The Purple Penguin

On Christmas Eve we left Port Noarlunga. We had a coffee and danish/toast at the nearby bakery and then stopped at the shopping centre on the way out of town where Joe got some souvenir shirts. Google then took us a bit of a winding route back to the main road but we were happy as it took us along the Onkaparinga River for a bit. We stopped and walked a short way along the river to look at birds – more herons and lapwings.

We drove along the coast to Cape Jervis, but went rather slow taking our time to stop and see things. We drove up to the overlook over Myponga Reservoir which looks over the dam. Also the tourist information centre at Yankalilla. Joe took photos of the decorations. The women there were very helpful, checking the conditions on Kangaroo Island and giving us directions to things to do on the Fleurieu Peninsula. We didn’t do much of them, just stopped for photos.

We got to the Sealink Terminal around 13:30 and went to get our boarding passes for that evening. I asked if we could leave earlier and they got us on the next ferry leaving at 15:00! Hooray, no driving at dusk or in the dark! I then pulled the car into the loading area (first one in the queue) and we had a coffee and sandwich in the cafe. Joe took loads of photos of the ferry coming in – he could because he wasn’t allowed to be in the car when I drove on. Drivers only because they pack the cars in very tightly! I was first on and had to back into a corner. But that meant I was first in the passenger lounge onboard and could grab great seats right at the front!

The crossing was nice, a little bouncy, but lovely. You can see Kangaroo Island from Cape Jervis! When we got near I had to go back to the car so only Joe got to see the area. The car was so wedged in that everyone coming down had to squeeze past it and I couldn’t get in – I had to wait for the motorbike in front of the car and the truck parked next to it to move before I could even get in the car! So of course I was the next to last off and it was mayhem off the ferry, but I managed to find Joe and off we headed for American River and our hotel.

The hotel is lovely and we have a huge room overlooking the water. We had a swim in the pool; it’s a salt water pool so you really just float and bob about. It was nice, though a bit cold at first! And they’d painted the pool so when we got out we had blue feet (and a bit of blue on our hands, arms and legs – wherever we’d touched the pool edge or bottom!) But had a shower and then dinner which was lovely. Joe tried to get a rusty nail, but they didn’t have Drambuie so she made it with a local walnut and honey liqueur which turned out really nice.

We grabbed a torch from the reception and directions for the nocturnal walk and headed to the shore to wait for dark. Unfortunately can’t really see the sunset from the shore (or our hotel), but we watched the seabirds until it got dark, then started the nocturnal walk. We ended up not using the torch at all, but still saw loads of Tammar wallabies. We heard loads of other things, including birds, but didn’t see much else. About halfway through the walk though we ran into other hotel guests doing the walk and they were having a blast – waving the torch around and chatting loudly. So everything we were watching took off! Oh well.

I woke up early Christmas morning – 5am early. So I grabbed my clothes and headed onto our balcony. While you can’t watch the sunset, you can watch the sunrise right from our balcony. It was lovely. And the birds getting started for the day. I then grabbed my binoculars and headed out into the grounds to watch everything waking up.

Joe and I had breakfast, then started for the shore to have a look. The woman on reception pointed out the tree the Glossy Black Cockatoos like to hang out in and said there was a family of four that would sit in it. So as we went out we looked up and there were the cockatoos! So of course we stood there for a while watching them, until they flew off. Beautiful birds.

Down to the shore, then to the room to upload photos and rest before Christmas lunch. Lunch was a large buffet. Canapes were delivered to the table (and they were very good) then you went through the buffet for salad, seafood, and mains. We had a lovely lunch then went for a couple of nature walks. Saw loads of birds, including a sea eagle, but no more cockatoos and we never found the old cannery!