Road Trip:  Fleurieu Peninsula

Our next stop was a coastal walk in the Newland Head Conservation Park.  We ate lunch on Waitpinga Beach as it was raining lightly and was cool and we thought we'd save room in the backpack for rain gear in case it got worse.  Just after we started the hike (and were too far away from the car to bother turning back) the sun came out. The rest of the day was hot and sunny.  Made for a beautiful walk: it was early spring and everything seemed to be blooming.  It was spectacular.  We also heard a lot of birds, but only succeeded in seeing a few.  

The grasstrees pictured below grow at the rate of about 1 centimeter a year, so it gives you a sense of how old some of these are.  The tall "sticks" coming up from the middle are actually their flower.  The flowers can get very tall (note the one on the left that is about the height of a full-grown tree) and can take on some strange shapes. We think the one on the right looks like a relative of Big Bird!

The walk follows the Heysen Trail for a while.  The Heysen Trail is a 750 mile hiking trail that meanders through South Australia.  The path was sandy at the start, but there were all sorts of beautiful flowers (and spiky plants!) in full blossom.   The close-up of the leaf is from an acacia. Note that the "veins" do not run from a center line.

A highlight of the walk was the cliffs overlooking deep blue water (the Southern Ocean).  While we were sitting having a snack, a sea eagle glided up over the cliff and hovered above us for a while.  Great stuff.  We saw the kangaroo when we were walking through the campground on our way back to the car.  He was not at all afraid of people (probably looking for food, unfortunately), so he came close to us.  At one point Elyse raised her hands over her head in joy (saying something like, "life is good!") and the kangaroo mimicked her - twice!  We got quite a laugh out of that! When we got back to Waitpinga Beach, we comforted our tired feet by taking off our shoes and walking in the very cold water!  Our last stop was Victor Harbor and Granite Island, home of the Fairy Penguins.  These little blue penguins come in from the sea at dusk and waddle to their rock nests on the island.  There are dozens of them all around and they are very fun to watch.  After dinner, we headed back to Adelaide.  A great day.