Unfortunately the seas were not cooperative to take the tenders into shore. They tried but I watched from the cabin as they bobbed around like corks. Not a good idea. I’m disappointed to have missed it but … nothing you can do about it.

Dec 5/25-Adelaide, SA-Cleland Wildlife Park and Mt Lofty 

It is 45 minutes to Adelaide by train from Port Adelaide. Port River is home to  bottlenose dolphins. 

All vehicles here are imported now. They no longer are into the production of vehicles. Adelaide  now is going into the production of nuclear powered submarines for US and UK…. Plus for their own navy . It is also a training centre for that product with 20,000 workers at the Osborne Naval Shipyard. 

In 1834, Adelaide, SA became a free state of English settlers (not convicts like a lot of the other states) and German Lutherans that were persecuted in their home country. It has a population of 1.8 m. Driest part of a dry state. Up to 40 degrees in summer but not the  humidity of the east coast cities. Originally it was named Port Misery because of swamps with lots of mosquitoes. Clippership Adelaide. Oldest original in world …brought 250,000 passengers to Australia. Being refurbished after being sunk in Scotland. 

1870-80’s Merino wool factories. 

Flinders circumnavigated Australia in 1801. … gave Australia its name. 

The city is completely surrounded by parklands. The north is residential, south is commercial. With the border streets are named south, east, north and west terrace. There are very large gum trees but sometimes they drop big branches when under stress from drought which has been happening.  

Free trams run throughout  the city but part the the tracks under construction presently so they only goe part way then bus continues to the port. 

SA was the first state to give women the right to vote. 

51 hectares botanical gardens.

There are no toll roads in South Australia. Adelaide Hills is a wine area. 

We will have 2 hours to look around Cleland Wildlife Park. The area is prone to bush fires. 42 years ago all was lost and had to be rebuilt.  28 people lost their lives. 

Koalas sleep between 18 to 20 hours per day. Koalas intermittently eat, sleep and groom throughout the day. Their diet consisting of eucalyptus leaves is low in both nutrition and energy. Sleeping on and off throughout the day is a strategy for conserving energy. There is a common misconception that koalas get ‘drugged out’ or “high’ on eucalyptus leaves and that’s why they sleep so much. This is incorrect. Koalas are adapted to digest and excrete the toxins in the leaves and sleep a lot due to their high fibre yet low nutrition diet.

The emu is Australia’s largest, flightless bird standing up to two metres tall.

Displaying dedication and determination, the male emu assumes the responsibility for raising the next generation. Rarely leaving the nest even to eat, he spends eight weeks sitting on the eggs and tends the chicks for up to 18 months.

Yellow-footed rock-wallabies have thickly padded and textured hind feet with a flexible middle toe that enable them to grip, balance, and spring off steep and uneven surfaces. Due to its bright and distinctive coat, the yellow-footed rock-wallaby was hunted to near extinction. With the introduction of recovery programs the yellow-footed rock-wallaby population has recovered from the brink of extinction. Did you know? A yellow-footed rock-wallaby can jump up to 4 metres between rocks.

Echidnas have existed throughout most of Australia for around 80 million years. Easily recognisable, with bodies covered in long sharp spines, echidnas feed on ants and termites by flicking them into a toothless mouth with a long sticky tongue.

Echidnas have been referred to as living fossils, representatives of the egg-laying mammals known as nonolenes. A single soft shelled egg is laid directly into the belly pouch the female. The hatchling sucks milk exuded from numerous pores surrounding the mammary glands and remains in the pouch until hatching

Kangaroo and emu are on coat of arms because they are different…..they cannot walk backwards.  

2800AUD per night starting for Sequoia Lodge at Mt Lofty

1100 species in the park. 

Mt Lofty named by Flinders…. Seen from Kangaroo Island, is 710 metres above sea level 

Did you know that pandas breeding window is only for 48-72 hours …once a year. 

The areas sandy beaches have a gentle slope, but have been destroyed by an algae bloom that killed all the fish and coral.