The Purple Penguin

No driving today – hooray. Instead I let Joe sleep – he’s got a cold. I was thinking about getting up early to see the birds, but as Joe was a bit restless I decided to try to sleep a bit more instead. Ended up reading!

Once up and sorted we headed out toward the beach, stopping at a small cafe for coffee. Oh and Joe wanted breakfast so we had that. I had toast, he had yoghurt and fruit (ok, who took Joe and replace him with this bloke? I mean the yoghurt even had beetroot on it!) (J: Egg and baconed out for the moment and that was the only thing on the menu that didn’t involve either.) (K: Toast. There was toast! Who even is this bloke?) Then we walked out along the pier. Port Noarlunga’s beach has a barrier rocks (reef) just out from the beach and the pier goes out just about as far. There’s fishing up to a certain point and along the reef is protected. It looks a great place to snorkel, dive or swim. Unfortunately we don’t have prescription masks so didn’t do any snorkelling.

There is an underwater trail to snorkel or dive off the rocks, marked out with blue markings. The water was so clear (and it was low tide) we could see the markings. We could also see fish and possibly a ray.

We then walked up the Esplanade – and I do mean up as it climbs a sharp escarpment which has great views over the beaches. Then we went down to Christie Beach. We walked as far as along the Esplanade as the public could drive – the footpath went further along the beach but we decided to stop for ice cream and a sit in the shade. We walked back along Christie Beach in the surf looking at the rocks and shells, then back along Esplanade to the motel where Joe took a nap.

After Joe’s nap (I read) we went out away from the beach – just across from our motel is a bird refuge along the Onkaparinga River. So we went out and walked along the river to see the birds and got attacked by bugs! But we saw a couple of herons (which we haven’t identified yet), a black-winged stilt, lots of gulls, some pelicans, masked lapwings, and black swans. It’s a nice way, just being attacked by flies, gnats and ants wasn’t fun!

We then got ready for dinner and went back to the beach to the Surf Club. The restaurant is Hortas and it is very nice. My plan was to just get the seafood chowder, but Joe said it wouldn’t be enough as it’s an entree and entrees have been very small here. I said I wanted room for ice cream from the posh ice cream place, but Joe insisted I get a meal. So I did. And was way too full for ice cream. I’m not listening to this person anymore!

After dinner we went back out along the pier and watched the sunset. Lovely colours. The tide was in so the rocks were covered and the wind was up so it was too choppy to see much in the water. However, we did see the fin of a porpoise or dolphin! A slow walk back to the motel (after a look in the ice cream place which I was too full to appreciate) and packing for tomorrow.

We’re supposed to be getting the ferry to Kangaroo Island and so far they say everything is still running.