Up early again for what promised to be the best day yet. A start of sand boarding and then a swim with Sea lions! Oh yes it was awesome! We actually started by visiting some cliffs with a cave and generally a very scenic look to it, which we spent ages at, I was in no hurry being a little tired from staying up with Angelica so I didn’t object but eventually we were dragged away to hurl ourselves down sand dunes.
Ok so for those that didn’t guess, sand boarding is hurling yourself off a sand dune with a board underneath you. It was great fun; I managed to take a little chunk out of my finger somehow, which prompted amusement and patronising comments from Angelica when I complained. Most of us had a go and much screaming ensued so at least I wasn’t being the most girly. I had as many goes as I could and at the end raced with an English chappie who was Woofing at Coodlie Park. He won.
Shaking sand out of every possible hiding place we then headed off to do the most amazing thing I have done yet. The guy who runs the Sea lion and dolphin swim has been friends with those critters for 18 years, a huge amount of time (to me) in which he has probably had the perfect life, nothing quite compares to the feeling of wonder, being in the water with those Sea lions and 18 years of it, what a thing to do.
It was freezing on the boat; I think the general feeling about getting in the water was one of dread, however when we jumped in we were shocked by how warm it was. In fact much warmer than being on the boat and we were swimming for an hour in the water, only getting out when we were thoroughly wrinkly. Half way through the guy who owns the company jumped in, and then we got to see the magic happen. Ok so I said it was warm, by that I meant warm in comparison to an ice cube, or the wind up on that boat, so I found it very surprising to see him swimming about in just his bathers. He just floated down there underwater for ages, with the Sea lions right next to him. Not only did he seem to be able to hold his breath for about half an hour, he also was so comfortable with the Sea lions and they with him, it was like they were his kids. Nic damn her, discovered the secret to getting a Sea lion to kiss her, and me with my wonder photography managed to get a very crappy photo of what was an epic sight! The way the Sea lions swam around us, showing off by swimming circles around us land beings and the way they were so cute and funny looking made the whole experience totally magical. Nic and I just sat there on the boat after, shivering and grinning at each other like we’d just won the lottery and learned how to fly at the same time!
Unfortunately we didn’t find any dolphins, we looked, and were poured hot chocolate and tea whilst we searched as so many of us looked as though we might be hypothermic, we had after all been in the water for and hour when normally groups only spend about 15 minutes in. It got so bad I tried to sunbath by hanging off the side of the boat, then going to the front and eventually just using Angelica for warmth and I think at one point we both sandwiched Nic as she was turning blue. The last thing on the agenda was to visit some rocks that were supposedly millions of years old, though I always do wonder how exactly people know this. They were good climbing anyway, and I ended up taking my top of in the sun, seeing as it was wet it was actually keeping me cold.
I said last thing on the agenda however Hassie had one more in store for us; a wildlife tour of his land, I went on the later one with my 2 favourite girls and Nic was so cold I had to keep an arm round her the whole way. We saw a lot of Kangaroos, one of them hopped a fence whilst Hassie chased it in the car, and there were also wombats. Hassie led the way whilst we wandered over some of the empty wombat holes and we were told to tread carefully else we might end up in a wombats house, then later we drove up to one with 2 wombats that were out and about, they were smaller than I had imagined. Small and solid, dark brown and almost like newborn puppies, they have a hilarious defence mechanism, which utilizes their ‘butts of steel’, and they are nocturnal like so much of Australia’s wildlife.
That night we had beds! Man the excitement was overwhelming, not only showers and toilets of a civilized standard but beds too! They were dorm beds however so I presumed sharing with Angelica would have been out of the question. Although the French guy in my room did use earplugs...
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