Kangaroo Island
23 dec to 3 january
The battery couldn't start the car when we went to leave Cobblers Hill camp ground in Deep Creek Conservation Park and I didn't like the idea of having to push start the car when it came time to disembark from the ferry to Kangaroo Island, so we drove back to Yankalilla and bought a new one.
Finally at the ferry terminal, we pulled up beside my brother Peter with wife Polly and their children, Reuben, Katherine and Jessie. The big excitement for our three kids however, was that they had brought our dog, Cypress. Also waiting for the same ferry were Polly's Parents, Leo and Ellie, whose shack we were going to stay in, Polly's sister Diana with husband Peter and son Dan, who were staying next door and Peter and Polly's friends Greg and Jenny with their two kids.
The ferry trip takes about 45 minutes and gets a bit rough sometimes but not for us.
Then there was another half hour driving to Leo and Elle's shack in the sleepy hamlet of American River.
That night, the fishing fest began with a bit of jigging for squid from the jetty (unsuccessful). From then on it was almost all successful. The lucky chosen few would drive down to the boat ramp with Leo for a morning or a day fishing on the American River.
Most days they would come back with about 10kgs of fish – Tommie Rough and salmon trout caught on lures in the channel, King George whiting from sand patches amongst the weed, squid (which mostly got used for bait), and snook caught on lures trolled across Leo's special snook spot.
Even Christmas and new year couldn't stop the fishing. Then there were the trips to catch Garfish on still nights with spotlights and nets. With a ''Batter'' on either side wielding a net and a spotlight or two waving on each side, we attempted to scoop up the unsuspecting garfish swimming on the surface in the night. One night yielded 83 garfish – a delicious feast.
Of course all these fish needed to be cleaned but Leo was, of necessity, very fast at filleting and he soon taught us a few tricks. After a couple of days, we also assembled his folding boat so there were two boats out fishing. One day yielded 31 whiting 5 snook, a squid and a few salmon trout. Another day we got 18 squid, 8 whiting and 2 snook. There were 16 people for dinner most nights but there was always much more fish than we could eat and the store in the freezer kept growing.
It wasn't all about fishing though. We all made the 2 hour walk out to ballast head to search for little penguin chicks in the burrows. Most of the burrows were empty but about 10 chicks were found.
On another day, we drove to Pennington Bay for a surf. We also made the long drive to the other end of the Island to see the Australian fur seals at seal bay
and the New Zealand Fur Seals at Admirals Arch. Stopping off at Remarkable Rocks, we completed the main tourist stops of KI.
Being the festive season, there was lots of eating and drinking and singing. Also Millie and Katherine sewed their own party dresses with the help of Polly and Ellie. I was pleased to be able to fix up the navigation lights and radio on Leo's boat, and to do some paving out the back. Probably the most memorable part of the trip was the wonderful generosity of Leo and Elle, who served up magnificent meals each day for up to 21 people.
It was with some regret that we came suddenly to the end of our stay, packed up our camper trailer the night before and got up at 5.30am to drive to the ferry back to the mainland.
