Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo island was magical. I feel like my entire study abroad experience was justified by this one utterly unreal week. The trip was sponsored by conservation volunteers australia, and there were seven of us: a big guy named Tiny who has been volunteering there for years, two korean boys, a german woman, a woman from australia who works in scotland, a chinese girl, and me. There was Peggy, a goanna, echinda, and tiger snake researcher. All we know about these animals is from her research. And, there was Mike, who had worked in forty different countries, spent a lot of time living in the wild by himself (well, with the animals, he corrects us), and started the Pelican Lagoon research center, which he built by hand. Peggy and Mike were both incredibly kind and generous with both their hospitality and their vast pools of knowledge. I learned so much from them about plants, animals, sustainable housing, and life.

The seven of us lived at the research center with them, in houses that were built by hand to be energy efficient and completely sustainable and self-reliant. And we learned to build and we helped build stone houses. Their home is so incredibly beautiful. A group of kangaroos lives with them. The alpha-female, Rooby, was adopted by Peggy because Rooby was orphaned when her mom was roadkill eighteen years ago, and Peggy took her in. Now, Rooby is a great-grandma, and the whole pack lives right outside of the house.

I helped an aboriginal man named Carno plant trees, and he taught me that the best way to plant them is to have my back facing the sun, which gives it the most energy. He taught me lots about his culture, told me stories about giant kangaroos and emus and showed me their tracks. He showed me colorful rocks and told stories about how they represent different tribes. Carno is an amazing person.

I saw possums, black yellow-tailed cockatoos, many wedge-tailed eagles, a mushroom that looked like a boulder, feral cats, rainbows every single day, everywhere! A peacock flew in front of our windshield while we were in the van, and it just hovered there for a while, and we had to slow down so we didn’t run into it. I’ve never seen a wild peacock in flight before. I imagine this is what seeing a phoenix feels like!

On our third day, we met Mike and Peggy’s friend Nick, who is a famous chef and owns crazy restaurants and luxury resorts. We helped him plant some trees on one of his hills, and he made us amazing chowder for lunch, and let us stay at his beautiful private resort! It was situated on a hill, overlooking a private beach. It was paradise. Then, for dinner, he brought us to an old shearing shack which he’d converted into this completely magical and rustic dining room, complete with floating candles, vines, and good music. He made us slow roasted lamb, pumpkin, potatoes, salad, and there was good company, good wine, and apple crumble for dessert.

On the way home from Nick’s island paradise, we stopped by a small town for a visit and had soup at Mike and Peggy’s friend Coral’s house. Coral’s house was lovely: filled with beautiful knick-knacks which she’d made herself. She also made each of us lobster-shaped gingerbread cookies. Her cookies are famous–she presents them at art shows!

I tried new fruits, and I learned how to mix plaster and throw it on walls. I wielded a mini-mattock and a crow bar. I watched Peggy dissect a roadkill echidna.

I was really sad to leave Peggy and Mike on friday. They are such incredible people, and if I could stay with them forever, I would. But, I still had more adventures. The german girl and the scottish girl and I went on an exploration of the western part of kangaroo island during the weekend. We went on lots of hikes, slept in a comfortable barn that had a fireplace, visited the remarkable rocks before breakfast, saw lots of koalas, went to Hanson Bay which is a gorgeous beach, saw an echidna in its natural habitat (!!! it was a blonde one…so cute how it moves, so pretty), visited a bee farm, climbed prospect hill during sundown and saw the entire island from the top, and then took the ferry home.

The trip made me think a lot about what kind of lifestyle I’d like to live, and it also made me realize that my life has hardly begun, and I don’t need to figure these things out now because throughout the course of my life, I’ll be exploring different careers and making new places my home, and I just gotta take it all in stride and find beauty in everything, and love generously, and the combination of all things I will experience, I’m sure, will be tremendous. Peggy and Mike have taught me that you can live sustainably and be immersed in nature, but also be connected to the world at the same time. This was an important discovery to me because I’ve always wanted to live sort of away from society, but I also want to be a responsible citizen and contribute to society, and the two of them live in a remote area in the middle of a forested area, but they are still extremely well-connected to pretty much everyone on the island, are very sociable, and contribute a whole lot to society. They give me hope that I’ll find a really cool niche somewhere as well!

I go home in three weeks. I’m not thinking about it much because I need to concentrate on studying for exams, but I’m pretty stoked to go home. I’ve grown really fond of australia, and I’ll be sad to leave (I love kangaroos!!), but there is a certain place steeped in colonial history, dressed with bricks and magnolia trees, that I’m excited to be returning to!! And I’ll be bringing miniature koala souvenirs, an improved vocabulary (good on ya, mate!), and new perspectives. =)

I’ll post pictures of kangaroo island soon!