Kangaroo Island

Today the weather is very nice, and tomorrow rainy weather is forecasted. Therefore, we visited attractions that are better enjoyed in good weather today. However, this involved quite a bit of driving.

Before breakfast, we went birdwatching. It was not very fruitful. Then we washed our laundry at the hotel and set off. First to Seal Bay National Park, KI. Yes, here Kangaroo Island is abbreviated as KI.

At Seal Bay, there are the Australian sea lions. They differ from all other sea lions in that they are lighter, have a gestation period of 18 months, and do not live in groups. Apparently, the sea is somewhat poor in fish, and therefore they may not have enough energy to raise their young quickly. It is also the case that the sea lions go fishing for about two days and then return utterly exhausted to the beach. So they are not just lying around lazily but need to recover. They only group together when it is very cold so they can warm each other up.

Afterwards, we continued to the Flinders Chase National Park. Besides the animals, there are three sights in the park: the lighthouse at Cape Borda built in 1858, Admirals Arch, a continuous stone arch on both sides of the sea, and the bizarre rocks of Remarkable Rocks. In this national park, there are also sea lions, including both the Australian sea lions and mostly the darker New Zealand sea lions.

Since one should not drive at night and the park was still 150 km away from our hotel, we had to hurry to be back on time. Nevertheless, we saw countless dead animals along the roads here, some freshly run over. Since the locals drive very fast (and overtake) and are also out at night, we wonder if it would be better to ask them not to drive at night and to drive slower.