People to People
Australia
1993

Bold text is taken from the P2P 'Schedule of Activities' document.
Italic text is taken from my own notes.

Click on each photo to toggle between thumbnail and larger image.

Kangaroo Island

Vivonne Bay Outdoor Education Centre staff:
Leon, Graham Rees, staff, Mrs. Rees, staff, & Graham's daughter
These were our dorm rooms.
I was in the room on the right.
I think the green door next to it led to the cafeteria.
The cafeteria. Among those pictured are:
Trisha, Sarah Lang, Jennifer Beale, Christy Gray, Deborah Robison & Hannah Garrad.

Day 4: Tues, June 8 - Bushwalk, Point Ellen
   Morning bushwalk with Graham Rees to see a variety of unusual features of the bushland, animals, insects, trees, plants, fossil beds, beach and ocean frontage.

Graham Rees & Jon examining kangaroo, wallaby, and ring-tailed possum droppings.
Jennifer Beale is behind them.
Only primitive small-leaf plants are native to Australia.
Broad-leaf plants like maples did not evolve here.
Kangaroo Island Grass Tree
I wrote on the back of this photo that they only grow 10cm in 100 years, but the sign in the photo says 20-40cm.
(See below)
YAKKA
XANTHORRHOEA TATEANA
These plants appeared on Earth approximately 100 million years ago and are members of the first flowering plants.
They are slow growers and long livers, growing around 20 to 40 cm every 100 years. This specimen is estimated to be around 700 years old.
They produce a flower once every 40 to 50 years normally or quickly after being burnt in a bushfire.

   Afternoon departure for Point Ellen, Vivonne Bay to see the high and low energy coastline unique to this area.

That afternoon we went with Leon to another point on the beach to look at tidal pools. I found 3 crabs under rocks and managed to catch the last one. About 6 people got wet, 3 totally soaked, so we had to go back without the walk along the coast that had been planned. The people that got soaked had done it on purpose and received verbal warnings.

I got these photos at the photo-exchange after our trip, so I'm not positive that they are from Point Ellen, but that is my best guess.

Jessie Martin on beach;
Michelle Allen, me, & Jessie on path from beach

Day 5: Wed, June 9 - Seal Bay, Cape du Couedic, Admiral's Arch
   Full-day field trip to Seal Bay to study Australian sea lions and to Cape du Couedic and Admiral's Arch to study a colony of New Zealand fur seals with Dr. Pin Needham.

Australian sea lions
and pups at Seal Bay
Michael & Michelle Allen
(Dallas leaders)
Dr. Needham talking about
seals and sea lions
Cape du Couedic
New Zealand Fur Seals
(black seals that like black rocks)

We walked down to Admiral's Arch after looking at the fur seals. It's kind of on a cliff and Micah and Jessie freaked out. Micah's sister, Rachel, and I helped them back up to the bus. Later we went to a farm. It had kangaroos, emus, goats, chickens, guinea hens, horses, sheep, birds and more. The kangaroos were very friendly, and I fed an emu and held a ringtail possum. There was also a walk-in aviary with lots of colorful birds.

Feeding kangaroos at the farm
Barbara Jones holding a young kangaroo;
Inside of kangaroo's pouch
fawn and wallaby
koala in eucalyptus tree
ringtail possums
me with ringtail possum
(Paige Adams behind me)
Dusty with a ringtail that climbed down his shirt!
(Christina Carino behind him)
turkeys & pheasant;
goldfish pond


Christi Hart
(Dallas leader)
Michelle Allen
Jessie & I behind

Day 6: Thu, June 10 - North Coast, Kingscote
   Following breakfast, the delegation will spend a full day on the North Coast to visit Kingscote, KI's principal town, and Reeves Point, the site of the first settlements of South Australia.

In Kingscote, I bought a used paperback for 50 cents. I didn't even make it a full week before I started having book-withdrawal pangs. Before this, I hadn't even known I was addicted... Then we went to the beach and watched Australian pelicans and seagulls being fed.

Day 7: Fri, June 11 - mist-netting birds, botany
   This morning, study the birds of KI, including mist netting and banding of birds with Dr. David Paton. Following lunch, explore the unique botany of KI with Mrs. Bev Overton.

In the morning, we were with Mrs. Overton. We collected plant specimens to be dried for next year's group and received plants from last year, dried and pressed, to take home. Then we went outside and made small fires to open seed pods. The pods of many of the plants on KI only open when there is a fire. It was raining and the wind and rain made it hard to keep the fire going, but we all got our pods open regardless of the bad weather.

Family: Proteaceae
Botanical Name: Adenanthus terminalis
Common Name: Gland Flower
Location: Vivonne Bay
Status: flower
Date collected: June 1992
Family: Proteaceae
Botanical Name: Hakea rostrata
Common Name: Beaked Hakea
Location: Vivonne Bay
Status: leaf
Date collected: June 1992

After lunch, we went with Dr. Paton to band honeyeaters. The weather was still rainy and very windy and we only caught about 5 birds because the wind would blow them out of the net when they got caught, and there weren't that many birds flying around. Our group had split into two - the other half did the birds in the morning and plants in the afternoon. They got to catch and band more birds than us because the weather didn't get bad until a little before lunchtime.
honeyeater in mist-net
clockwise from top:
Micah, Haley, Paige,
Eric, myself, Dr. Paton
Micah Branaman & others
with honeyeater
Me holding honeyeater

Day 8: Sat, June 12 - Kelly Hill Caves, Flinders Chase
   Full day excursion to Kelly Hill Caves, Flinders Chase National Park, Remarkable Rocks, Weirs Cove, and the Cape Du Couedic Lighthouse.

Kelly Hill Caves are relatively young for caves. The guided tourist trail is also really short. At the end of the trail is a window up on a ledge that leads into another cave. Tourists used to be able to climb up and look through the window but access is restricted now. We were allowed to go up to the window so I took a photo of the the cave on the other side. After visiting the cave, we went to look at one of the many sinkholes connected to the caves. The caves were found when a farmer and his horse fell into one of the sinkholes. It was too steep for the horse to get out of, so the farmer went for help. When he returned, there were so many sinkholes he couldn't find the one he had fallen into. The horse's name was Kelly, so that is how the caves got their name. (Kelly's remains were never found.)

Cape Barren goose on nest on yakka
end of cave trail;
view through 'window'
a sinkhole;
a termite mound

At Flinders Chase National Park, we got to feed some of the kangaroos and emus in the park. Then Graham's daughter took some of us down to a eucalyptus grove to look for wild koalas.

I got the following photos at the photo-exchange after our trip, so I'm not positive that they are from Flinders Chase, but that is my best guess.

 
 
Cape Barren
geese
Bush
stone-curlew

Remarkable Rocks is similar to Enchanted Rock but because it is by the sea, the ocean winds have formed fantastic formations in the granite. Then we went to the Cape De Couedic lighthouse, although we had already been there when we went to look at the Australian fur seals and Admiral's Arch.

Day 9: Sun, June 13 - Little Sahara, depart KI to Adelaide
   Morning excursion to the Little Sahara Geological Monument.


   Lunch. Finish packing and prepare for departure. 4:00 pm depart Vivonne Bay Outdoor Education Centre for Penneshaw Ferry Terminal.
On the bus, preparing to leave Vivonne Bay.
Pictured: Christy Gray, Jessie Martin, Cary Spratt, Haley Sahm, Deborah Robison
Penneshaw ferry at dusk

   6:00 pm depart KI for Cape Jervis. Coach transfer to Adelaide and overnight accomodations.

   Accomodation:
   Adelaide Parkway Motel
   204 Greenhill Road
   Eastwood, Adelaide, South Australia 5063
   Tel: 61-8-271-0451, Fax: 61-8-272-9263



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