couple from Sydney, a couple from Scotland, a pair from Switzerland who did not know each other, a girl from Holland, a man from Perth, a lad from Italy and another pair who did know each other from Saudi Arabia. I clearly represented North America and Sweden. Our guides were from South Australia. Typically you only go out with one guide but one had recently returned to the company and was tagging along for a refresher. We arrived at Cape Jervis at around 9AM where we were to catch the ferry to Kangaroo Island. The journey can take anywhere between 45-120 minutes depending on water conditions. They were just okay that morning so we made it there in about an hour. It was whilst on the ferry that I started to notice the colour of the ocean beneath us. It was absolutely stunningly blue and I could not wait to get a dip in later! Our first stop was Kingscotte which is the hopping place on the island with a few hundred people living there (with about 4000 people living on the island). We got some picnic tables and made sandwiches which we all ate hungrily. Once we were fed we made our way to Pennington Bay to go look for some Bottle Nose Dolphins which we were lucky enough to see! They were quite at a distance but visible enough. We then headed up about 200 stairs to the top of Prospect Hill which gave us fantastic views of the the part of the island we were on. It also was a good indication that I had eaten a lot of yummy food over Christmas! After taking in the views it was time for our first swimming experience on the island! As many of you know I am an absolute avid swimmer. I must have been a fish in my previous life because I can happily swim away for ages and ages. Our first beach of the trip was Stokes Bay. To get there we had to park the van and walk through a series of rocks. It felt very mysterious but was very much worth it as it was lovely. It was here that I did my first snorkelling experience. At least I don't think I have before! Only saw a few things but was great none the less. As for the temperature of the water it was lovely. Not as warm as Christmas Day but refreshing none the less. After a few hours of relaxing it was time to head to our next beach! Some people had opted to go on quad bikes during this time but I found it too expensive and was keen to swim again and boy am I glad I did! We went to Vivonne Bay which was recently voted one of the top ten beaches in Australia. We had it to ourselves. This was the case with a lot of Kangaroo Island. We never saw more then ten people at one place. The beaches in Kangaroo Island are remarkable. Pristine white sand that falls softly over your toes which leads you to enchanting blue ocean water. After our second swim for the day we headed to the the local shop to pick up slabs of Coopers Pale Ale (probably my favourite Australian beer!). We then headed to Groovy Grape's fantastic cottage they have. We had a delicious barbecue with particularly good lamb. Whilst making food somebody noticed a koala up in the tree which we all clamoured to photograph. Before the sun completely went down, those of us who had elected to sleep outside had to set up our swags. A swag is a uniquely fantastic Australian concept. It is difficult to explain without presenting you with photographic evidence but basically it is a slip cover to sleep on outside with a mattress inside. As not many people were going to sleep outside we got two mattress's! Sleeping bags too of course. And then it was time to go penguin spotting! Kangaroo Island has a small population of ferry penguins which you can see in the wild. Driving there as the sun was disappearing we saw hundreds of kangaroo jumping through the wild! And good news is that we saw fourteen penguins! They are absolutely adorable. It was then time for outside sleeping. Sadly it was quite overcast so we did not get to see as many stars as I hoped but still a great experience. Especially amusing that night was hearing the koala from earlier make love....
Day two we woke up around 7AM for toast and tea and clean up of the cabin as we would be sleeping elsewhere for our second night. Somebody again noticed a koala up in the tree but this time with a joey! More photographs were naturally taken. We needed to get to Little Sahara before it got too hot. What is Little Sahara you ask? Why it is sand dunes of course which we were to sand surf down on snowboard looking boards! Lots and lots of fun but lots of hard work. Climbing up sand dunes is not easy. Once we had gotten our fill we headed to a very special place called Seal Bay. Kangaroo Island is home to 7000 Australian Sea Lions. Seal Bay has a centre which allows you to go sit on the beach with them as they come in from hunting. We sat with them for over an hour absolutely transfixed by them. They are remarkable creatures that I feel privileged to have spent time with. I should clarify I did not actually get to touch them but they were only about 10 feet away! We then made our way to Kelly Hill Cave which was a delightful relief from the heat as the weather was getting very warm indeed. The cave is very well preserved and we had a very informative tour guide who took us all around. I got some fantastic pictures of some of the formations. Do you notice something missing from today? Where is our swim? It was next up at the fantastic Hanson Bay. To reach it you must go down a very bumpy dirt road which we all chuckled about as its the same road that leads to one of Australia's only two 6 star hotels. It was very windy down at the bay but we were all determined to swim again. There was some fantastic snorkelling as well with lots of interesting underwater foliage and a handful of unique looking crustaceans. After we had all gotten our fill we headed to a Koala Walk which is about 30 trees down an 'avenue'. We spotted about 10 koalas in total. Most of them were very high up though. That evening we stayed at a charming hostel which had excellent facilities. There was fauna all around the hostel growing inside and out. We made delicious kangaroo spaghetti bologanse that night. Yep you read that right! Kangaoo on Kangaroo Island! My kind of place. That evening we caught a beautiful dusty orange sunset followed by roasting marshmallows at the fire. Amazingly a lot of people never had roasted marshmallows before!

And then it was our last day. We woke up early again and made our way to a place known as the 'Remarkable Rocks' and remarkable they are! Very interesting shapes and textures that you are free to walk around. Nearby you are also able to see New Zealand fur seals. Sadly you can't get as close. And then it was time for our last beach of the journey. And I suppose the old saying 'saving the best for last' rings true here. Western River Cove was out of this world stunning!!!! Once again we had it to ourselves save a couple on the other end. Out in the water was a boat by the name White Pointer which beckoned for us all to swim over to and climb aboard. They were lobster fishers who had were very friendly and jovially. They had in their possession a 4kilo lobster! It was a very fun experience. The perfection ended with delicious marinated kangaroo wraps. And then our magical time was over. It was a two hour drive back to the ferry. I am so glad I had such a great group to experience this place with. I am so glad my Adelaide hosts suggested for me to go! As I explained I was not really sure what I expected of Kangaroo Island. I think this was helpful as it blew me away. I can't help but keep comparing it to paradise as it really is. It is also super underdeveloped which adds to the magic. I hope they are able to keep it that way for a while longer. I continue to dream of it and will be putting up photos soon which hopefully will give you an idea of my incredible journey.

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P/S Did you know I have been living in Australia for six months?