Making friends with the ocean...

These images were just sent to us by one of the Aussies on our Kangaroo Island trip. To Martin, many thanks for snapping away while I dared a dip. (Martin is a former exchange teacher. This year, he's been elected the president of the South Australian Exchange Teachers' League.)


The force of these waves was incredible....and the temperature?
Surprisingly cold!

Old rusty things and making a living off the land...

Lots of farms and small businesses to visit on Kangaroo Island. These photos were taken at a Eucalyptus oil distillery.

The land used to be used as a farm. Now, the folks make a living distilling the oil, running a little gallery which sells local artisans' works (Oh....and wine!) and by growing and harvesting various other native plants and shrubs. Hot, dusty work we thought!


We loved this old truck!

Underground Down Under...

Here's Huge underground in Kelly Hill Caves. Caverns that extend about nine kilometres, we were told! There was a nice little trail that led us to the entrances.... both the original, where a horse, named Kelly, and her rider fell through the surface down into a great sinkhole, and the modern one.

Tourists have been guided through these caves for about a hundred years. We saw the candle markings made by early cavers.

Some very interesting stalactites.



Can you spot the ballet slipper?

Visiting Sea Lions...

We are constantly amazed and enchanted by our opportunities to view wildlife in Australia!

Here we are at Seal Bay, on the Southern coast of Kangaroo Island. This is a protected site where tourists are offered the chance to share the beach sand with these lovely sea mammals and to view their interactions. While most were just resting...we did see some activity: mothers nursed their pups and others body surfed into shore.


The sea lion photos were extracted from video clips....thanks to Liam for my gorgeous camera!!!!!!

This particular character cruised up and down the beach, looking for a playmate. He was hilarious!

This greedy pup bit mom quite fiercely to get her to roll over!

More Kangaroo Island...

I couldn't resist adding a couple more photos from the Remarkable Rocks!












The bus was our transportation for the weekend. We shared with several other exchange teachers and their families.







On that first day, it was over thirty degrees, but our "bathers" (as they call them here) were packed away in the luggage "ute."

Inaccessible!


So we did what we had to do.... of course!

Kangaroo Island

It was the long weekend! In Adelaide, people were looking forward to the big horse race: The Adelaide Cup. (Pretty cool, eh? A day off for a race!) We were off to Kangaroo Island to see some sights. Here are some of our moments!

See those rocks in the distance? We got much closer...


These are the Remarkable Rocks. What an amazing place! So many photos, it was hard to choose the few to share!

A bit of Aussie history...

What's this? A true Aussie dunny! Of course I was careful to watch out for redback spiders before entering. This photo was taken on a visit down the York Peninsula, on a sheep farm. Can you tell that it's forty degrees?

We've been invited back to see the lambs in the spring.

Tea at the beach...

My mate, Jack, and I have made Thursday night our "date night." This works out great as Huge is at Lawn Bowls every Thursday night. (Remember? Warm curling?!?!?!?) We have vowed to take in the delights of the beach!

It's a known fact that everything tastes better outside, right? Well, I think this is doubly true of food consumed in the sea air.

Remember: Never eat anything bigger than your head!