thekasumovics

After months of talking and planning, we finally made our way to Canada for the holidays. We were thrilled to spend 4 weeks with family in our hometown on Hamilton, Ontario, and another 5 days in Whistler, BC – a place the Aussies rave about.

I can’t describe the elation we felt being reunited with family at Christmas. It was the first Christmas we’ve spent together since the kids were born. What a treat for those boys to be surrounded by so much love, home cooking, and snow…at least a drizzle of it.

Part 1: Christmas

Our last day on the island and we decided to head north to Stokes Bay, a rocky beach that someone had recommended.

It was a gorgeous spot where we hiked through narrow rocky caverns to the south that opened up to a beautiful remote beach. The kids were thrilled as they came across some shrimp like animals in the water that they proceeded to catch while mum and dad relaxed on the sand.

Our third day we drove to Flinders National Park at the far south west end of the island. We stopped at the visitors centre and as soon as we got out of the car, spotted a koala in a tree! We spent some time at the visitors centre, which had the best geological display of any museum I’ve been to in Australia. I learned that the lumpy orange rock we kept calling ‘brain rock’ was actually laterite, a sedimentary rock with high iron content that indicates a tropical environment. It’s really heavy too! And makes a metallic ‘ding’ noise when you hit it.

We did a short hike in this area of tall gum trees with Maddie and Damian who were on their never ending search for more jumping spiders. Then we headed to our main destinations, the Admiral Arch and the Remarkable Rocks – the highlights of the trip for me.

There were so many fur seals at Admiral Arch! They were adorable to watch splashing about, sliding off rocks, surfing the waves, and having a disagreement or two.

Laterite

Walking towards Admiral Arch

Two fur seals having a go

Off to Remarkable Rocks, more like Spectacular Rocks!

Quite sure this was a highlight for the boys, especially Ethan who ran around exploring this new playground like crazy. Mike and I finally became nervous, being so close to a cliff edge, and reigned the kids in to head home. 

The next day we headed to Seal Bay where we paid to walk through the conservation area, onto the sand where the sea lions were lounging about. It was well worth the fee to be so close to one of the largest colonies of sea lions, approximately 1,000 in total. Apparently people could walk this beach 20 years ago as it was not a conservation area then. However over the past 25 years the sea lion population has declined so the conservation park is very strick with respect to public access. Nevertheless we got nice and close enough to see these  cuties. They were more active than they appear in these photos, making quick studies to towards the ocean before flopping on the ground in exhaustion. We also saw a mum coax her young into the water for a bit of swim training – adorbs!

This photo shoes sea lion pup tracks!

As it was a rather windy day, we opted for a more sheltered activity rather than the sand dune surfing we had planned. So off we went to the Kelly Hill Caves. As we had some time before the tour we embarked on a 20 minute hike through the forest of gums. Tomas spotted an echidna and Ethan spotted a frog -very unusual finds!

Catching insects, or trying to!

And off to the cave tour! These caves are formed from groundwater moving upwards and causing a collapse of the limestone rock creating a cavernous space where stalactites and stalagmites begin their life. Something I have not seen in my previous caving experience! Apparently the caves at this site extend for 7 km towards to coast! Incredible! Also amazing that there are not more cases if land surface collapsing in that area.

Our darling family finally made a long awaited trip to kangaroo island. South Australia. We had planned to go last year but as it’s so challenging to get there we cancelled our trip.

This time we were fully prepared for the 1 hour flight to Adelaide, 1.5 hour drive to Cape Jervis and 1 hour ferry to the island. Whew!! A logistical nightmare but we’ll worth the effort!

Our house was gorgeous, situated at island beach (not the most original name!). It was so quiet we could hear leaves crumple as wallabies slowly walked by munching on plants. They also liked fruit, which we found out after placing a few apple slices and grapes on the ground for them. And they were super cute to watch while they ate.

The beach was lovely, completely void of people. The boys dug in the wet sand for yabies, jumped in piles of dried seaweed and collected shells, sea sponges, and the biggest cuttlefish bones I’ve ever seen!

Tomas has 27 chess awards that I could find around the house. He traded in 20 for a trophy.

Our first holiday dinner of the season with dear friends – we’ve spent at least part of the Christmas holidays with these lovely folks every year since we arrived in Sydney.

View from Bondi Beach

All kitted out in his school gear – yup, I think he’s ready to start!