Day 110: Kangaroo Island 2

Thursday 24th March

Hanson Bay Koala Sanctuary

Remarkable Rocks 

(The one thing not named by the French)

Admiral's Arch

Hanson Bay

Clifford's Honey Farm

American River

Late ferry back

Late bus

Late to bed

Distance:

Total Distance:

The next morning we went out to the Hanson Bay Koala Sanctuary. Here the trees are filled with koalas, as well as a few interesting birds. 

We were also informed about the island's Koalas.

Koalas are not native to the island. In fact there's a lot of animals here that have been introduced. It was used about 100 years ago as a sanctuary for all of the animals from the mainland we were steadily killing off. Some animals didn't do well, such as the Emu, all of which died. The Koalas, at first did quite well. They're very fussy about their food- they only eat certain species of eucalyptus, and even if those they need them to be growing a specific way so that they don't get killed by the toxicity of the leaves- this varies from region to region. Luckily the koalas found the right trees on the island and ate them. All of them. Suddenly there were 50,000 starving koalas on the island.

The problem was "solved" by culling them down to around 10,000. The eucalyptus regret and the koalas thrived again. This time there was another culling, but also they desexed a proportion of the population, reducing the probability of over population. This worked for some time. Then human chlamydia was introduced- the theory being similar to myxomatosis used on rabbits in the UK and Australia. However this has spread rapidly through the population, even spreading on the mainland.

They now get infected early in their life, eventually developing red eyes which become blind, leading to them starving to death at about 6 years old- far earlier than their usual life span of around 18 years. It's keeping much of the population in check, but in a cruel and debilitating way.

The island also has some problems with its native species- the kangaroo and wallaby. Combined they number around one million, having lots of food and no natural predators. Only starvation, disease, humans, and bush fires really control the populations. Bush fires sounded like a horrific incident for them. Our guide told us of one area in the west end of the island where a bush fire was chasing kangaroos towards the sea. At the cliffs the kangaroos would simply jump off and into the water. They're good swimmers, so I assume many survived. This didn't stop the local Great White Shark society turning up though. Apparently shots from helicopters had shown them lining up along the shore waiting for kangaroos to jump straight into the waiting jaws.

Incidentally, there are no Aboriginal presently native to the island. In fact, they don't talk about the place. The nation that used to live nearby on the main land has since moved into cities, leading normal western lives. Their ancestors would travel onto the island occasionally over 10,000 years ago when it was still attached to the main land. However, as sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age the causeway was lost. It's possible people could have remained on the island and survived- it's large enough, being the third largest island in Australia. Yet there's no evidence to suggest they did. 

Today the island is known to the Aboriginal as the Island of the Dead. It is believed that the spirits of the dead travel over the island to the far end before ascending to the heavens to become a star. Their culture doesn't speak of the dead after they've passed, though, so the island of the dead is not spoken of either. Aboriginal people will not speak of nor travel to the island- to them it effectively doesn't exist.

Next up were the Remarkable Rocks. These were created in granite during the underground metamorphosis stage, forming unusual shapes which were then forced to the surface. They are on the furthest end of the island and are the most often used site for photos advertising the island. They have weird and interesting shapes, with large spherical "bites" taken out. All sit on top of a large curved rock. Great place to clamber around with limited regard for ones own health.

The Remarkable Rocks are lucky to have their English name. Most of the island is named in French. The reason for this is that a British explorer arrived just 3 days before his French counterpart, claiming the island for the British Empire. There was some conjecture from the French, but it was decided in Europe that those three days were enough for it to be British. The French revenge, however, was that their explorer had sailed around all of the island and named nearly every feature he could see with a very French name- names that officially remained. Somehow he missed the collection of massive rocks that site on the top of the cliffs on the western end of the island though.

We stopped in at Admiral's Arch- an arch of rock that was surrounded by sealions and New Zealand seals. 

After this was Hanson's Bay- another beautiful beach, famous for being in a national park, but one in which the government allowed a small, very expensive, hotel to be built next to. There's some rumours that the government of the day was given lots of money, maybe a bribe, to give the rights to those properties. For the cost of staying $20,000 per night was mentioned. No wonder they could afford a bribe. Some people have more money than sense.

In the 1880's Honey Bees were imported from the Italian province of Linguria. These thrived into a honey industry, so we made a trip to the Clifford Honey Farm. As well as various honey to try made from a variety of native plants they had sweets, soaps, candles, and even mead and beer.

Finally we were returning, reaching American River. This isn't a river, but it's not American either. It's a long inlet filled with sea water. Over 200 years ago (1802 I seem to remember) an American came here with one ship to hunt seals for a season. So skilled was he that he filled his ship, and set about building a second to fill with more skins to take home. This ship was named the "Independence", inevitably. Being the river where the American lived the name has stuck, despite some people complaining that it has nothing to do with America- they've still got the Stars and Stripes up there though.

Anyway, it's now full of fishermen and Pelicans.

Quick stop off at Penneshaw to buy fish and chips from a man in a caravan who had a mullet. Then onto the ferry, coach into town, and into Shakespeare's hostel.

Day 77: To Bris-ney Land!

Saturday 20th February 

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary at Brisbane

We fed the kangaroos!!!

Distance: 181km

Total Distance: 12122km

In the morning we drove the long distance from Byron Bay (why are we leaving this place?!?) to Brisbane. From here we'd be leaving behind some members of the team behind (Good Bye Katie, enjoy Oz, I'll come find you in the UK!), but got two new ones (Hello Katie, welcome to the team!)

The main most important activity of the day though was the wildlife sanctuary! The main stars at Lone Pine Koala Reserve have their name on the door. They're cute and cuddly, don't move much until new leaves are added (then they move like cats after nip), and had a million photos taken of them.

We had a quick lunch before splitting into smaller groups to explore. Lone Pine isn't a huge place. It takes maybe 15-20 minutes to get across the public site. Yet the space is actually mostly a pastoral reserve for the kangaroos, with a couple of emus thrown in for company. We bought some kangaroo pellets with lunch then went off to pet roos.

We all had a great time split up amongst the various groups of grazing, sleeping, and playing kangaroos. One youngster bounded over the short grass of the hill from his shade under the eucalyptus tree at the sound of my paper bag. Having fed him I tentatively introduced myself to a mother with a large joey collapsed in her pouch-only hind feet and tail protruding-resting under the shade. I sat down alongside her. She ate hungrily, nearly finishing the bag. That was until the large buck arrived. He came bounding over from the other side of the enclosure, over the shallow hill, and slowed just as his head reached my hand. He wolfed down anything he could get is mouth around. I was a little worried about what he would make of it when I'd run out. Yet I didn't even feel a lived to show him the empty bag, he merely accepted it and chose to move on. To his other hunger for love. We all looked on as he tried to make moves on the mother with joey. Anyway...

We enjoyed watching and feeding them. Their heads look a bit like hares or rabbits, but elongated like a horse. Watching them move was interesting. It's one thing to see the YouTube videos, another to see them really swing their tails for balance in a corner or a whole mob pass across the face of a hill. Of the two emus on was grumpy, but the other one people could stroke its neck.

After a long time here we moved on.

Wombats, fat, round, sleeping on their backs, moving whilst dreaming.

Tasmanian Devils fighting for territory, then going off in a huff before having a bath.

Dingos

Many, many, birds

Platypus!!! One sitting quietly, the other doing laps of the tank.

I'll do a better run down another day. For now, it was amazing.

Day 73: Wild West day! Gold panning and horse riding

Tuesday 16th February 

Gold mining (found a tiny flake), horse riding on a psychopath, then pub chat with the local farmers.

Distance: Bus, 200km

Total Distance: 11305km

Another early start so we could get to a small gold mine run by an old Australian and a few backpackers. A few bits for our barbecue lunch were bought, including some kangaroo meat. Kangaroo tastes like beef but has to be medium rare at most. Cooked for any longer it becomes too tough. It's also cheaper than beef so a lot of people use it as a substitute in meals such as stir fries.

At the mine we had a practice using pans whilst looking for crystals from some local dirt. After lunch we moved on to gold dirt. We cleaned out the soil, swirled the pans, and I found a tiny flake! It's not much, but it was a start. Others found small nuggets and flecks, but my luck was out. I can sheep shear, I can't pan gold. We kept what we each found. The mine owner showed us some of his finds, from flecks to some big chunks. There's 3 million dollars under his house, about 1000 ounces. It'll take a while to get through but he's in no rush enjoying the outdoor lifestyle.

We went on to Bangara, a small township of farmers. Here there's a stables which helps breed and train horses for the New South Wales police, apparently. The horses weren't as big as the ones I've seen the British police use.

The girls each got given a horse first. With one guy not doing it there were only two guys left to place.

"Who's feeling adventurous?", of course my hand went up, "ooh, me!"- I am such a child at times.

"You can have Meg then, she's a bit feisty, likes to be at the front.

The next two hours were spent trying to control my mount, stopping her getting ahead of the group leaders and preventing her getting so close to the horse in front that she might receive a kick or not see one of the holes or branches on the tracks. We steadily got the hang of one another and towards the end I let her out for a wee canter. She seemed happy enough at the end, hanging around for a scratch and pat.

On the trek we followed the river down, crossing it twice. Half way along we were invited in by some locals. They'd rescued 3 young koalas and kept them in a small enclosure in the backyard. One was under the umbrella eating as we arrived, looking very confused as 14 horses arrived to stare at it. The koala's mates were both at the top of one of the enclosures trees, barely visible. They were quite big for youngsters, maybe the size of a large cat.

That evening we all hung out with the locals in the pub, where we were staying.  Our guide and I paired up to take on the whole pub at pool. He's much better than me, but I kept up at times so came out winning. Afterwards I taught some of the girls to play and set them up playing against the locals-which was fine until someone potted the black instead of her last ball. Good fun. We had a few more drinks, took it outside, and I chatted life and farming with a few farm hands and managers as others tried to chat up the girls. This went on for so long that the pub doors were locked behind us! Thankfully as I rattled a door in drunken optimism my room mate was passing to let me in. I could have gone back to get the last two girls in, but they seemed to be happily getting on exceedingly well with the locals. I left them to it. They'd find a way in if they needed to.