Salt Water Coffee and Australian Hospitality

This trip has been going on forever! Holly and me are having a blast, but honestly, we both feel like we’ve been away from home now for a year, and it’s only been a little over a week.

After our last update, we have had quite a busy few days. On Sunday afternoon, we took the five-hour journey from Flinders Ranges back to Adelaide. Along the way, we stopped at quite possibly the coolest little coffee and tea shop we’ve ever seen. It was built into an old blacksmith’s shop, and was pretty much still the original stone building. We also made our way to a few small wineries (and yes, we are bringing back some bottles of South Australia’s finest). Finally, Sunday night, we got into Adelaide and made our way to Adelaide Backpacker’s Inn.

This is where things started getting interesting.

When we arrived, it was almost 5:30 at night, and the front desk for the hostel was closed. So I had to call the lady, in the rain, and figure out the code to the door. We finally got in, dropped our packs, then started the task of trying to figure out how we were getting to and around Kangaroo Island. You see, we originally thought Kangaroo Island would be walkable, hikeable, heck, possibly bikeable. In fact, we were informed by several people that it was pretty much only driveable. So we were either going to have to hitch on and pay for an official tour, or rent a car.

After a couple late night walks to the bus station Sunday night to talk with SeaLink (operators of the coach and ferry to KI), we arrived Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. at the bus station to catch the coach, and then ferry, to Kangaroo Island. Once on the island, we preceded to Budget, where we had decided to rent a car. Of course, there was no one there. When we called, they said the only car available was, of course, on the other side of the island. After several phone calls, a missed transfer bus, and a nice Budget employee, we finally got our rental. We threw all our gear in, and proceeded to Vivonne Bay, where we were going to camp. First, though, we had a stop at Seal Bay.

Seal Bay was, pretty much as the name indicates, a bay with a ton of New Zealand fur seals. While that may not sound like much, it was awesome! The guide took us right on to the beach, and we were within twenty-thirty feet of the seals. They were fighting, and playing, and could have cared less that we were there. Holly had a blast watching them so close up.

From there, we headed to Vivonne Bay, where we got to set our tent up on an overhang right above the beach, overlooking the ocean. We couldn’t have paid for a better view to go to sleep to, and it was free (though the pain in my back from hauling the tent on my pack halfway across the world begs to differ about the free part). Between, seals, koalas, “Remarkable Rocks”, “Admirals Arch”, and a ton more kangaroos, Kangaroo Island was an awesome experience.

The funniest thing that happened though involved my “Salt Water Coffee”. When we first set up camp, we needed water. There were no spickets near the site, so we started back up towards the road. We stopped first, though, at the restrooms. I decided that it would be a bright idea just to fill all of our water containers, including to bottles, a camelpack, and a five-gallon camp shower, with water from the bathroom sink. Free water, right??

When we got back to camp, I immediately started boiling some on the fire to make some coffee. In the mean time, I grabbed one of the bottles for a quick swig to wash down a power bar I’d just consumed.

ZOINKS!

Instantly, the water hit my lips and I knew that something was amiss. Alas, after a second, much smaller sip, it was confirmed that we had filled everything with salt water. Not to be deterred, I finished boiling the water and tried to make the best of it. The best of it, sadly, still tasted like nasty coffee with salt water. It was quickly thrown out, along with my dreams of campfire coffee. At least until the next night, when we bought some water from the store.

The Australian Hospitality occurred just this morning, Wednesday at about 8:00 a.m. We broke camp before dawn, taking our chances with darting kangaroos on the roads (the deer of Australia), to try to make the 8:30 a.m. ferry, which we needed to catch because that was our only way of ensuring of catching the connecting coach and getting to Adelaide in time to be on the bus headed to Melbourne tonight. We made it to the dock around 8:05, and I quickly bought our two tickets. Thinking we had plenty of time, we went back up to the rental car, took it and filled it with gas, then parked, and grabbed our packs out. At this point, it’s 8:21 a.m, and we’re only a quick two-minute walk to the dock. As we rounded the corner of the road, however, Holly froze in her tracks. The ferry was already pulling out! Ten minutes early, almost!

Well, after being informed that we “checked in” at the same time that we bought our ticket, and that they were under no obligation to actually wait till their 8:30 a.m. posted departure time if “everyone is checked in”, that we were basically screwed. We could take the 10:30 a.m. ferry, but no other coaches would be leaving for Adelaide until 8:30 p.m. tonight, way too late to catch our bus to Melbourne. Their suggestion to us? “Ask for a ride.” So what did I do?

I asked for a ride.

To our great, and amazingly pleasant surprise, we got a ride! A fantastically nice Australian named Redman gave us a ride to Adelaide. He lived there, and had been on KI to check on some property he owned. He was more than happy to take Holly, myself, and our ridiculously large hiking packs, to the Adelaide Bus Station. He was great for conversation, and once we were here, he absolutely refused the money we offered him. After the quite rude service we were given from SeaLink, Redman completely saved Australia’s hospitable reputation for us!

Well, now it’s on to Melbourne, and then again on to Syndey, where we’ll get in tomorrow night around 8:00 p.m. That will be our last destination until Sunday morning, when we step onto the plane headed home. We’ve had a blast . . . but we also anxiously await our own bed after two weeks of tent floors and hostel beds.

More to come from Sydney!

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~ by aandhheaton on May 26, 2010.