Parrots, Possums & Penguins

Thurs 8^th Dec   Adelaide – Parrots, Possums & Penguins

A slightly cooler day after the 39 C yesterday – although it’s a dry heat which seems quite manageable.  Headed off to the wine district of McLaren Vale, south of Adelaide . So many vineyards spread out across the valley.  Each winery has its own “Cellar door” where you can sample the wine they produce. We bought some “90 Mile” sparkling for Rob’s birthday tomorrow.

Onto the Fleurieu Peninsula & a quaint little town called  Willunga.  On from there to the coast at  Aldinga where we settled on the beach with our picnic. It’s a huge expanse of sand, so much so that the locals drive their cars down & set up camp for the day!

Refreshed & rested, we drove inland to Victor Harbour at the bottom of the peninsula. We were in search of penguins at Granite Island, a nature reserve across the causeway from Victor Harbour. We booked our place on the nature walk which starts at dusk (around 9 pm. )

With 5 hours to spare, we moved on to another pretty  town, Goolwa.  At Lime Café, coffee, handmade chocolates  & Roland’s life story passed a pleasant hour. He had been butler to a wealthy family in S.Ireland, residing in a Georgian pad of some substance. He couldn’t stand the grey winters so returned to his home town & set up the café. He also gave us a lesson on the local birdlife we’d been spotting all day – Galah (red chested parrots), Little Corella (a ceamy coloured parrot that flock & destroy crops) & the colourful Rainbow Lorikeets.

Driving into the Coorong – a vast expanse of marshland & scrub lying at the mouth of the River Murray & continuing eastwards for maybe 100 miles, over the bridge spanning the Murray to see where it met the sea. Apparently the river has only recently been flowing again after years of drought.

Back to Victor Harbour & fish & chips on the deserted beach (well, apart from some very well mannered seagulls. ) Then over the causeway for our nature walk. Our guide knew exactly where the penguins would be. They are the Little Penguins & only stand 30 cms tall.  We saw a baby waiting by its burrow just 2 weeks old. The parents are out at sea all day catching fish & only return after dusk. Another baby, 4 weeks old, maybe 3 times the size of the previous one. By the time they are ready to go out to sea at 7-8 weeks old, they dwarf their parents. We watched an adult pair climbing up the rocks returning to their burrow. We also saw Bushtail Possum feeding up on the cliffs.

 An unmissable experience that we will treasure.