Wildlife, wine and winding down

Well, my epic Australia trip is finally coming to an end.  On the one hand it truly has felt like I've been away from home for a long time, but on the other hand it is hard to believe that two months has already passed.  So much went into planning this trip and I really couldn't think past it to the point when the trip would be over and I would have to return to reality.  And I'm going to blissfully avoid thinking about that reality for two more days.

I've done a lot since I left the Outback, but I honestly just haven't had the energy to do a post about it.  Two months of moving from hotel to hotel and living out of a suitcase has finally caught up with me and I'm quite simply exhausted.  But it has been a fantastic ride and the exhaustion is completely worth it.

After leaving Alice Springs, I had a quick pit stop in the town of Adelaide for one night before heading on to Kangaroo Island in our rental car.  Apparently summer is the worst time to see animals in the wild.  So, while we got to see a good amount of crazy wildlife at reserves, the number of live animals we saw in the wild was probably matched by the number of dead animals we saw along the roads (which, in fairness, was quite a few).  I thankfully did not hit anything larger than a bird with my car, but I did have to stop on our last morning to let a huge kangaroo slowly hop across the road in front of us.

While the animals were somewhat lacking, the scenery on Kangaroo Island was beautiful.  The aptly named Remarkable Rocks and the tucked away beaches made our visit worthwhile.

Next we headed back to the mainland and up to the Barossa Valley, one of Australia's most famous wine regions.  Unlike the wildlife, the wine did not disappoint.  Between walking, a van tour and a bicycle provided by the cottage where we stayed (no driving for me in wine country!) I think I visited 7 or 8 wineries, all of which offered free tastings of countless varieties of wines.  And the wine was good.  Very, very good.  It's hard not to feel good about life when you're faced with endless free samples of wine...

It was also nice to leave the tour buses behind for a week and get behind the wheel.  Driving is one of the things I miss the most living in New York.  I've only driven in the city once, and you might have to pay me to get me to do it again.  But here, where the roads are uncrowded and the land stretches out for miles around, driving is great.  And after a week driving on the wrong side of the road even felt right.

And now I'm back in Sydney for my last few days.  As touristy as they may be, Sydney Harbour and the Opera House are still some of my favorite sights.  This is especially true at sunset (perhaps my favorite time of day).

And now comes my least favorite part, when I have to pack everything up to head home.  I can't say that I'm looking forward to the roughly 24 hours of travel that lie ahead of me.  It also still blows my mind a little bit that I will be landing in LA earlier in time than when I take off from Sydney.

But before we get to these less fun parts of traveling, I get to enjoy one more glorious day at the beach, soaking up the Australian sun...