A CHANGE OF PLANS – it just wasn’t meant to be

Sunday – today was supposed to include our day of flying over KI with the doors off.  To soar the skies with no doors is a rather exhilarating experience and having done this in Kenya I was thoroughly looking forward to our aerial adventure and getting some quite ‘REMARKABLE’ photos of the rocks and the island.  Alas it was not meant to be.

Jonathan has been trying to contact our pilot for the last day or two just to get everything sorted but has not able to reach him.  This morning he has notification that our pilot was in intensive care in Adelaide and would not be able to take us up so to speak.  Unfortunately he is the only pilot on the island that can do our sort of trip so that part has been cancelled.  Jonathan and The Lady have been trying to work out something else we can do, so after the initial disappointment and hoping that our pilot gets well soon, we try and get some enthusiasm back in the day.

It is our last day at Vivonne House, so the packing cha cha begins again and even though there is not much to pack it is still a pain to make sure everything is in the bags and nothing is left behind.

I have not had much time to take photos of our house while we cavorted around so with the few spare minutes while everyone gets ready – here are some. It is tucked away from the road and is very comfortable.

We have our last breakfast of pancakes and then it’s time to get on the bus and head off for our first adventure – Little Sahara.  A heritage area, naturally occurring sand dune system roughly covering two square kilometres, the dunes vary in size with plenty of small dunes and the highest dune is approximately 70 metres above sea level.  There is a place where you can hire sand boards and they will show you how to experience the thrills and spills of sand boarding.

We are here for a short visit and just looking how high they are and imagining the walk up I decide to stay safe and sound at the bottom, the temperature is rising with every minute so no climbing for me thank you.

We do have one fellow in the group – Dave – who decides to run to the top – show off – and it’s a bit like the scene out of Star Wars where C3PO is waving after having landed on Tatooine and has been deserted by R2D2.

Apparently he being Dave – runs marathons and does all that fitness stuff – let’s just hope he doesn’t have a medical episode either up there or when he hurtles back down.

It’s much better just to womble around or lay down in the sand and take photos.  It is a wondrous place, all this sand out in the middle of nowhere – –

We see tracks in the sand and Jonathan says they are kangaroo and koala tracks.  What koala in its right mind would walk around here?  Still, I suppose at night it is cool and they have to get around from one place to another.

After we empty all the sand out of our shoes we get back to our water bottles on the bus and head for morning Tea / early Lunch at Rustic Blue Cafe.  Jonathan is still trying to organize things for us to do – apparently more Dolphin cruising is out of the equation because the water is too rough.

We will just stay at Rustic Blue for a while and enjoy our coffee and food.

After that we can wander around the place looking at some Kangaroos, birds, water features etc.  There is also a large shed full of old memorabilia – cars, trucks, farm equipment, tools, bottles and they are all very interesting.

We also have the chance to wander around the lovely tranquil garden with lavenders and beautiful lush plants and outside the fence there is loads of open space for the wildlife who can enjoy the cool waters of the dam further down the property.

As we are waiting for our next adventure, the owner of the cafe tells us that there is a Wedgetail Eagle’s nest down past the dam and if we want to go and have a look we may see the family at home – it is only a moderate walk so we head off.  We see some nesting plovers who get most upset if we walk too close – they make such a noise and dance and prance around all over the place.

Finally we arrive at the nest but shock horror – the baby seems to have flown out too early and is floundering on the ground.  Don’t get too upset, he is a decent size but is unable to fly back up.  What is his misfortune is our good luck – we can take loads of great photos.

Mr Rustic Blue has promised us that he will keep an eye on him and if things are not going well he will contact the Raptor Park people so that makes us feel a lot better. Baby Wedgetail continues to flounder around but he seems to be OK.

Every now and again he gets rather adventurous and tries out his wings, but this usually ends up with him nearly flat on his beak.

Mr Mirrorless is staying well out of the way (I think he has taken the hint) and everyone gets some great photos.  Baby W does not seem to be worried about us as we are quiet and move slowly so as not to frighten him.

After spending a lot of time here we leave him to himself and hope that Mum and Dad are not too far away and can get him back up to safety in the nest.

If they can’t then I am sure Mr Rustic Blue will make sure he will be looked after with a great amount of love and care.