KANGAROO ISLAND   I

971107 Friday

Adelaide airport to Kangaroo Island, where at long last we met Tom Bettis (who was flying back to Adelaide on same plane we'd arrived on). Tom has been our K.I. liaison since we first heard of the place a year ago. We'll be here for the next 30 days. Rented car (Falcon station wagon) from Tony at Budget. Went to bank to get cash (no ATM's on island); request denied, will try cash transfer tomorrow. Got library cards issued from the Kingscote Library, each checked out couple of books. Bought groceries, beer, wine, with remaining cash. Drove out to Emu Bay. Found 'The Rookery' and Liz Bettis.

While getting dinner together Ty heard something 'snuffling' outside the back door . . . just the neighborhood echidna.

Another batch of interesting spaghetti. Dan picked out the 'hamburger' for the sauce; it was lean and fresh-looking stuff. When we started cooking up the 'beef', however, it had an unusual aroma about it, and lent a distinctly gamy flavor to the sauce. We looked again at the packaging for the meat and discovered that it was ground 'hogget', not beef. We still haven't discovered what this critter is, but it's potent stuff and no matter how much garlic or seasonings we added the flavor of hogget comes through. It was enjoyed by all.

971108 Saturday

Finally a chance to try and establish a homework routine. Ty spent several dedicated hours this a.m. on biology, algebra, and French. He seems to enjoy his work.

Between the house and shoreline is 50m of mown lawn; then a rocky bank about 2m high down to the beach. The Fairy Penguins have to climb up this bank and cross the lawn to get to their nesting burrows in the shrubbery right in front of the porch. We haven't seen any adults yet, but by peering into the burrows we can see the baby penguins. Actually, the babies look full grown and ready to leave the nest.

971111 Tuesday

Schoolwork day. No plans. Then after lunch Tom shows up and asks Ty and Dan to help pull his lobster pots. The only lobsters in the pots were just a fraction of a centimeter undersized so we turned them loose. The fisheries people in these parts are very serious and if you're caught cheating on size or bag limits they seize all your gear, including boat.

Ty was driving the boat back to the wharf when Tom noticed schools of fish on the fathometer. We dropped anchor and in the next hour caught a dozen King George Whiting. This is a much sought-after fish that we'd seen selling for $20/kg the day before at the Kingscote fish market. When we got home Tom showed us how to fillet the fish so that they're absolutely boneless . . . kept the carcasses for lobster bait. We fired up the barbie and had a great fish dinner.

971112 Wednesday

Started out cold and wet. Built a fire in the hearth, hung out and wrote and read and did homework. Early afternoon started warming up. Drove into town to talk to Tony re. switching cars. Bank, library, post office, groceries. Watched the pelican man do his afternoon feeding down at the wharf.

Ty and Dan dismantled the snooker table in the back room of the old farmhouse so that it could be moved into the larger room. Tom had wanted to do this ever since he bought The Rookery but never got around to it. He and Liz came by after dinner to chat and help move the table. It's a great old table made of slate and is very heavy, but with legs removed proved manageable enough to put on its side and slide through the door.

An hour later the table was bolted together and fairly trued up, so we all retired around the kitchen table to chat and sample some of the fine local reds. We got around to discussing the Thanksgiving Party. They don't do Thanksgiving in Australia, and Tom thinks it's a grand idea and wants to invite all his favorite islanders. The guestlist grows daily and it looks like it's turning into quite a fete. We need some turkeys.

Just before dusk Ty had noticed a fat hen turkey sitting on the top of a wall in the ruins of the old stone barn. By then it was well dark but for light of a moon just shy of full, and it occurred to us that she might still be there and that maybe we could catch her. Ty grabbed a torch and ran out to check. She was still there, roosting on the top of the wall, ten feet off the ground. We found a rickety old ladder. Ty sneaked around the far side of the wall and shone the torch in the birds eyes to distract her, while Tom climbed the ladder. He reached up, grabbed one leg and passed the angry critter down to Dan. We stuck her into an old chicken run adjacent to the ruins, there to grow fat and happy. Our guess is we need three more just like her.

971113 Thursday

Kaaren went for a walk along Emu Bay and there met Ms. Mary Potter and her horse Madame Flirt. This pretty white pony daily pulls Mary and her dog along the strand in her little cart until they reach their favorite swimming spot, whereupon Mme. Flirt is unhitched to cavort in the surf.

Turkey seems quite content in her chicken run behind the old barn. She's a very handsome bird . . . we guess a strain of wild American type initially brought over for hunting. Ty thinks we should call her 'Rainbow' (for her beautiful iridescence), which we immediately vetoed for fear anybody growing too emotionally attached to the critter. Her name is now officially 'Drumstick'.

971114 Friday

Drumstick laid an egg. Pretty casually though, and doesn't seem to be nesting.

Checked the lobster pots in the afternoon and found four keepers.

971115 Saturday

Penguins raised a great ruckus last night . . . we think in response to Dan practicing his pennywhistle. The penguins have quite a vocabulary of songs and voices, and the song sequence very complex but always in the same order. One penguin starts with a long, drawn-out tone, then one after another penguins in adjacent burrows join in, but each squawking a tune different in pitch and rhythm. Each session lasts only 20-30 seconds, after which they rest for several minutes.

Four more lobsters. Davises ate one for dinner, saved three for Thanksgiving.

971116 Sunday

Drumstick laid another egg.

Drove south to Peneshaw with intent of observing the turnaround point of Ocean Powerboat Race out of Adelaide. Wind came up strong out of the west making for great rollers and whitecaps between K.I. and the mainland. No boats ever showed up.

Stopped at Cape Willoughby Lighthouse for lunch. Rainy and windy.

971118 Tuesday

Left at 1000 for Flinders Chase. Stopped by ranger station at Rocky River Flats to pick up a key for lighthouse keeper's cottage. This pesky emu poked his head into the boot of the car when we opened it, and wouldn't leave us alone.

Drove south to Cape du Couedic, stopping to visit Remarkable Rocks along the way. Ty and Dan climbed several hundred meters down the granite monolith to the giant boulders at sea's edge. Massive waves breaking over the rocks so they stayed well back. Wedged among the rocks back from the surf Tyler spotted something bright yellow. Investigated and found a large molded-plastic mooring buoy. It was in perfect condition so we hauled it back up the cliff, much to the amazement and apparent consternation of other tourists. We had climbed back up via a different route than our descent, and only then noticed the sign reading 'Do Not Go Beyond This Point!'

Moved our stuff into quaint old lighthouse keeper's cottage (Karata). We drove 18 km back to Rocky R. Flats and then hiked several more km to stake out a stretch of river to watch for platypi. After two hours of sitting motionless amongst the mozzies and sandflies, we gave up. No great surprise; most locals have never seen one either, after years of looking.

971119 Wednesday

Morning at Karata. A beautiful sunrise over the lighthouse.

Walked down to Admiral Arch below the cottage and watched New Zealand fur seal colony.

Revisited amazing Remarkable Rocks. These are the weathered torr of a huge granite batholith right at the edge of the ocean, where the wind has sculpted them into fantastic shapes. It is very dense stone and would be a rock climber's mecca were they easier to get to.

Ty had a small 'accident', but is okay.

Drove to West Bay. Totally alone, picnic lunch, explored beach lined with Spinifex, which casts off seeds that roll down the beach like thousands of miniature tumbleweeds.

Drove back south to Snake Lagoon, hiked out to the ocean.

Friday 21 December

D. and T. built a stone tower on beach in front of Rookery.

Drove to 'The Cafe' to fetch scraps for the chooks.

Around dusk T&D drove backroads looking for turkey roosts. Found a dozen or so birds, but too high up in trees.

At full dark went down to beach to look at stars and watch for fairy penguins returning to their nests. Spotted several, but they seemed very spooked by lights so didn't watch long.

Saturday 22 December

Drove 90 km westward to Western River Cove. Beautiful little sandy cove nestled into rocky headland. Very hot. We had the whole little bay to ourselves but for two moms, two kids. Explored, threw aerobie, body-surfed.

23 November Sunday

Another very hot day . . . 38o plus in Adelaide. Cooler here due to sea breeze. UV is very intense though, and we try to stay undercover. Went to 'The Cafe' (one of Tom B.'s many enterprises) for lunch. D. had lobster, Ty had Oysters Kilpatrick, K. had prawn salad with side of grilled halouri cheese.

Visited Duck Lagoon after lunch. Ty went birding while K. and D. napped and read.

After dark, Dan and Tyler walked down to Tom's house, planning to head off on a turkey hunt.

They drove all around backroads behind Emu Bay looking for roosting birds. Found plenty, but all were just a little too high up to grab. Tom got close enough to one to end up with a double handful of tail feathers and get covered in turkey shit.

As we cruised for turkeys we saw plenty of other wildlife, including bush-tailed opossums (one had baby riding on her back), western red kangaroos, and hundreds of tammar wallabies.

Monday 24 November

Drumstick has been laying an egg a day for some time now, so we had scrambled turkey eggs for breakfast. The yolks are a more intense yellow than chicken eggs and they're very rich and tasty.

After homework, pulled lobster pots, fished with Tom.

As she was doing the lunch dishes, K. pointed out a big school of dolphins feeding quite close to the rocks right in front of the house. Dan and Ty quickly donned their skin-diving gear, ran down the hill and jumped in. The dolphins had moved down the beach.

Dan caught up to the school and got to swim with them for awhile before they got spooked and took off. There were 30-40 animals in the school, including several quite small babies. It was obvious that some wanted to play and came right up close, but one big dolphin continually interposed himself between Dan and the others, and seemed pretty upset. He suddenly started circling rapidly and making jerky, arched-back movements (looked much like a reef shark's 'threat display'), and within seconds the entire school disappeared.

Tyler and Dan spent the rest of the afternoon inventing a 'turkey snare'.

Time to catch a turkey. At full dark Tom, Kaaren, Dan, and Tyler took for the trees at the top of the ridge behind Emu Bay. The birds were in the same spots that we'd seen them the night before. We found a big tom turkey, so while K. and T. and friend Tom shone lights at the bird to startle him, D. gently sneaked up behind and slipped the snare over his head. It was well-caught and after much fuss and feathers we stuffed the unhappy gobbler into a burlap bag.

The next two were not so elegantly captured. Their perches were just a little too high, and while we were contriving means to climb up to them, they spooked and flew off into the night. Not to be outdone, we all took off running in hot pursuit, chasing after them through the fields under the light of a trillion southern stars. Finally the birds went to ground and tried to hide in tall grass, whereupon we sneaked up and pounced on them. They flapped and squawked and shat all over us, but as soon as Tyler could grab them by their feet and hold them upside-down, they'd magically go limp. They were heavy and we took turns carrying them back to the car.

And so we ended up with three live and bagged gobblers, which we hauled back to the Rookery and released into the pen. Three big toms together with dear Drumstick . . . perhaps more male company than she's happy with.

Kangaroo Island II.....