I was thrilled when I heard about the Yorke Peninsula Coastal Adventure. When I read through the brochure I just realized that it was happening on the very next day. When I saw this I was a bit worried as I was to have an exam worth 10% the next week. Eventhough I was a bit worried I rang up my parents to ask whether it was OK for me to go on this tour. Knowing that their only daughter is adventurous and loves to travel they gave me permission at once. So I went home after university all excited and packed for three days.
On the first day of the tour I was asked to be present in front of the Adelaide Convention Centre around 12.30pm to be picked up. Exactly at 12.30pm we left Adelaide to our base in the Innes National Park on the southern tip of the Yorke Peninsula. Innes national Park is famous for its coastal landscapes and the diversity of wildlife habitats.
The scenery on my way to Yorkes
Our tour guides were Jayne and Riko. They were amazing. On our way to the Innes National Park they always kept us informed where we were and interesting information about each place. We arrived at our accommodation around 4pm. We quickly settled down by unloading all our baggage. As soon as we settled down we went for a brief walk. Innes National Park provides a wide variety of recreation opportunities such as bush walking, bird watching, camping, discovering the Aboriginal and European history, photography, surfing and fishing. Jayne and Riko showed us around our accommodation so we could roam around without getting lost the next few days. They showed us an excellent fishing jetty just metres from our accommodation. Next we headed back to our accommodation to have our dinner. The girls were in charge of the salads while the boys were in charge of the BBQ. By the time we finished making the salad and readied the dinner table, the boys arrived with their BBQ meat. When we sat down in the dinner table we were all very hungry after a long day. Then we all had our dinner while talking and getting to know each other and making plans for the next day. We were quite full after the dinner. Then we thought of going out for a walk before dessert and as we had also not seen a single kangaroo for the whole day. So we took some torches and headed outside. We were so careful when we were walking. We all were walking as quiet as possible and were whispering all the time. After 5 or 10 minutes of walking we saw three kangaroos but they hopped away quickly because of the torch light. We returned to our accommodation and Jayne and Riko promised us that we would see plenty more.
After a good night’s sleep we all woke up around 6 o’clock and had our breakfast very quickly. Then we went on more coastal adventures. We walked along the beautiful beaches. We had a good glimpse of a group of dolphins (also called a ‘pod’) and a group of seals. It was a very sunny and nice morning. There were a lot of surfers surfing in the ocean in great big tides among the dolphins. It was nice scenery. We also saw plenty of kangaroos and emus. There were a lot of kangaroos and emus everywhere we watched. Then we all got into the bus and left for more coastal adventures, but unfortunately it started raining. So we had to head back to our accommodation. On our way back we saw an amazing sight. A kangaroo was drinking water from a small rain water puddle on the road. That kangaroo did not move as the bus approached. It took its time to drink water for about two or three minutes. Then it went away. Then we found out that Yorkes had received its first rain after about six months of drought. The poor kangaroo must have being so thirsty for a few months. Then we got back to our accommodation at last. After we had our lunch we had to stay inside as it was raining cats and dogs outside. So we played card games and truth or dare all day long. Then we had our BBQ dinner just like the day before. After we had our dinner we were so full and the rain had finally stopped. So we thought of going to the jetty to try our luck with catching fish using handlines. Inside the accommodation Riko taught us how to use handlines. Then we went to the jetty with handlines even though it was really cold outside. We spent an hour in the jetty but none of us caught a fish. So we decided to return to our accommodation as it was getting cold but Riko said if we woke up in the morning before leaving we could spend some time in the jetty. So we came back to our accommodation and had our desserts quickly and went on to our rooms and packed up our stuff quickly so we could go on fishing next day morning as soon as we woke up.
Surfers
A kangaroo drinking water
A lovely scenery of the ocean
Emu
On the third and final day some of us woke around 6 o’clock and had a quick breakfast and went to the jetty with our handlines. We stayed there for an hour but with no luck. So we headed back to our accommodation and helped the others to clean up. After cleaning up we said good bye to the accommodation and got into the bus. On our way back we stopped on couple more jetties to use our handlines. We caught a couple of fish there but none of them were edible. We were upset that we couldn’t catch any edible fish but we had learnt how to use handlines. Some of the other people showed us what they had caught. They had caught a lot of squid. As we didn’t catch any fish to eat, Jane had to buy us fish and chips from the market. Then we had the highlight of our trip, which was a session with one of the local Adjahdura elders so that we could gain a unique insight into one of the world’s oldest living cultures. Quenten shared his Dreaming stories that explained the landscape, nature and the environment. He showed us the fish traps they used and shells that were thousands of years old. After having a knowledgeable session we headed back to Adelaide.
A squid caught while fishing
The session with one of the local Adjahdura elders
A group photo
It was quite sad to come to the busy city after spending a weekend with only the sound of the ocean but, as a student I have to get on with my studies. It was a great opportunity to get away from my busy life for a weekend so I could relax a bit away from the busy university life. Yorke Peninsula is a great place to visit if you love the ocean.
