Fleurieu Peninsula - Deep Creek C. P. and Granite Island

This weekend I took a drive to the south of Adelaide to the Fleurieu Peninsula and got myt first look at the Southern Ocean. The peninsula is wine and pasture country and is hilly and picturesque, however, most of my pictures came from the coast line (hard to drive and take pictures at the same time). First I drove down the west side and then cut accross to Deep Creek Conservation Park. I took a hike down to Deep Creek Cove and essentially had the place to myself. When I got back to the car I saw my first wild kangaroos. Nick, these kangaroo pictures are for you! I drove back north on the east side of the peninsula. There were many birds along the road. I saw a kookabura and many kinds of cockatoos; one pink and gray cockatoo, called galah, was common. Again, no pictures because I was driving. I spent the night at B&B cottages in Middleton on the coast. I walked out at night hoping to see the southern crosss, but clouds had moved in and by midnight it was raining buckets.

Today I went to Victor Harbor and walked out to Granite Island. The day started stormy, which meant moody/dark photos and some hiking in the rain. Even with the storms, people were surfing and boogie boarding (see photo below). There is a penguin colony on Granite Island, however, they were all out doing their daily peguin business... so I only saw one and it was in it's burrow (a crevice under some rocks), so was unphotographable. The clydesdale-drawn tram is a $6 ride (one way) from Victor Harbor to the Peguin Center on Granite Island. The tram driver is all Aussie... The drive back across the penisula was through the heart of wine country (McLaren Vale). I will make that area the subject of another trip in the future... All in all I took about 250 pictures, I won't subject you to them all, but here is a representative sample: