fleurieu peninsula

 

I haven't written in a while, I've been a bit lazy when it comes to writing so I'm going to try to do a quick catch up.

Following my trip up north I returned to the chilly south and the Fleurieu peninsula to relax for a week while I waited for my friend Quentin to make his way to the mainland from Tasmania. After my late night flight into Adelaide I spent the night in the city before stopping at a few stores and heading south. I rested at Onkaparinga National park for a two days while I waited to see what the weather would do. I spent my days in nearby coffee shops chatting with locals and enjoying some relaxation before I finally decided to head to Port Elliot on the coast. Port Elliot is a cute little town overlooking the southern ocean which attracts surfers and scuba divers in the summer months, during the winter, its much colder though. Most of the week I was in Port Elliott I was plagued by winter winds and rains  with some dreary days. I however did enjoy hanging out with my English roommate, going some really really good french-australian bakeries, and sitting in my hostel overlooking the stormy ocean. On one of the clear days I went for a boat tour in hopes of seeing some of the first humpback whales migrating up to the area for the mating season. I was not so fortunate, but I did see dozens of dolphins which played curiously along with the boat. It was absolutely stunning. We also saw endangered sea lions, which only a few remain in the area after the fur and whaling industry took out many, along with the sharks it attracted and the mining of the granite islands. I also saw fur seals sleeping on the rocks like fuzzy little sand bags. It was a marvelous day and I had a great time chatting with the other people on the boat and enjoying the beauty of the area.

After a few days relaxing in the hostel I decided to head to deep creek national park for a few days to enjoy some solitude and nature. The days were cool and beautiful. I walked a few lovely trails on the cliffs overlooking the ocean enjoying the peace and solitude. I headed back to Port Elliot the night before Qientin joined me where I went to an ocean film festival. The films were so beautiful. A few of my favorites included a movie about the first woman (a Aussie woman) to sail solo around Antarctica. The first time she attempted the journey halfway through the trip the mast of her sail boat broke in a large storm and punctured a hole in the hull of her boat which she had to repair in the storm while holding on to the outside of her boat with no teathers. Her persistence was incredible, and a few years later she attempted again and broke the record for solo trips around Antarctica. Not only did she do it, nearly, die, and keep moving forward, she went back and tried again and succeeded. It was so inspiring and beautiful. The other two films I really loved were one which had no dialogue and filmed inside waves in Hawaii. A few surfers were featured too, but the focus was the filmography and the filmography was absolutely stunning. The other film I loved was cute. It was about a surfer guy who adopted a shelter dog, one day he came back to the beach and the dog wasn't tied up and he looked out on the horizon and it had gotten on someone else's surfboard. After that he started taking his dog surfing and taking it to a yearly dog surf competition. It was very cute.

Overall, it was a nice relaxed week. I enjoyed my time, although I think I was still a bit melancholy about my family having left and missing them a bit still. I made the best of it though through lots of good adventures.