From Melbourne, we continued on the train to Adelaide. We had originally put Adelaide on the itinerary for visiting wildlife on Kangaroo Island. Somewhere along the way, we realized that we had already seen a lot of wildlife, so we ditched the two nights on Kangaroo Island, and hiked around Adelaide using public transportation to get to trailheads.
We took "The Overland" train from Melbourne to Adelaide, passing windmills, grain silos, and fields, before finally crossing the Murray River at the aptly named town of Murray Bridge.
Adelaide has hills to the east and ocean to the west. We hiked twice in the hills, Morialta Conservation Park and Cleland National Park, and once along the ocean, all reachable by public transport.
We walked with kangaroos, and spotted koalas up in the trees. Unexpectedly I too fell in love with koalas like millions of others, not only because they are adorable, but also because they are cooperative - they do not run away from you. They spend more than 75% of the time sleeping, making them very easy to spot, and when one returns on the trail, they are still sleeping in the same spot. On each of the two hikes, we spotted five koalas. I was very pleased.
Walking in Morialta Conservation Park using the bus (first below) to get to the trailhead.
Walking in Cleland National Park
We like coastal walks. We try to catch them whenever we can. In Adelaide, we rode the suburban train to the start of the Marion Coastal Walkway, and returned by bus and train. We have never come across a path/trail/walk this posh, with so many stair steps and bridges. I never even imagined this level of investment in public infrastructure. While we didn't spot any whales, we spotted hundreds of dolphins off the coast, very exciting.
