Paddy & Jen Adventures

On the ferry across to Kangaroo Island (KI) the weather gods were not on our side. It was like Lt. Dan and Forrest Gump on their shrimp boat!!! Crew were saying it was a 7/10 for rough seas. Lucky I took ginger tablets. I was on the verge of being seasick but made it through the trip by looking straight ahead. Paddy on the other hand has no issues when the seas are rough and spent the time doing crosswords and playing games on his phone. I would like to highlight that Paddy was a superstar with his reverse of the car/caravan on to the ferry with everyone watching! There is no way I could have done that!!

We didn’t get on to KI (Penneshaw) until 7p.m. at night. We hadn’t booked anywhere and did the cheeky thing of finding a spot at the local footy oval to park our van for the night. We headed to the pub for dinner to support the locals (and to watch the Tigers win against Gold Coast). It was a windy night in the van and we were woken a few times by local kids mucking around on the oval. Perhaps that was karma for being cheeky!

The following morning (Easter Sunday) we moved the van out in to the street early before we were spotted and took a big walk around Penneshaw. We did a quick food shop and then headed off to our campsite at Antechamber Bay. This was a beautiful location and we camped tucked in amongst the bush and right next to the beach and river inlet. We met a lovely couple, Bridget and Phil from SA and enjoyed a jam session with both of them. It was great to sit and listen to Paddy and both of them playing their guitars. Music really does bring people together. We were hopeful for a campfire but the rain was falling. We couldn’t be annoyed as SA desperately needs rain.

The next day we moved to another campsite at Brown Beach, where we stayed two nights. We drove to Pennington Bay and hiked up Prospect Hill. The view from the top was even better when we saw two wedge tailed eagles sitting in the trees close to the viewing platform. An eagle holds a special place in my heart as I believe it is our nephew Jack’s spirit animal and it is him nearby whenever we see one. It is a great way to keep Jack present in our lives as we travel. We miss him everyday. A beautiful young man gone way too soon.

We visited a honey farm and had a great tasting. We were given creamed honey to try and it took me back to my childhood. I remember having this whenever I stayed over at the Davo’s place. It was so yummy to eat on toast. After the honey farm we headed back to camp to grab our bikes. We did a 15km ride around Island Beach. The sand was firm enough for us to ride for a bit on the beach. It felt great to get back on the bikes.

We spent the next day exploring American River (nice but not much there), Kingscote (main town on KI) and out to a lavender farm for a lovely lunch. We were having problems with the electric brakes on the van but no one was available to look at it. An auto electrician visits KI once a month and he was not due to return for 3 weeks! The place he referred us to were booked up for 3 months!! They gave us some tips to try with the connection and it appears that may have fixed it (fingers crossed). We arrived at our next campsite at Stokes Bay after a stressful drive down a big hill with no electric brakes. It must not have been our day as we had a big water leak too. Paddy must have accidentally pulled out some water hoses connected to our outside pull out kitchen and water leaked everywhere. He was out in the dark fixing it. Suffice to say we gave up on the day and went to bed early.

We were camped right next to Stokes Bay beach. This is very popular due to the amazing cave entry to the beach and a rock pool. It was definitely an Instagram location, with lots of visitors there taking photos. We managed a couple of beautiful sunsets when the day visitors disappeared.

We drove to check out Emu Bay and had a drive on the beach before heading back to Kingscote for a part we needed for the electric brakes. Whilst there I had a swim in the cool waters of the tidal pool. Not sure this was a great idea with the current algal bloom issue. Felt a bit sick during the night so it may have had an impact. Oh well, I really enjoyed the swim away from those SA great white sharks!

We left the campground early today (Anzac Day) and drove to a service about 20 mins away in a small town called Parndana. It was a very moving service with some of the locals on horseback. The guest speaker talked about the role of horses in the early wars. This was not a topic I had thought much about or heard before on Anzac Day. He gave a detailed commentary on how much the horses had to carry and how the servicemen that returned to Australia had to leave their horses behind due to quarantine and the heartbreak that caused. This town was fortunate to have a big Islander family living there and they all sang the NZ National Anthem, which was pretty special. An old digger got up and before he did the Ode he spoke directly to the Maori family to acknowledge the NZ men and women who fought alongside the Australians. The service finished off with a little girl singing “Home amongst the gumtrees” by John Williamson, with all of us joining in. We are very grateful that we got to be there for this moving service.

After the service we drove to the Big 4 Caravan Park, near the entry to the Flinders Chase National Park. Time to connect to power and water (and have a long shower!) before we head off grid again. Service not too great on KI but we managed to get a phone call in with my Mum/Dad this afternoon which was really lovely. We have 4 more nights on KI to explore this rugged but incredibly beautiful terrain.