The drive from Port Fairy to Adelaide was pleasant. The highways are good two lane, but there is little traffic, and Australian drivers are courteous. I haven't come across one that goes more than 10 km/ h over the limit. There are also fewer trucks, and lots of passing lanes.
The country side is quite flat, lots of beef and sheep farms. We also passed through wine country. The state of South Australia is the center of Australia's wine regions. The vineyards are huge; they dwarf our Niagara farms.
We stopped in a small town, Keith, and had the worst cup of coffe I have had in a long time, and it was 4.50. Where is a Tim Horton when you need one? We also bought a couple of bananas, at 1.50 a pound.
Sandy spotted our first kangaroo. A group of 4 were hopping among a herd of sheep.
Australia has a human population of 23 million.
There are 50 million kangaroos.
A female kangaroo is always pregnant. She carries fertilized eggs, which are "frozen".
A kangaroo baby is the size of a lima bean when it is born.it has to crawl, on its own, from the birth canal, up the belly of the mother, and attaches itself to the teat, in the pouch. It spends 9 months there. As soon as it leaves the pouch the next fertilized egg is "unfrozen" and the process is repeated. Very efficient.
There are 110 million sheep.
There are also 9 million feral camels. These were brought in as work animals, in the 19 th century. Once machines took over the camels were left on their own, and adapted very well. They are competing with cattle for food, and are now considered a threat. They also reproduce at a good rate. The population doubles every 9 years.
And then there are the rabbits. An English gentleman brought over 24 from England I the 1800's, for the purpose of hunting. By 1920 there were 10 BILLION of the little creatures hoppping around. A major extermination, using a virus, reduced the population by over 90%, but some rabbits were immune, and at this time all we know is that the population increased by a few thousand, while I am writing this blog.
The native species are declining, mainly because of the competition for living space and food.
So much for the science lesson of the day.
Within a half hour , or so, of Adelaide the country side became quite hilly, and very lush. The B&B, where we are staying is on one of the hills, callerd Adelaide Hills. It is a few km outside of Adelaide. The setting is beautiful. The road in is tricky. 2 km of one lane dirt lane, just like a lane into a cottage up north. I really don't know what would happen if you met someone. The house is a 150 year old building. The owners have a modern addition, we have the entire old cottage. Beautiful!
There is pond on the property, and the gardens are lovely.
For dinner we drove out to a local pub. We ate on the balcony, which has a gorgeous view over Adelaide below. It also faces west, so we had a great view of the setting sun. On top of that the food was gourmet.
A great introduction to Adelaide.
Ralf
The country side is quite flat, lots of beef and sheep farms. We also passed through wine country. The state of South Australia is the center of Australia's wine regions. The vineyards are huge; they dwarf our Niagara farms.
We stopped in a small town, Keith, and had the worst cup of coffe I have had in a long time, and it was 4.50. Where is a Tim Horton when you need one? We also bought a couple of bananas, at 1.50 a pound.
Sandy spotted our first kangaroo. A group of 4 were hopping among a herd of sheep.
Australia has a human population of 23 million.
There are 50 million kangaroos.
A female kangaroo is always pregnant. She carries fertilized eggs, which are "frozen".
A kangaroo baby is the size of a lima bean when it is born.it has to crawl, on its own, from the birth canal, up the belly of the mother, and attaches itself to the teat, in the pouch. It spends 9 months there. As soon as it leaves the pouch the next fertilized egg is "unfrozen" and the process is repeated. Very efficient.
There are 110 million sheep.
There are also 9 million feral camels. These were brought in as work animals, in the 19 th century. Once machines took over the camels were left on their own, and adapted very well. They are competing with cattle for food, and are now considered a threat. They also reproduce at a good rate. The population doubles every 9 years.
And then there are the rabbits. An English gentleman brought over 24 from England I the 1800's, for the purpose of hunting. By 1920 there were 10 BILLION of the little creatures hoppping around. A major extermination, using a virus, reduced the population by over 90%, but some rabbits were immune, and at this time all we know is that the population increased by a few thousand, while I am writing this blog.
The native species are declining, mainly because of the competition for living space and food.
So much for the science lesson of the day.
Within a half hour , or so, of Adelaide the country side became quite hilly, and very lush. The B&B, where we are staying is on one of the hills, callerd Adelaide Hills. It is a few km outside of Adelaide. The setting is beautiful. The road in is tricky. 2 km of one lane dirt lane, just like a lane into a cottage up north. I really don't know what would happen if you met someone. The house is a 150 year old building. The owners have a modern addition, we have the entire old cottage. Beautiful!
There is pond on the property, and the gardens are lovely.
For dinner we drove out to a local pub. We ate on the balcony, which has a gorgeous view over Adelaide below. It also faces west, so we had a great view of the setting sun. On top of that the food was gourmet.
A great introduction to Adelaide.
Ralf
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