Tarndanyangga

Our first stop in the world's sixth largest country, Australia, is the city of Adelaide.

We arrived early morning and after dropping our bags at our hotel we took to the streets to explore the area. We were 5 minutes walk down the road from the Central Market (more on that later) and a main road into the centre. It immediately felt strange being in a developed country as we walked along a proper pavement and watched drivers drive well (ie stay in lane, stop at pedestrian crossings etc), and before we knew it we'd walked all the way into the main shopping strip were we found a cafe for breakfast - they had bacon!!

After a little retail 'therapy' we had a look around the Museum of South Australia which houses hundreds of excellent taxidermy creatures and our first experience of some aboriginal history. The whole place was really well laid and thought out and we really enjoyed a few hours there.

The lack of sleep from our overnight flight caught us up at this point so we relaxed by the river opposite the Oval cricket ground. Despite being a clear-skied hot day we already felt the difference with the lower humidity here so didn't feel that hot, a strange yet pleasant feeling for us!

Next up we took the free city tram back to the Central Market, home to dozens of food stalls, delis and cafes that all create a foodie paradise. We settled on a loaf of artisan sourdough olive bread, a slab of goats cheese, spicy humous and cheesy tart which was a real feast! We devoured it all, then slept. I can't say whether it was the late night or if we fell into a cheese induced slumber, but either way it was very needed and got us ready for the evening ahead of us.

Another short tram ride to nearby Glenelg took us to a beautiful beach where we ate ice creams and watched the sun set after our first day in Australia - and what a sunset it was!

6am came around way too fast, when we were awake and picked up for our tour to Kangaroo Island. The early morning was hard but made easier by our excitement at the day ahead and after a drive around the city picking up our coach load we headed into the countryside (but not before driving right past our hotel, an hour after we'd been originally picked up - we could've slept in after all!)

Nearly two hours journey went fast as we snoozed and spotted kangaroos doing the same in the shade just off the side of the road and we arrived into the port where we would take the ferry to Kangaroo Island, where we were told that ironically it was unlikely we'd see any more kangaroos! Thankfully the sea was still for the hour crossing so we caught some rays on the top deck, then we were ushered back into a coach to begin the tour properly!

Our first stop was a further hour drive to Seal Bay where we were guided to a sandy crescent by a ranger to find dozens of seals and their pups lounging around in the sand. We stood about 5 metres from them with an entirely uninterrupted view of them as they played with each other, a mother fed her calf and they milled about as if we weren't there - it was an incredible experience and we were both buzzing from it and could've happily spent much more time there if we didn't have to carry on.

After a delicious lunch of chicken and beef with a spread of salads we carried on to our next sight - a Koala sanctuary. It didn't take long at all to spot one in the trees and as we walked through a boulevard of eucalyptus trees we kept on finding more and more. The highlights were a mother and baby and a larger bear sat in a very low branch, almost asking for us to take selfies with him! They're surprisingly big but every bit as gorgeous as we thought they would be. Again we had to carry on before we were really ready to leave, and we started to realise that coach tours are great for seeing lots but at too fast a pace for us (as it turns out it is also the only way we could have afforded to do it though).

We travelled on to the far West coast where we visited two viewpoints, the first named Remarkable Rock and the second Admiral's Arch. Both were fun to take photos around and to enjoy the scenery but the latter was our favourite as there were more seals lying in the shelter of the arch-covered cove.

At this stage it was time for us to begin the now-epic journey back to the ferry port, crossing the entire island with enough time to quickly stop for a pizza in the town around the port. We really enjoyed the beautiful Kangaroo Island but could have happily spent another day or two exploring it at a more leisurely pace.

The drive back on the mainland went quick enough and it was dark as we arrived back into Adelaide at nearly 11pm.

The next day we woke up to torrential rain and headed to the airport in the hope that we'd leave the poor weather behind as we flew an hour to Melbourne.

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