SURPRISE DETOURS

I find it hard to believe I haven’t posted since the end of December 2012. Where has the year gone? Heck, where has my life gone! I’m reminded of something I read in a prophetic journal earlier this year:  “Expect surprise detours this year.” Aha! That’s where my life has gone…it’s been detouring.

But there have been pleasant, even enriching, detours. One of them was a ferry trip across Backstairs Passage (got to love that name!) to Kangaroo Island. It is eleven years since I last visited the Island and I couldn’t help noticing the changes. Kingscote now has a layer of the cosmopolitan on its country town core and everywhere, the message, “get the tourist”, is loud and clear. The rustic atmosphere is still there, but it’s calculated rather than hick.

We weren't there long enough for a repeat viewing of the Remarkable Rocks or the desolate grandeur of Cape du Couedic, or a dozen other delights, but  one thing I did make time for was the pelicans at feeding time. The magic of sitting cheek to bill with these ugly/awkward/amazing birds has remained with me for a decade, and I made my way to the Kingscote wharf in great anticipation. I can’t describe my disappointment when I saw that a sterile, black plastic platform of tiered seating had replaced the sandstone rocks I had perched on all those years ago. Must be hell on a hot day for tourists in shorts. And the pelicans are no longer within reach, either, but I took my seat and paid my money, anyway.  And I’m so glad I did. The pelicans are still amazing and their feeder is still enthusiastic and informative, and I was glad the audience was still enthralled, with no idea of the added joys it had been deprived of.  

Island hospitality and generosity hasn’t gone AWOL in the new sophistication, either. The gentleman from the Lion’s Club opened up, after hours, the huge shed which is their Op Shop, so that we could purchase some urgently needed items for our daughter’s new abode. In the process, we enjoyed an interesting conversation with a true ‘character’.

I’m positive it won’t be a decade before the next visit, especially when we won’t have to pay for accommodation!