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Sunday 31st of July 2016 and my alarm went off at 7 and I was in the restaurant at 8 o'clock. Same breakfast as yesterday and I was off to the little harbour to see if there was any birds. I  walked to the harbour and I heard a beautiful bird song.
I was looking up the trees when a British couple came by and they pointed up the tree. - The bird is in the top of the tree. I'm always surprised to discover what a beautiful song the Australian Magpie have. It is for sure not a beautiful bird. I was very soon to discover a group of Australian fur seals in the port. There were several of them swimming around. There was a big male and a few females sunbathing on a platform. And there were a group of what I thought was Little Pied Cormorants, but it was the Black-faced cormorant and some Australian pied cormorants. But I didn't discover this until it was time to identify the birds. I was enjoying the morning in the harbour by looking at the cormorants and the seals. I was soon discovering that Kangaroo Island Wilderness Tours car was coming down to the harbour. My Guide and the interpreter had come to have a look before going to pick me up at Aurora Ozone Hotel We went to have a look at the Australian pelicans before we left. There were only 2 of them in the port and they were at the old penguin colony. The seals have eating the penguins and the remaining penguins have moved to the next beach  Walking to Kingscote harbour
 Also known as the Black-faced shag
 Also known as the pied cormorant or pied shag. Older sources may refer to it as the “Yellow-faced cormorant”
 Seals enjoying the morning sun
 Male seal enjoying the morning sun
 Male seal enjoying the morning sun
  On the way to pick up the Swiss family
 We are going to pick up the Swiss family before we're taking off to the Seal Beach, or Seal Bay to check out the sea lion and fur seals. I discovered a new bird while waiting for them to be ready. The New Holland Honeyeater and I saw the Rainbow Lorikeet landing in the tree above me, but I never got any good pictures. The New Holland Honeyeater was a beautiful bird so I was happy to have seen the bird. But I was not happy to have to wait for 20 minutes before we could leave. Yesterday waiting at the airport and today, we had decided to pick-up at 9 o’clock and it would not have been hard to be prepared to leave by then. I pay as much as anyone else for the tour and it seems like I have to wait all the time wasting my time and money. I could have spent this time back in the marina looking at seals and birds, or I could have been in bed for a few minutes longer. Anyway, we were soon on our way to Seal Bay I saw some purple red and black parrots when I got out of the car and I wanted to stay for some bird watching. But as I was walking around I ended up on the platform down at the beach looking at the sea lions. We were really lucky with the weather today and I enjoyed the walk. I saw a sea lion surfing in on the beach and I wanted to stay behind to see if I was lucky to see another surfing sea lion. But we should met at the car quarter to one so no time and I walked back up again. I saw a whole lot of them New Holland Honeyeater. Strange, I never saw them before and now they are everywhere. But no sign of any other birds around here to take pictures on.  Sea lion surfing at Seal Bay
 Sea lion surfing at Seal Bay
 Sea lion surfing at Seal Bay
 Sea lion enjoying the sun
 Sea lion enjoying the sun
 They have found them 2 km from the beach
 Of course, I had to wait for the others, yet again and I was not happy. This time waiting I could have spent on something more fun. One thing is for sure, I will never use the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Tours again, and I will for sure not recommend them to anyone. This was very bad, poor service at least to say. A different story if it would have been for free. But now I have paid premium dollars for the tour and I was not satisfied. Next stop will be at a koala park, the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park and on the way we are keeping our eyes out for more Koalas in the trees. And as we are on Kangaroo Island we didn't have to drive long before we made the first stop to look at the koalas. We got out of the car and we walked along the road while looking up the trees. And this was good for me as I'm also looking for birds. But I never saw any birds. But we saw many koalas in the trees. And I must say, there isn't much action as they are sleeping most of the days and nights. They are sleeping 17 hours per day so they are easier to get on pictures than the bird jumping around all the times are. So it had been a very good day, except for the waiting. Who knows what I had been seeing if I would not had have to wait all the time.         Looking for koalas along to road
    We arrived to the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park and we got out of the car. There was a souvenir shop and I went straight in to see if they had ice cream. Our Interpreter and the family from Switzerland took off. I didn't like the place, like a prison for all my friends and I went to look for birds while our driver went to prepare our pick-nick lunch. This will be our last stop for today as I told them that I wanted to be back in Kingscote at 17:00 for the pelican feeding. NOT NEGOTIABLE!!! I took the decision when we were waiting this morning. The original plan is to go drop them at the airport around 17 thirty on our way back to my hotel. I was not interested in this, and if they wanted to see something on the island instead of the pelican feeding they would have had plenty time instead of me having to wait. So this was decided for and we cancelled some stops. We will drive around looking for kangaroos and koalas after the lunch here at the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park and we will be in Kingscote in time for the pelican feeding And this park was nothing for me, they had all the things I want to avoid, Daily Activities: All of our animals on display can be seen every day. We are rarely without young animals in our care that have been injured, rejected or orphaned. If you are lucky we may have one of our babies out and  about for cuddles or feeding. Check with staff or at the front entrance to see what babies we currently have and what times they will be out.
Join in at our interactive animal sessions below! 10:30am - Koala interaction session 11:30am - Penguin feeding 1:00pm - Koala interaction session 2:00pm - Reptile interaction session 3:00pm - Koala interaction session 3:30pm - Penguin and Pelican feeding 4:30pm - Koala interaction session Yes, so I went to look for birds instead and I saw 3 new birds. Well, I saw more new birds, but I only got pictures of 3 of them. I was out walking with the driver and we kept our eyes out for birds in the bushes.     Juvenile with prominent green plumage
 I was back for lunch and they had set up the table in an outhouse. Our driver was cooking and it was an excellent lunch. I left the table as soon as I was ready to go try to see some birds. I  don't know what happened, but I ended up in the ice cream box. And from there I saw 4 girls and one of them was holding a koala. I went over to investigate.
Turned out it was one of the “Pat a koala” sessions. Turned out that I had to go back to the souvenir/ ice cream shop to buy a ticket. This set me back by 24$ and 50¢. 20$ to hold the koala and 4$ and 50¢ for my third ice cream since we came to the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park. But there was an ice cream, Kangaroo Island honey and nuts  something that was delicious. And a quick search on internet came up with Connoisseur Kangaroo Island Honey with Pistachio Ice Cream
Yeah, I had a few of them while sneaking around in the bushes looking for birds. Anyway, I had my 20$ “Pat a koala” ticket and I went back to the girls. They were ready when I came back and I gave my ticket to the guy in charge of the “show”
I was not proud to have abused the koala and when I was back at the lunch table I told them that I had seen “so many ” birds. I told the driver (when we were alone) that was about to show him was strictly for his eyes and HE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO EVER TELL ANYONE. I showed him the  picture of me and the koala.
- You sell out! You have a weak mind! He said laughing Yes, you know me and then I'm sure that you know that I had  given them the full song and dance about keeping animals behind bars.
We, well, they were packing up our things while I was in the car reading the book A photographic field guide to the Birds of Kangaroo Island by Chris Baxter trying to identify some birds that I had seen. We were soon on our way again. We will drive along the north coast of Kangaroo Island towards Kingscote and we will reach the pelican feeding in time. We will of course make stops if we see any koalas and kangaroos. Yes, koalas, I don't know if they had done something with the koala I was holding, but I was really feeling good after the experience. So I was pondering the idea of kidnapping one of them and bring back home. Joking, their place is in the nature. We drove through a beautiful and totally different landscape on the north side of Kangaroo Island. And what a difference it was from the south coast.  The beautiful north coast
 The beautiful north coast
 The beautiful north coast
 The beautiful north coast
And of course, the weather was much much better today. Yesterday we had gloom and grey for as long as we could see. Raining and windy. Not too windy, but a wee bit. Today we have had absolutely gorgeous weather and it was an enjoyment to come out of the car. We drove along a river and a beach and when we were back up in the hills we stopped at the Interpreter's house. Her garden and pastureland was full of the pink and grey Cockatoo or as they  use to call it: Galah Cockatoo.
But I find it easier just to say the “pink and grey” I have never seen so many of the Galah Cockatoos before. And it is really a beautiful bird when they are flying. She had two horses that came running to us when we arrived. We continued and we passed a pastureland that had been used for sheep. But the sheep were gone and now there were a group of kangaroos eating the grass. We stopped the car and we got out to have a look at the kangaroos. A group of male kangaroos closer to us and 3 females a bit away.  Beautiful animals
 Beautiful animals
And we can see that the kangaroo in the middle is either pregnant or have a baby in the pouch
 Beautiful animals
 I learned that this is the hardest thing for a kangaroo to do, to lay down and it take a long time for them to learn how to lay down
       A mother with a baby - Will we see the baby go in to the pouch?
 Of course, when we finally have a baby the sun is against us
 They run away
 They run away
 They run away
 The baby looks at us
 The baby looks at us
Of course, I missed when the baby got back in to the pouch. I was told that the baby wanted to go in as soon as we arrived. But mommy refused to let the baby in as training. We can also see  that the baby is soon to be too big to get in
But the mother looked very big when the baby was back in. We left and across the road was a few wallabies hiding under the bushes. We were obviously in an area with much wild life. We walked down the hill looking out for more excitements along the way. Our Driver was waiting for us at the bottom of the hill. The group was ahead of me as I wanted to walk behind and I was also keeping an eye out for birds. The Interpreter came
- What are you saying? - There is an echidna - What? - The Driver found you an echidna - What are you saying? Please try to slowly - We found a twiggy - OH!! 
I was off like I had fire on my back. Twiggy, the last animal I need to see here in Australia and I have seen all of them. And I never understand what the Interpreter said, a mixture of Australian accent and me don't know what the  an echidna was. Echidna
 Echidna
 Last Koala for today
 Last Koala for today
 Last Koala for today
We left all our new friends behind and we started to drive back to Kingscote and the pelican feeding. Feeding the pelicans at Kingscote harbour. Every day at 17:00. We had have gorgeous weather the whole day. But when we approached Kingscote it become foggy and cold. It was like driving in to a wall of fog and grimness and there was nothing but gloom and grey for long as we could see. We arrived to the marina and there were two people there. - Are you here for the pelican feeding? I asked - We are the people feeding them
Pelican feeding, seriously. When I read that this was one of the attractions here in Kingscote I was thinking, well, nothing I want to say here. But it was no nice thoughts. But man! This was fun and this is actually the only thing I recommend you to see if you ever come to Kangaroo Island, it was fun. Very fun and I was running around like a child. They will pick me up at 09:45 tomorrow morning for transportation to the airport. Click HERE to find out if I make it all the way to Melbourne. Birds I have seen in Australia and elsewhere is available on my list of birds I have seen. There are more pictures of birds I have taken here in Australia to enjoy.  
    
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To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
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further south and enjoy a pleasant, easy walk through the bush and come out at the base of KI’s spectacular and vast sand dunes of Little Sahara. Climb the dunes and enjoy stunning views of distant Bays and the serene, rural landscape.
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