Kangaroo Island

Written by Charles November 1, 2013

Today, after waking up at O’ God Early (4:30), we arrived at Kangaroo Island 10 hours later.  Something confusing was that when we landed in Kangaroo Island, there was a 30 minute time change.  I was baffled, and everyone else was looking perplexed.  We drove an hour till we arrived at the world’s most awesome hotel. The layout is like a house; there is the central living room, reception, and dining room all in one massive room.  Enough about the hotels, there are basically no activities except tours at the hotel.  Its right near the ocean cliffs, and you can see the ocean from our hotel.

When we got to the hotel, they asked us if we wanted to see kangaroos on an hour-long tour.  We all said yes immediately.  So we hopped in the tour van with the other people and headed out for an hour.  The kangaroos aren’t shy, like on the mainland, and they don’t box.  They have chocolate brown and attract loads of flies.  We got about fifteen feet from them and took pictures.  I thought that their faces kind of look like a camel's face.  There were hundreds of the 4 feet tall creatures in the plains.  It was hilarious because they would look at my mom, then she would grab the camera.  The kangaroos then would turn around and show their butts at my mom’s camera.  My mom would put the camera away, then they would look at my mom again.  I thought that it was pretty cool seeing the kangaroos hopping. 

On the way back in the van we saw an echidna.  It was crossing the road, and we saw it.  It looked like a porcupine that didn’t have razor sharp spikes.  I touched it when it tried to hide behind a tree.  Its spikes were oily and kind of smooth.  The guide told us that the spikes were made of the same stuff that our fingernails are made of.

 Written by William November 3, 2013

Two days ago, we had a full day of traveling. We arrived at Kangaroo Island, which is south of Adelaide, in the late afternoon. We went on a tour to see some kangaroos! They weren’t as big as I thought they would be, but some were still taller than me. They were eating grass, but when we got close to them, they stared at us and started to hop away from us. I thought it was cool to see them hopping. At the same time, I was worried that they would kick me; but the guides said that they wouldn’t. After that, we went and saw an old rickety cabin, which was built by the original owners of the land there. On the way back to the hotel, we saw an echidna, which looks like a porcupine, but it doesn’t shoot its spikes at you. The spikes are not as sharp as a porcupine’s; because of that, I could touch it, and so I did. It also has a long skinny nose for eating ants and termites.

Yesterday we went on a tour of the island, and we even got to see koalas! I spotted one that was really high up in a blue gum tree. I used the binoculars to see it, and it was scratching its butt. We saw some wallabies; they were small and gray and looked like little kangaroos. We saw a natural rock formation called the Remarkables. At a certain angle, all together they looked like a camel laying down. We walked around the rocks and took some pictures.

Written by Charles November 3, 2013

Today we went on a tour.  I thought it was really cool.  I saw the rare man-eating Koala! (They’re not dangerous.)  The killer wallaby (They’re more afraid of us than we are of them.)  And even the deadly New Zealand fur seal (They can be dangerous. Trust me I was attacked by one.)  Lastly, we saw the perilous wazza (AKA road kill.)  We also saw cool rock formations.

First stop was the koalas.  They were 50 feet up in the trees, and they looked like furry little specks.  We nearly broke the camera trying to zoom in.  There was one koala 30 feet up, and when we got close, all we could see was its butt.  It had a white bottom, and it was almost impossible to see.  By the end of the trail, we had seen four or five koalas.  I thought that the koalas were cool looking, even though they have Squidward noses that are stuck to their face.

Next stop was the Remarkable rocks.  They were a clump of five stories tall rocks clustered on a stone hill.  The rocks were reddish brown, and they were all different shapes.  The rocks were next to a cliff that dropped straight onto the ocean, so you got a lot of sea spray up onto the face of the rocks.  There were tons of nooks and crannies to hide in.  William and I darted from nook to nook, seeing which ones we liked best.  Also another cool part was that some of the rocks leaned against each other and made tall pointed tunnels.  I even saw a rock that was touching the ground in only three spots!  That rock looked like it weighed about a gazillion tons. 

Next and final stop was Admirals Arch.  There was a zigzagging boardwalk down to the arch.  We saw New Zealand fur seals fighting on the rocks near the ocean.  It was funny because the waves kept on soaking the seals.  When we got to the bottom of the boardwalk, there was a massive stone arch.  Stalactites were threatening to fall and stab the seals.  The arch was about a hundred feet tall!  There were seal pups that would jump from the rocks into the water in the arch.  It was funny watching them jump.  Other older seals were watching them or taking naps on the rocks.

Written by William November 4, 2013

Hi, today has been the craziest day ever! But if you know us, we are always crazy. Well, what makes today so crazy is that we went 4 wheeling and sand boarding. It was so much fun. I got the smallest A.T.V there was. So when we all got our ATVs, we started moving. First we went through some puddles, over some branches, and over some little bumps. Then, of course, there was a waist deep puddle of mud. Since I had the little ATV, I got stuck, of course. I went full throttle, and I sprayed my brother and me with mud. Sadly the instructor had to rescue me. Then we had to go back, but on the way back, we did a race vroom vroom! If I went full throttle, I would only go 10 mph! If Charles went full throttle, he would go around 15 to 20 mph. If my parents went full throttle, they would go around 30 to 35 mph, which even me (speed demon) thought that was fast.

Then we went sand boarding. Charles was really good, but when he wiped out he did somersaults down the sand dune. I was ok, my dad was better then me, and my mom was excellent- better than anyone.

Written by Charles November 4, 2013

Today was awesome!  We did four wheeling and sand boarding.  Four wheeling was on ATV’s through a farm.  We rode behind the guide through forests, sheep enclosures, plains, and puddles.  My favorite part was when we went through the puddles and the race.  The race was on the sheep pastures; the people that had the biggest engines won the race.  It was Ms. Jenn, Mom, Dad, me, and 1 minute later William.  William also got stuck in the mud.  He decided to go full throttle and spray me in the face with mud. The guide had to free him after the damage was done to my face.  He did more damage to the back of his shirt than my face though.  I thought that the four wheeling was awesome and one of the coolest things we’ve done. 

After that, we went sand boarding.  It was snow boarding, only on the largest sand dune ever (at least it seemed that way to me).  I mean that it was giant, the size of a mountain! (I've been known to exaggerate a bit). It was like a hundred feet tall.  It was steep, but on top of that, the sand moved downhill under your feet, so you moved downhill with it.  I got pretty good by the end of the day.  I also got pretty sandy.  The last ten feet of the dune were at a 75% grade, and the sand slid down hill, making you go with it.  Overall, I thought it was an awesome last day on Kangaroo Island.  Tomorrow we are going to Sydney, and I want to see the Opera House.