A few years ago with a group of friends, we went on a cruise.
The ship left from Sydney and travelled, stopping at a few different places on the way. The final stop before retracing our path was at Kangaroo Island.
I enjoyed the stops at the other places but mostly, I was looking forward to photographing on Kangaroo Island, which I had read so much about. The beach with the seals and resting sea birds was a great attraction.
On the ship, they had a tour for sale which we thought would cover the island so we joined that tour.
There was a drive around some of the southern part of the island but no where near the water or the beach where I had hoped we would have gone.
We ended up at a farm which had a variety of domestic animals, the same as what would be at home in Queensland. It was well presented and we were well looked after.
The only saving grace for me, was when I went for a walk through the nearby scrub. I spotted the pictured bird here and, although I knew it was a magpie, I could see a difference.
Whereas our Magpies have a black back with a white patch on the neck, this Magpie had a fully white back hence the name, White-backed Magpie.
It wasn’t until a few years later, after a friend of mine returned from having spent a week on Kangaroo Island, that I understood that a day-trip to the beach of the seals would have been out of the question.
Getting to the northern beaches from the southern point where we were landed is a difficult trip because it means driving over very rough mountain terrain in a vehicle suitable for these conditions.
