Here's a map of the island, which includes several places we visited. We started our tour in Penneshaw, and stuck mostly to the south side of the island. Most of eastern KI is farmland, while much of the western side is national parklands.
First up:
Here's Rob:
Rob is a 4th generation Kangaroo Island farmer, and has 1600 head of sheep. He shears them all by himself! There are roughly 750,000 sheep on the island (vs. 4500 human residents). Sheep on KI are Merino sheep, mainly raised for their wool; not their meat. This was quite different for us Iowa folk! Rob used a hanging brace thing to help support his back while he sheared:
All the wool comes off in one piece, and then he throws it onto a big circular table thing where he sorts it. Wool from different parts of the sheep is more valuable than other parts, so it all has to all be sorted before it's shipped off in bales to be sold.
Next up: the first of many amazing views off the southern coast of Kangaroo Island. These were taken at Pennington Bay.
Eli and Micah:
Me and Ked:
Dad and Mom:
Do we all look a little freezing? Well, we were. In fact, this day was the coldest day we'd had since arriving in Australia. It was around 52 degrees, windy, and rainy. Fortunately, the rain seemed to clear off when we'd reach each of our destinations, so it could have been a lot worse. Even with the weather, I'd do it all again - Kangaroo Island will likely go down as one of our favorite parts of our time in Australia!
Next up, we headed to a eucalyptus oil refinery. This place honestly wasn't all that spectacular, but the boys loved it because they got to see baby kangaroos! The owner took abandoned/orphaned joeys and raised them. They each had their own little baskets where they happily curled up.
Here is Rabbit (named by Micah, so I don't know if this is its official name or not):
And this is Bambi:
That's enough for now - more to come!
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