VICTOR HARBOR, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

On Friday, after getting off the ferry and waiting for my stomach to settle a bit, we were off again to another spot. This time we ventured to Victor Harbor. A cute little seaside town with fun shops and a little amusement park. We stopped at the park for a little play time and got some lunch at Subway. While sitting at the park eating lunch the seagulls surrounded our table waiting for a hand out. Rylee was mesmerized by the little gray and white birds and watched them carefully. So I decided to feed them a bit of bread to which I got a smile and growl out of Rylee. However, once I gave a few pieces of bread away the birds came out of nowhere. Pretty soon they were truly all around us. Cooper and Collin took care of that by chasing them away again and again and again. One trip to chase the birds found me holding Cooper's hand and us running across the grass. Somehow Cooper tripped and I couldn't stop my momentum. He was down on the ground and I was leaping over to avoid stepping on him. Kevin and Kelli said they wished it had been recorded because it was so funny to see. After drying Cooper's tears all was well and he chased the birds some more. It was a hot day, but we had been dealing with cool temperatures on Kangaroo Island and lots of wind so it was a nice break from that.

We went to a little travelling amusement park and told the kids they could each choose one ride.

Cooper chose the "Hot Wheels Trucks" ride. It was the best $4 ever spent. You could see the smile on his face from a mile away and he was beaming the entire time. We even had to wait until after Collin went because there was a little girl in the blue truck Cooper had already chosen to ride in. Much to the operators dismay Cooper was fine to wait patiently until the next go around.

Madi and Savannah both chose the Ferris Wheel and decided that they were big enough to go by themselves without they daddies. Once they even got stopped at the top as some people were unloaded and we were nervous they would freak out - nope they were calm as cucumbers enjoying every minute. They had so much fun and would wave each time they came down and around. On one turn around Madi yelled out to us, "We can see the whole world from up here!" They were so cute. Kev was imagining the scene in about 10 years but instead of Madi and Savannah riding in the cart together there would be a boy with each in their own carts. Scary thought!!

We then decided to do a little window shopping in the cute little shops. There was also a art show that only cost $4 to go into so Kev stopped in there to take a look. The kids were free so I told him he had to take at least one; however, Madi, Savannah, and Cooper all wanted to go so he took them all. Kev said it was good - there were a few non-children friendly paintings that they quickly went past. At the end there was a kids section and he said that Madi kept pointing to the pictures saying, "I could do that!" or "I could do better than that!" After they went to the art show they caught up with us browsing through the shops. Kev and Cooper found a train sign and of course a photo had to be taken.
We also walked by this cool whale tail fountain several times. The kids all threw in money and made a wish. They even took off their shoes and waded around a bit before it was time for us to make our way to the Jones' home in Adelaide.

KANGAROO ISLAND, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

After our early wake up call, drive to the airport (Thanks Katrina for getting up early and taking us to the airport!), and airplane ride we met the Jones' at the airport and piled into their two cars for a trip to Kangaroo Island for a few days - the boys in one car and the girls in another. We rode on a windy country road down to catch the ferry over to the island, and from out of the back seat we heard Savannah say, "Um! Madi is throwing up!" We signaled to the fellas in front of us and pulled over. Sure enough Madi was throwing up all over the back seat. She was fine after that and I am sure it was just car sickness along with a combination of getting up early, not eating very well, and being hot. After cleaning that up and finding more clothes we were once again on our way to catch the ferry.

The only thing out there is Antarctica - isn't that cool!!After 45 minutes of rocking back and forth - and me only getting a little bit queasy - we unloaded the kids and the fellas drove off the cars and we were on Kangaroo Island for a few days of R&R.

DAY ONE - After getting off the ferry, we went down a dirt road and stopped at a honey farm
where we learned more about bees and ate honey ice cream. Kangaroo Island is known for it's pure honey (Last place on earth that has a pure breed bee from Italy) - in fact it is against the rules to bring your own honey there.

We then drove across more dirt roads to get to the house in the city of Kingscote. The boys car became known as the boy mobile. After all the bumpy roads from the wash board and pot holes Jessy's car (AKA - The boy mobile) started acting weird. We thought it might be a problem but found out it was just a loose spark plug wire.
After unpacking the cars and relaxing just a bit we headed off to the store and then to see a man feeding the pelicans. We got there a bit late and there were already lots of people so the kids and I walked down the rocks to get a better look.

He taught us more about these pelicans as he fed them fish. He does it every day and pays for it out of his own pocket - of course we were asked to make a donation as we left. At one point he fed a group of pelicans a bunch of fish and they were fighting over it - one came out of the bunch with a throat full of fish (they don't chew). He then flew off into the bay with at least 15 pelicans in tow. They then proceeded to fight him to try and get him to spit up some of the fish. It was a good show and lots of fun to see. After the show was over I stayed on the rocks as it cleared out to take some pictures - I actually got some good ones. After that we watched as the pelicans glide on the air across the bay as they flew away.
This picture was taken of Madi and Savannah on the way back to the car as we were walking down the beach front. We then piled back into the cars and found a fish and chips shop for dinner. We took it back to the house and relaxed the rest of the night. After the kids went to bed Kev and I taught Jessy and Kelli how to play some games. By the time we went to bed I was beyond exhausted.

DAY TWO - The next morning Kev and Jessy took the big kids down to the jetty to do some fishing.
Unfortunately, no fish were caught, but Madi did catch a seaweed crab. At first they thought it was only seaweed - you can understand why from the pictures - but soon realized it was alive.


When the fishing expedition was done we packed up a lunch and headed "on the road again", this time with a Madi's comfort bag in hand. She actually had one in the back of the van since throwing up on the way to the ferry - lucky for us she never had to use it again.

This time we headed to Flinder's Chase National Park on the south end of Kangaroo Island. We drove through the part of the island which had been devastated by a wild fire just weeks earlier and could still smell the smoke on the air. Just after entering the National Park Jessy pulled over his car and we all got out. There in the fork of the gum tree was a koala lazily sleeping the afternoon away. He even opened his eyes once to look at us and then put his head down and fell back asleep. Our first koala sighting in the wild!!


We then continued on our way to Remarkable Rocks - and they were appropriately named.

Out on the edge of a cliff are these rocks that have been worn away by the wind and the kids could climb all over them. I was having a hard time being relaxed however, as I saw the kids running around and could just picture them slipping and falling into the ocean. They had a great time however, and all were safe with just a few scraps and bruises to show for the adventure.




We then continued on our way and saw a light house and another wonder of wind, water, and rock - Admirals Arch. This is where we got to see seals in the wild basking in the sunshine on the warm rocks. I have to admit I was hoping that a shark would be hungry and venture to eat a seal - but no luck there. We did have sad kids when they decided to run down the boardwalk without us and wouldn't stop when Kev called their names. They had to sit on a little bench before they could see the seals - as you can imagine there was crying and gnashing of teeth.


We left the National Park and went to the Little Sahara to do a little sand boarding. This was so much fun. We rented a toboggan and a sand board (similar to a snowboard) and went to a huge mountain of sand and rode down. Everyone had a good time. The wind was swirling the sand around us and the hike up the hill was hard, but the kids continued to slide down and trek back up the hill. Of course, the usually left the board behind and Kevin or Jessy had to go down the hill, retrieve it, and hike back up to the top. I even went down a few times, once with Madi and once with Cooper. Cooper and I crashed on the way down the hill, however, and Cooper wasn't too happy about having sand all over his face. Kevin and Jessy got pretty good at the sand board - but the kids took up most of the time sitting on it and riding down the dunes. Jessy did have a spectacular crash on the last ride down the hill - wish we could have gotten that one on tape. During most of the hour and a half we spent there Rylee and I sat in the safety of the trees off to the side. We avoided most of the wind and Rylee played happily with the sand and sticks around us. By the time we were done the kids and the adults were so tired and worn out from a full day of fun. We found a pizza place and the fellas waited for pizzas while Kelli and I took the kids back to the house to have baths and clean up.


DAY THREE - We woke up to a windy, cold, and overcast day (similar to all the other days we spent on Kangaroo Island). We were a bit disappointed because our plan was to go to the beach. After breaking out the balls and playing the kids version of pool - rolling the balls into the pockets - we decided to head to the beach anyway because we wanted to see it and if anything the kids could just play in the sand. We took a picnic lunch and while driving to the beach the sun peaked out of the clouds. It turned out to be a warm, sunny day at the beach. The wind was still there and we fought it to keep our umbrella up and not turned inside out. The area was called Hidden Beach and was at Stokes Bay. You literally walk through a crack in the rocks and there is this beautiful, secluded beach with a shallow pool the kids can walk and splash around in. It was beautiful. We took everyone's swimming suits just in case it was warm enough to get in the water and it was a good thing because they had a blast. I took my swimming suit as well, but didn't change and stayed on the beach with Rylee. She sat at the edge of the water and splashed around and has now decided that eating sand is a great idea - ugh. No matter what I did her sand would go into the sand grab a handful and it would go directly in her mouth. I also got her to go to sleep and then put her under the outcropping of the rock in the shade.



After the beach we drove back to the house and the kids all fell asleep on the way there. Kevin and Jessy then went out to the store and got the fixings for a steak dinner. They did the cooking - which was fabulous - and we enjoyed some relaxing time before we ventured out again at night to see the fairy penguins head in from a day of fishing. [The picture on the left is Madi and Kevin playing the Tomagotchi - Savannah and Madi both have two and they have been playing them almost non-stop on this trip]. Then at 8:30 we headed over to the museum for our penguin adventures. We were guaranteed to see at least one penguin and we saw three. They were hard to spot and the tour guide had a red light she would shine on them so you could spot them. We learned a lot about fairy penguins, or blue penguins, and Madi at least enjoyed her time there. Cooper got a little bored and it was really windy and cold so the kids were all ready to go home and climb into bed at 10:00 when we got back to the house.

DAY FOUR - We got up in the morning and headed back to the ferry. This time the water was more rough and I got so sea sick. I almost threw up at least four times - but kept looking forward, sipping water, and taking deep breaths. I was glad to get off and breath the fresh air and bought a Sprite to settle my stomach.

It was such a great place to visit with so much wild life. I was disappointed that the only kangaroos we saw on Kangaroo Island were road kill - It turns out that the only kangaroos on Kangaroo Island are of the smaller kind (Wallabies!)