Following an overnight flight from Bali we arrived, tired, to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Our plan was to grab our rental car, pick up a few provisions and drive an hour south to the Fleurieu Peninsula, staging ourselves to catch a morning ferry out to Kangaroo Island the next day. We breezed through immigration and collected our car, and, heeding the written instructions on the dashboard, stayed on the left side of the road. Just outside the airport we pulled in to the deserted parking lot of a supermarket. We would have to wait a half hour for the store to open, so we relaxed and I tried to familiarize myself with the car as our eyes grew heavy. An hour later we awoke to a full parking lot. Rallying ourselves to the task at hand we moved through the store picking up some essentials – peanut butter and jam, bread, granola, yogurt, fruit, deli meat, cheese and coffee. We were set. Getting back on the highway we made good time through the light morning traffic. Passing through Adelaide’s southern ‘burbs the road narrowed and rolled through gentle hills with glimpses of the Southern Ocean off to our right. Once on the peninsula the land was a succession of cattle and sheep pastures, broken by stands of eucalyptus trees. We arrived in Second Valley by early afternoon and settled in to our motel room for a much deserved nap. Feeling refreshed we headed out in the car to explore the area, hoping to catch a glimpse of a real live kangaroo, or perhaps a koala. As the sun started to set, the nocturnal ‘roos came out in force. Groups grazed in the pastures, others hopped across the road in front of us, and all the while, coming as a complete surprise to us, parrots and cockatoos screeched in the trees overhead. Flocks of white cockatoos with pink breasts fed on the ground, while the multi-colored parrots streaked from tree to tree. A perfect first day.

G’day mate!

A couple parrots stay still for a moment.

The ferry took us across the Backstairs Passage on a forty-five minute trip from Cape Jarvis to Kangaroo Island, where we hoped to see more of the namesake marsupials, as well as koalas, echidnas and wallabies. On the south shore of the island there were beaches that harbored fur seals and sea lions. Heather’s shutter finger was itching to go. We traveled westward along one of the three paved roads, taking us once again through rolling countryside until we hit the flat center of the island. Seeing a sign for a honey farm, we couldn’t resist taking a detour, and turned off onto a red-dirt side road. The honey farm was set in the middle of nowhere, and while we hadn’t seen any traffic on the road, there were several cars in the parking lot. The shop contained all sorts of honey-based goods and we took a sample of their blue gum (eucalyptus) honey, some chocolate-covered honeycomb and a dish of honey ice cream. Suitably amped up on sugar, we headed off to our next destination, but were distracted by yet another road sign for a eucalyptus distillery. With the possibility of sampling eucalyptus gin or something of the sort we turned, once again, off the main road. Alas, there would be no gin or whiskey sampling there, as they produced only eucalyptus oils and related products. However, the shop did have three resident orphaned kangaroos! So not only close-up photos of adorable animals, but the chance to pet them as well. Finally, we arrived at Seal Beach and were happy to take a short stroll to an overlook to catch a glimpse of several fur seals lazing on the beach, resting up after their exhausting time spent out at sea hunting for food. By the afternoon it was time to check in to our accommodation for the night. So far we had not seen any ‘roos or koalas. But as luck would have it, the caravan park (campground to us Yanks) bordered a eucalyptus grove, as well as a couple small ponds, which hosted an array of birdlife. “You’re guaranteed to see koalas!” the host told us. After dropping our bags in our cabin, and scaring off a wallaby lazing outside our door, we headed over to the grove. True to their word, koalas were foraging in the eucalyptus trees, feeding on the leaves (their only food source). A couple were still snoozing in the lower branches of one tree, in no rush to start their evening feed. By the ponds we viewed all kinds of birds, including the surprisingly numerous parrots, storks and egrets. Best of all, we spotted an echidna, one of the country’s most elusive animals, poking his long snout into the ground for a meal. Awesome wildlife spotting right out our door.

Afternoon nap at the honey farm.

Taking a breather on Seal Beach.

Zzzzzzzz . . .

What the . . . it’s an echidna.

Day Three took us to the remote western side of Kangaroo Island to view amazing rock formations, such as Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch, along with lighthouses and rugged cliffs bearing the brunt of the Southern Ocean. By late afternoon we had circled back to the eastern end of the island for a stay just outside of Kingscote, the largest settlement. After a long driving day we treated ourselves to a traditional fish and chips dinner at the local ‘chippy’. Bringing our meal back to our cabin, we sipped wine and watched the sunset as the kangaroos started to come out for their nightly feed.

The wildlife is cool but the scenery is remarkable – Remarkable Rocks.

Rugged coastline at Robe.

Our forth day took us back across the passage to the mainland and then a loooong drive south to the beach town of Robe (Australia’s favorite beach town, according to the marketing folks). Once again, our accommodation would be a small cabin in a caravan park, which, being a Saturday and the start of the Easter school holiday, was very crowded. But the park’s location right on the beach, and within walking distance of a grocer and purveyor of adult beverages, made us forget the crowds as we ended up having the beach to ourselves at sunset. The following day we would be leaving the coast to head inland – destination Coonawarra – wine country!

As the calendar flipped over to April, it became time for us to plan our departure from south east Asia and head back to the US. We thought it’d be a good idea to have one last snorkeling excursion before we left Indonesia, so Heather found a small island off the southern coast of Lombok boasting a fantastic reef and white sand beaches called Gili Layar. We booked three nights at the lone bungalows on the island, not wanting to commit too much time in case it didn’t live up to it’s billing. We left Bali on a small ferry to cross the Lombok Strait and disembarked at Gili Gede, the gateway to this small group of islands, then hopped aboard a smaller boat to complete the trip to little Gili Layar. At first glance it seemed to offer everything we wanted – simple bungalows; a nice beach with palm trees, loungers and hammocks; clear water and a restaurant offering cheap food and cold beer. Paradise! We dropped our bags in our bungalow, grabbed our mask and snorkel and hit the water. The reef was . . . underwhelming. Large areas of rubble, very few fish, no soft corals and quite a bit of trash floating in the water. We returned to the beach and made ourselves comfortable on a couple of lounge chairs in the shade of some palms. While the snorkeling wasn’t going to live up to it’s hype, we could still easily spend three days relaxing here, sharing this beach with just four other guests.

Our bags on their way to Gili Layar.

While the views underwater weren’t that great, on the surface they were spectacular.

By the end of the day we had a new plan – we would take a ferry north to Gili Meno, another Lombok island that we’d visited just last year and thoroughly enjoyed. We knew the condition of the reef to be good, the accommodation decent and a wide variety of food on offer. For three more days, it didn’t disappoint. I spent mornings walking the circumference of the island, examining the damage from the earthquake that struck northern Lombok last September. Several guesthouses and businesses were severely damaged and had not reopened. Our days were spent in the water hunting for turtles and moray eels or lounging in the shade on the beach. A perfect way to end our time in Indonesia!

Heather gets in to the swing of Gili Meno.

But wait! We just weren’t ready to fly straight back to the US. Where could we go for a week or so with decent weather so we could prolong returning to the cold and snow of Colorado. For a couple weeks we racked our brain -perhaps a South Pacific island like Fiji, which we visited last year on our way home from New Zealand; maybe a Japanese island such as Okinawa; or even American Samoa or Hawaii. Eventually we had to rule out each of our ideas due to lack of, or the extremely high cost of, accommodation and airfare. Maybe we should just fly directly back to Colorado, where Steamboat Springs had just recorded over four hundred inches of snow for the season, and our tenant had sent a photo of the huge snow piles ringing our parking area. Uh . . . I don’t think so. The decision was hastily made –  we’re off to Australia!

Next stop!