So unsurprisingly the whales decided to do a no show. Still no spottings and although we waited for about 1/2 an hour at the spotting platform they didn't turn up on cue as we'd hoped. The next drive was all set to be a bit of a trek (although nothing of what was to come the next day...) and with that in mind we decided to visit Cape Bridgewater. The sign said '600m past headland - allow 2 hours' and a couple returning to the car park confirmed that it was a 'tough walk'. Being the supreme athletes that we are we decided 'what the hell' and set off in pursuit of our goal - a colony of seals which live on the cape, sheltered from all the rough seas and bad weather. En route we passed Victoria's tallest cliff (130m) and eventually we reached a couple of viewing platforms which enabled us to get a good (but not amazing) view of the seals doing their thing. Some were playing energetically, some diving for fish, some just lazing around catching some rays...I wonder what type of seal I'd be...? After a few minutes scrambling down the cliff to get a better view and some photos (Mum would have had a fit - 'Daniel, don't go down there it's cordoned off for a reason' etc etc...) we headed back, knackered but pretty happy with the whole walk and wildlife. Next stop the blowholes (just big crashing waves really) and petrified forest which was basically a load of trees that got covered in limestone or something tens of thousands of years ago. The trees then rotted from the inside of their new cases and thus a kind of stone forest was born. Eerie, weird but strangely interesting.

So, head down and onto Mount Gambier - which was once volcanic. All that remains now is a huge crater which is now a reservoir and provides all the local community with drinking water. It's meant to be grey in the winter but it looks very blue on our photo! The night out here was hilarious given that we went to an Irish Bar for tea and at 8.45 gut turfed out as they were closing...an Irish Bar. ON BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY...(why do the Aussies get a day off for the Queen's birthday and we don't...? (answers on a postcard to John Howard, c/o Australia)

On waking up we decided to make the trek towards Adelaide in order to jump on a ferry to Kangaroo Island either Tuesday evening or Wednesday...however, when we rang the ferry company they said we needed to pre-book because our van is over 5m long..D'oh! So we decided to put the maniac driver (me) in charge and proceded to aim to drive 300 km in 3 1/2 hours. In a 6m long, 3.3m tall campervan. On B roads. Well we were doing OK 'til we got stuck behind the learner motorbiker, the trail of cars that pulled out in front of him, and an ice-cream truck and with 1/2 an hour to go we still had about 50kms to drive. I will spare you of the full details but safe to say we made the ferry with Jen feeling so sick she could barely stand and Pat also looking green. Hey I was fine though!!!

Kangaroo Island is great - not just Kangars here but loads of wildlife. Last night we went to the Penguin Centre in Penneshaw and saw them in their natural habitat as they came home from a hard day at the ocean. It was a great hour or so and I managed to take a couple of pictures too to add to the Cornwell wildlife collection. One humerous moment was when an American with a 2 foot mullet (perfectly groomed I kid you not about the length - Billy Ray Cyrus would have been soooooooo proud) arrived and I proceded along the lines of the following conversation with Pat:

Me: 'What do Penguins eat?'
P: 'Fish'
Me: 'What sort of fish?'
P: 'I dunno, mackerel...?'
Jen: 'No, mullet surely...'
Pat: 'Do they? Oh I dunno....'

So us being childish didn't work because Pat didn't get the joke. Oh how we laughed.

Afterwards we went for a beer in a place straight out of Hicksville, Tennessee, where Jen stroked a little puppy and the bloke at the bar said something along the lines of 'you won't do that in 10 months' without knowing we own a dog twice the size of his house (probably) - oh the irony....they were all leathered and were not the friendliest Aussies so after one beer we moved on...back to bed...wimps that we are. Today we've found an internet cafe (yay!) as Pat can't get GPRS an the island - in fact no phone signal here - and we're now off to explore - more seals, and hopefully some koalas and the like.

One thing we have noticed about Aussies is that they like to abbreviate everything by putting an 'O' on the end of everything...so far we've had:

Vego - vegetarian
Smoko - smoke break
Rego - car registration
Spazzo - offensive remark against an opposing player in the 'footy'

...to name but a few...