This week we visited Victor Harbor, Granite Island, and Cleland Wildlife Conservation Park at Mount Lofty. The trip was part of the Orientation Week student programs.
We started the day in Victor Harbor, which is about forty minutes from the university by bus. Victor Harbor is popular with tourists and has restaurants and shops lining the beach. There is a quarter mile long footbridge that connects Granite Island to Victor Harbor. Granite Island is a small island known for its hiking trails and scenic vistas. During the Australian winter, penguins nest near the island. Because of the lack of trees on Granite Island, the heat was almost unbearable when we went. We hiked to the highest point on Granite Island and the view was great. Because there were so few trees, we had a 360 degree view of the island and the surrounding harbor.
In the afternoon, we went to Cleland Wildlife Conservation Park to feed koalas and kangaroos. After seeing wild kangaroos during the Great Ocean Road trip, it was strange seeing how docile the kangaroos at the wildlife park were. They ate right out of our hand and stayed still even when there were large groups of humans around them. The koalas were cute, but the park charged around $35 AUD for the quintessential Australian tourist shot: holding a koala. Other animals we saw included Tasmanian devils and echidnas.