Koalas, Wallabies, and Roos, oh MY!

Hello! Trying again to update more frequently.
Just returned to Newwy early early this morning from Sydney. My parents and I had a really good time on Kangaroo Island this weekend! I feel like that is an experience not a lot of people get to have when they come to Australia- particularly when a local on the island said 90% of South Australians don't get to the island. Crazy! I have never seen so many Kangaroos, Wallabies, Koalas, and Possums in my life!

Well I'll start from the top. On Thursday I got on the train down to Sydney to meet up with my parents. The trip down was anticlimactic, so no big deal. I got there just after they did so my timing was perfect. Then I got settled into the hotel and we went out to a little pub for dinner. I had schnitzel. Pretty dang good. The next morning we got up bright and early for our flight to Adelaide. I'm really not a pro at sleeping on planes. I wish I was. Anyways, once we got there, we got our bags and rented our car! Now that was an experience. Dad driving on the right-hand side of the car, on the left-hand side of the road. What? He did really well though, except for a couple mishaps with the wipers instead of the turn signal, made it through!

So we drove about an hour and a half down to where the ferry would take us across the channel to Kangaroo Island. It was pretty cool to see that. They have a really simple method for getting all the cars onto the ferry easily and quickly. The crossing was pretty simple, no big waves, and we were talking to these really nice Aussie couples who told us where to go and what to see. Super nice people.

Once we got there, we went to a couple places like Pennington Bay- beautiful beach. If it was nice out at the time I would have spent all day on that beach. Fun place to take pictures too. We toured around quite a bit and then made our way across the island to check into our wilderness retreat. That was cool, because they have 'resident' wallabies and a kangaroo- Beanie, that you can feed. Fun stuff. Well we had dinner at the hotel and Mom had Kangaroo. Tasted very normal, and it's very lean so apparently very good for you. The waitress justified it too, because there are 3 roos for every 1 human in Australia. That's a lot of roos.

Anyways the next day we set out exploring. We went to Admirals Arch and saw seals, and then we went on to Remarkable Rocks. Both were really cool to see. I felt like a major tourist. Snapping pictures left and right.

We also walked around a caravan park where we saw a koala- passed out in a tree. It was so cool.

Then we went on this nocturnal walk, which was really really cool. These two girls worked at this place and just led us around so we could see the active animals. We saw a LOT of adolescent male kangaroos feeding together- that's how they learn their social skills. We also saw a TON of Wallabies. I have never seen so many in my life. I think she said there are 300,000 on the island. Crazy! We also got to meet the resident roo there- Amy. She's tame enough that she let us see her baby joey in her pouch. Sooooo sweet! Probably one of my favorite parts- apart from seeing a koala on the road up close and personal- it was super chill. Just walked to the side and climbed a tree. No big.

Anyways, the next morning, we left early to make our way across the island- and avoid the wallabies and roos that are out and about. I think we saw 48 on the way home. Crazy. Then we took the ferry back to the mainland and took a detour on the way to Adelaide. We went to this small German town called Hahndorf. We had lunch there and got some souvenirs. It was a pretty cool place- except it was raining.

Then after we shopped a bit, we got back in the car and headed back to Adelaide to get on our flight back to Sydney. Then we stayed in the hotel and woke up SUPER early (3:45) to catch the train- my parents to the airport, and me to Newcastle. It was hard to say goodbye when I know I won't see them again until I'm home- with the exception of Skype. But I'll just have to get into a routine and know I'll be better off for it. And now, here I am, 9:18 PM, about to write my paper, and I still haven't slept since 3:45 this morning. I. am. tired. But alas, I figure better to sleep normally than mess myself up by napping.

Anyways, after this busy week of working on lots of papers and getting schoolwork done, I get to go on Spring Break! Yay! Sailing in the Whitsundays, chilling on Fraser Island, and learning to surf in Byron Bay will be so much fun! Plus I found out Casey is visiting me and Lindsey and I are going shark diving! Woo! :)

I hope everything is lovely back home. I miss home a lot. Take care of it for me, and don't be shy to drop a line! Or your address. I need addresses so I can send postcards folks! :)