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Phew!
We've made it to Perth!
I just, hopefully, finished organising all my photos--I had a lot of trouble uploading them yesterday in Adelaide so I didn't have much time to establish what they actually were...
Anyway, the bus from Melbourne to Adelaide was very different to the first one. The first day we did loads! ...I can't remember what! In the afternoon we walked around a rainforest, and then way up high in the canopy (on a boardwalk), and then up a tower (which was 47m high!). At sunset we saw the 12 apostles (limestone stacks).
The next day we had loads of photo stops along Great Ocean Road, and then a hike in the Grampians in the afternoon. It was very steep, and hard work! That night in our hostel we were surrounded by wild kangaroos (in the surrounding fields, not by our beds or anything...).
The next day we did a short walk to some aboriginal rock art....mostly driving in the afternoon, but when we stopped to see some kangaroos, there were 2 kittens! They were tiny, their eyes were still a bluey colour...I'm worried they were lost now, I hope they are okay...
That night we wandered around Adelaide and realised we were screwed as it was Saturday evening but still everything was closed...what on earth were we going to do Easter Sunday and Easter Monday!?
Well, Easter Sunday we had our Kangaroo Island day trip--so breakfast it was the first of many hot cross buns we bought at a convenience store the night before, at about 5am (we had to be picked up at 6....yay...although it was the same time as all the mornings on the bus anyway). Kangaroo Island was really good! Very different to the bus trips, as we were doing it (as we found out) with a general bus tour, so again it was mostly adults on holiday (no backpackers whatsoever). Anyway, we took a bus (2 hours) to the ferry, took the ferry (1 hour), then drove around Kangaroo Island which was pretty. We saw a bird show (well, a guy with birds), had lunch, saw the Remarkable Rocks, a seal colonly, and then walked on the beach with Australian Sea Lions.
There's a lot I could say about all this but as you can probably tell, I'm exhausted and can't really write well at the moment...
We got back quite late, about 10 30pm, and thankfully then found out we had a transfer to our dolphin swimming half day tour the next day (we didn't know the night before, and were panicking about taxi costs). We got picked up for that at 7am the next day by what we thought would be a shuttle bus, but instead was a woman in a car. We (well, I) panicked about tipping her, and in the end, didn't. Oh well....The dolphin swimming was really good, although you couldn't really call it dolphin "swimming." Once you were decked up in your wetsuits (the water was FREEZING) and your snorkel, they would cruise around till they found a pod of wild dolphins, and then slow. It was up to the dolphins to come up to us if they wanted, so they weren't harrassed. In the meantime, you had about 5 seconds to slide into the water and hold on to the rope that they would throw out. If the dolphins didn't come, you got back out and waited to do it again! The first time I didn't see any, but the water was so clear that it was cool to see the ocean floor anyway (plus several schools of small fish!). The second and third times I did, it was really amazing! They obviously didn't get very close, but I still saw them underwater and it's something I won't forget. After this third time Adam and I decided we were blue from cold and spent the rest of the cruise warming up.
In the afternoon, we wandered around trying to find food (in the end, Subway), and found a Borders (bookshop), and spend a few hours there. Dinner was McDonalds. I had no choice, I swear (McDonalds is evil...)!
Today we had a nice (not) 3 hour flight to Perth--it wasn't awful or anything, just...long. We've spent the afternoon wandering around Perth (free bus though!), not finding anything as it all closes amazingly early (5 30!). Thankfully I found a few cheap tops for African dirt (and blood...cutting up meat...).
Tomorrow we have a 12 hour flight to Johannesburg...up at 7am....hoping our transfer works out to the hostel....scary new culture (with protests going on at the moment, again scary...). So hence why I'm quite tired....
I'm not sure if I'll have internet access at all at Harnas (check out the website for details of what I'll be doing, www.harnas.de), so this might be my last update till I get back May 9th. Wish me luck!!!
Also, www.rickmonk.com has added some more photos from the Solway Lass, including at least one of me, apparently...
Adios!
Cristina
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