Today we drove to see the Raptor Demonstration, which is birds and birds of Prey. Excellent demo, with great interaction with the audience. All the kids even got to hold a bird on their arms.

Then on to Seal Bay to see the seals on the beach. Had a good walk on the beach looking at the seals but not as close as we thought we would get. Still interesting to see them and hear about they way they interact etc.

On the way home we stopped at the Sheep Milking Centre (yes Sheep). They milk sheep and make cheese and yogurt. All very interesting and tasty. Finally stopping at a distillery for some tasting – the island has everything you need.

On the way home, got a good rain storm, the most rain we had seen in ages, with some thunder and lightning just to make life interesting.

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Had a drive around Kingsgate in the morning. This area was the place for the first town in South Australia. Had some interesting stories about the first settlers, but basically it seems they found it too tough here with no water, or good soil (or was it that they sound like they drunk too much beer and rum!).

Visited the Honey Bee centre. There are certain bees that are on the island that are not found elsewhere on the mainland and are disease free from the pests that are on the mainland.

Then drove out the Marron Café. Marron are fresh water crayfish that originally came from Western Australia and have bred well here. So now they farm them, and we eat them! Very tasty for us, not so good for the Marron!

Then we took a drive up to the north beaches of the island, lovely little beach  we had a walk along. They a nice drive back along the coast. The island is very hilly and has abrupt cliffs along most of the coast line.

Arrived back into town in time to see the local Christmas parade. Figured the whole island must be here by the number of people around!

Leaving Adelaide this morning and heading south on the way to Kangaroo Island. We have decided to leave the van on the mainland and just take the car over.  Plan is to stay in a cabin, and sort of have a holiday / break from the van for a couple of days. The Kids are really excited about staying in a cabin for a couple of days. Thought a simple drive with plenty of time to get there but J’s teleconference went on forever and then our SatNav in the car decided we should travel some weird way to go south!

We did find that the main issue with the travel south was due to the fact we thought it would be best to use the motorway. As we got close we found the motorway south only operates in one direction. It is open for northbound traffic in the morning and south bound traffic only after lunch! Very strange and the first time I had ever come across a road like this. It was not for a short distance either, would have be 20-30km! Apparently they are building the other side of the road starting this year.  Only in SA I suppose!

Dropped the van off, and shot down to the ferry terminal, with ½ and hour to spare. The Ferry was a drive on, and off type. No issues, but have found out later this is the most expensive ferry in Australia, costing more than a trip on the ferry to Tasmania, where you get a bed for the night as the ferry takes all night to get there! Ferry took 45 minutes, and was rather rocky, making Harry feel a bit green, but no one to feed the fish this trip thankfully.

Arrived and drove through to Kingsgrove where we were staying. Interestingly enough we have discovered that Kangaroo Island is the 3^rd largest Island in Australia, and quite large. We are staying 50km drive from where the ferry landed and are only about a ¼ of the way along the island.

Drove up to Adelaide hills, about 1 hour from the centre of the city. Lovely area with a real country feel. Heaps of German influence in the area and therefore good cafes and lovely buildings.

Had lunch dinner at a German pub, with real German beer. Of course we had German Sausages!

Then we drove up to Lobethal for the Xmas Lights as they were supposed  as being the best in the state. The whole town was decorated with lights and stalls in the street. They also had a Christmas Tree display in the local hall. Very cool.

Finally they had a real life nativity screen/ play done by the local church which was the highlight of the evening. Bit late home of the kids but it is Xmas after all!

Spent today Christmas shopping which took all day – what more can I say!

We cycled to Adelaide Zoo in the botanic gardens. Saw the panda’s and all the other animals in the Zoo. Kids loved seeing all the animals and the area where we could pat some of the animals as well.

Stopped for a fantastic coffee (good to be back in the city…) on the way home in one of the café streets. Have to admit they certainly seem to know about good food and wine in this state.

Today drive to Adelaide. Arrived fairly early as not far from the Barossa, nothing seems that far after all the mile we travelled from one sight to another when getting at South Australia. Setup the van and drove into the city centre to see the city buildings. Some lovely old buildings exisit around the city and great churches as well. Found the city centre.

On our walk we found that David Jones had a Santa cave and Santa photos. Thought a good opurtunity to get a photo with santa. Unfortunately the queue took about 1.5 hours but we waited and waited and finally got to visit. Kids very excited.

Today we visited Maggie Beers kitchen for Lunch and a demo cooking. Now a very commercial place but was still a nice place to visit. Yummy Food. The Kids also got to feed a Magpie that they had saved after it had been found injured.

Then drove up to check out the LEGO man, hoping the overcast skys was not sufficient to keep him shut today. Found it open, but the owner was an elderly man who loved his lego and his cat! Very good collection, I think Harry was in Heaven!

On the way back to the van visited Penfolds Winery. Lovely wines to taste and purchase a few!

Today wine tasting in the Barossa. Started off with a visit to trey to see the LEGO man. Unfortunately it was raining slightly so this was closed today. Maybe tomorrow he would be open. So back to the town for a coffee and then some wine tasting. Decided we would enjoy a lunch out, of course in a wine region so why not.

Ended up at Jacobs Creek as the place we wanted to go to was all booked out. We found though this was actually quite a good choice for food, sometimes you just can not tell.

More wine tasting on the way home...

Today we drove to Tanunder in the Barossa Valley. On the way we visited a few wineries in the Clare Valley. We visited Knapstien Brewery and winery, Yummy wine and beer in one place!