Adelaide - May 22, 2014

What a unique day! Each of the team went with their host to the Coorong National Park, about a 1 ½ hr drive from Adelaide.  It was an interesting drive through vineyards of grapes that went on for miles and miles (huge fields), olive groves, fruit orchards and dairy country. The grapes are pruned by machine, and picked by machine.

One of our Host Homes along the lake

Boarding the ship for our cruise

Pelicans

More Pelicans

Black Swan

Royal Spoonbill - Black Billed Spoonbill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Coorong N P we boarded The Spirit of the Coorong, a tourist boat that took us around the Murray River delta and to the mouth of the Murray River where it entered the ocean.   We not only had the boat ride, but we also hiked across the dunes (where there are poisonous snakes) to the ocean.  We definitely stayed on the trail after they scared us with snake stories!! The boat ride was great – saw lots of water birdlife, and hunted cockles (look like clams) on the ocean beaches. The aboriginals used the cockles as food, whereas now a lot of them are used for bait. We are glad our hosts wanted to give us this experience.  Truly unique!    

A Fisherman's Shack along the way

The Southern Ocean - Looking toward the South Poke

Fishing along the Shoreline

The Southern Ocean

We Were There

More Ocean Scenes - How Mesmerizing

The Dunes along the coast

Colorful plant in the Dunes

Hunting for Cockles - Small clams

A Handful of Cockles

A Striking Scene from the Ship

The Adelaide Coastline at Dusk

It was a lovely day and by the time we returned to Adelaide it was already dark (6:15pm)!  Dinner was a delicious BBQ with 3 kinds of meat grilled to perfection. We are exhausted tonight and going to bed early, as it was a busy day.