First week back Down Under

Some 45 hours after we left our home we finally arrived in Whyalla, SA, where Anne was going wild behind the fence at the huge airport of Whyalla. I think an average room is bigger than the airport terminal itself. It might be the reason our flight from Hong Kong didn't want to land there when we were flying over in the morning. That flight just bends towards Adelaide almost above the little town. And just imagine yourself, our first flight (AMS-HKG) was with a Boeing 747, our second flight (HKG-ADL) with an Airbus 330-300 and our last one (ADL-WHY) was with the huge Saab 340... Room for the incredible amount of 33 passengers.

As we left the Netherlands in winter time we were used to max 10 degrees, but once we left the departures terminal in Adelaide to board our plane to Whyalla we found out it is a wee bit warmer than back home. It was about 32 degrees, and according the ground personel it was a cool day. My brother already warned for 45 degrees during daytime.. Hello Outback. And our welcome-in-Oz-meal? That was an authentic Australian kitchen cuisine... The barby (international known as the barbecue) together with a nice cold beer

The first few days were hot so not much has been done during daytime. Taking a look around town in the evening was about it. Good to see Pelicans straight away, all the other animals thought: "to hell with you it's to damn warm to show ourselves."

We spend our weekend at Port Lincoln, some 3 hours driving south of Whyalla in the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula. Due to the lack of room in one car and my brother still having to work I stayed home while the others (minus my brother) already headed of. Good thing as they called upon arrival to take some sweaters with us as it was a bit cooler and windier than in Whyalla. So late in the afternoon my brother and I headed south as well. Great fun to be honest... driving about 270 km and only passing a handful of towns recognisable in the distance by some huge grain silos.

Saturdays our trip was to Lincoln National Park where we saw some Emus on our way to the lighthouse at the end of the peninsula. Once they saw my dad they probably got scared of his white hair so they ran of, only my dad walking after them. Later upon arrival at the lighthouse we took a short walk over the rocks. At some point when some Pied Cormorants caught our attention we caught the attention of two Fur Seals. As if they wanted to get on the photo with the Cormorants. I have to say those Seals are hard to follow as they don't really stick there head above the water at a regular interval nor a logical pattern. But nevertheless it was a cool sighting. After the walk we took a picnic at the beach of Surfleet Cove before bro, dad and I went for the short Surfleet Cove Loop Hike (4,5 km) along the cove and Proper Bay. Great walk to do if it wasn't for those damn stinging flies. It took us half an hour less than stated as once we stood still, the nice blood sucking flies saw their chances to pray on us. Probably the only Kangaroo we saw was happy he wasn't dinner this time. By the time we returned at the beach also the sun came through resulting in having my first sun burn of the holiday. At arrival back at the Tourist Park we check for some Pelicans at the pier but all were flying.

At Sunday it was clear again you find Dutch people all over the world. When heading back to the cabin after the kiddos (Tom and Anne) fed the seagulls we passed a girl pitching up her tent and she heard us talking Dutch... Turned out to be a Dutchie as well. She just arrived and was in Port Lincoln to swim with the Great White Shark (in cages off course).

After checking out we left for Whalers Way, which is the southern point of the Eyre Peninsula. It's a private property open for public after paying for a permit and getting a key at the Tourist information in Port Lincoln. It's been seen as the miniature version of the Great Ocean Road (Geelong-Warrnambool) and it sure is a great place to visit. Loads of rugged cliffs and a great place to see the power of the ocean. It contains some real nice viewing points and at one place even 3 enormous hangovers. And live animals? There is a Fur Seals colony at Cape Wiles. We needed our zoom lens to spot them resting on the rocks.

Just when the sun started to shine again we had to head back home to Whyalla. On the way back a quick stop at Arno Bay for dinner where we enjoyed a Arno Burger (3x the size of a Big Mac).

So brings us to today, Valentines Day, but more important Anne's 4th birthday. The weather was nice, Anne's was talkative as always (Where are my presents?) and the picnic in the park was nice as well. And the bonus? That was a good one. On the way to the fishing pier I saw a boat entering the marina with something behind it. First I thought the caught some big Snapper, turned out to be four Dolphins. So back to the jetty as they followed to boat all the way there. Just great to see such beautiful mammals and it turned out one of them was still a baby Dolphin.

So that's about it until now. What I am up next I'm not sure yet. I'll see what options I have tomorrow before I leave Whyalla in the coming days to reunite with the family on 11th March (Tom's 2nd birthday), but don't worry you will read about it.

https://picasaweb.google.com/paulvanderwielen/FirstWeekBackDownUnder#

Oh, by the way, I got an Ozzie no. now so don't try my Dutch mob. as I wont reply before I'm back home (if I find it necessary to reply). The no is: +61 487 204 304