Kangaroo Island 2017 Day 13 – Raptor Domain and Seal bay

Woke up at 650am to a sky coloured in bright orange hue. Quickly got out of bed and went to make K a bottle and left it in the warmer before brisk walking quickly to the beach. The orange started to fade back into blue as I approached the quiet Emu bay and disappointingly, it was too cloudy for what could have been a beautiful sunrise. Took the pictures of the bay which was not too windy and had really gentle waves (which had surprisingly warm water, at least warmer than my hand) and of the resting Pelicans before heading back to the nice warm apartment, where I enjoyed a hot cuppa before mommy and K woke.

Sunrise hues seen from the balcony
At the jetty of emu bay
Pelican standing on a rock
Fish measuring board
Pelican chilling
So many of them
Sunrise pano
The sun peeking over the horizon

Then it was all about the same morning routine of getting ready to get out. We were leaving the apartment late today again. After we got K’s meal packed, we left for Raptors Domain, 40mins drive from the apartment.

We arrived at 11am in an open car park after getting through a short dirt side road, which had a big entrance gate in a design of a bird. We headed towards the main registration and bought 2 tickets for birds of prey show for aud20 each adult (K entered for free) and waited for 30mins for the start of the show. K had fun with the available games there till it was time to take a short walk to a small arena with 3 rows of seats.

Raptor Domain entrance
Raptor domain reception
inside the waiting area of Raptor Domain
Show tickets

There was quite a number of people who came for the show. There were 2 trainers who took turns to bring out one bird each time, introducing their stories and their behavior and other useful information. The most interesting thing was the interaction, such as having a barn owl stand on the lap of the audience one by one, holding birds in the leather gloves provided and taking photos. There were about 6 different birds, starting with magpie, to owls and falcons and kookaburra and eagle. K was even stroking the back of the barn owl when it stood on mommy’s lap. The ending of the show was with a huge eagle that we could let stand on the arm and take a photo, but at a cost of aud10 which would contribute to the sustaining of the sanctuary.

Magpie throwing rubbish into bin
Camaflaged bird
Bird, forgotten its species
Barn owl in flight
White barn owl
Falcon
Kookabuura
Kookabuura on the handler
Falcon on a toy snake
Eagle
Another eagle
Me with the eagle

We left at about 1230pm, after the one hour show and drove a 15mins to the next stop, Seal bay. There wasn’t any lunch stop here so we had to starve but fed K first, after paying aud16 per person (again K was going in for free) for the visit on the broad walk. We didn’t choose the aud50 per head for the guided tour that would allow close up visit to the beach of seals because we had that (free) up close experience when we visited New Zealand a long time back. K was having fun with one of the Aussie lady who was waiting for her tour to start, with all the hi-fives and fist bump while eating his meals.

Diaper changing station
Seal bay visitor center

After his lunch, we walked on the ramp all the way to the beachfront to look at the seals. There were quite a number of them, most of them sleeping. But we could also see some coming from the crashing waves, some moving about and enjoying the waters crashing into them, and some just rolling about in the sand. As we walked back, we noticed some of the seals even made it onto the open grass patch and sleeping within the bushes, that we didn’t notice the first time we walked on the ramp. There were some skeletons on the open space, which I thought might belong to a whale? Interesting walk and a beautiful coastal view of the area.

The broad walk to the beach
View of the beach from the broad walk
Skeleton
Seal bay pano
Seals
Sleeping ones
Enjoying the water
Another group
Away from the sun

By this time, K was already very tired and wanted to sleep. He was cranky and as soon as we moved off in the car, he felt asleep. We decided to head back to the apartment first and tried to get him up the room to continue sleeping. But unfortunately, after setting up the room and preparing the milk, he wouldn’t get back to sleep after waking up.

Microwaved lunch

I left them in the apartment to get to Kingscote and get some gas because the car was just down to 2bars left. 15mins away, I got into Caltex which looked small approaching from outside the town but it was actually bigger with more fueling stations, which made me looked stupid as I waited for the cars in front of me to complete their top up. The petrol cost was very expensive (but still cheaper than Singapore) aud1.43/liter and I pumped aud30 worth that should last the trip to Adelaide based on a 10km/liter estimation as I intended to pump the rest on mainland (cash was running low too!).

I went to Foodland to get some groceries that mommy wanted me to get and I spent about aud20 to get some milk, eggs, flake fish fillet, cooked prawns and macaroni. Then I drove back with the setting sun in my eyes, at a time of about 5plus.

Back at the apartment, both mommy and K were in bed, but neither were sleeping. K was punished for not taking any further naps by abstaining him from any videos and DVD for the night. I took him to the playground close to the beach, the only time out of the 3 nights we were here and so late at this time because the sun was already setting, changing the surrounding clouds dusk red. K was warmly dressed and played till the dark took over and stars could be seen but it was merely 645pm.

Emu bay playground
Sunset view of emu bay
Emu bay at 6pm

We returned to the apartment and while I bathed K, to avoid having it colder later in the evening, mommy was cooking dinner with the stuff I purchased. We had Olio Algio, a first for mommy and K had his usual pasta which he couldn’t finish. The rest of the night was spent playing with his toys and packing for us, and while I read a storybook for K and gave him a bottle of milk, we turned off the lights for an early night for K. After he fell asleep, we spent a bit of time in front of the TV, discussing about the past accommodation for reviews update into Agoda and planning the last 2 days of Adelaide. The trip was ending soon and I wasn’t looking forward to the hot and humid Singapore, especially now that I am “used” to the cold.

Dinner

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