last day

this is the estuary at the front of andrew and di’s property, winding its way into the ocean, as the sun sets over our holiday on king island, the last few days since my most recent post have been a blur of activity, we have explored the island from the northern tip at cape wickham to the southern most extremity at stokes point. we have walked beautiful beaches, clambered over rugged piles of lichen decorated rock formations and driven the beach tracks of this amazing island.

we have eaten wild rocket picked from the foot of the wickham lighthouse, local wallaby, king island cheeses, quail eggs, king island beef, wild water cress, parsley and salty succulents, freshly caught lobster, abalone and warrener shells and we have picked plump, fresh rasberries off the vines, its been a foodie dream and there is no question that KI deserves its reputation for great produce.

all the people we have met have been wonderfully hospitable, friendly and generous, its not hard to see why di and andrew fell in love with the lifestyle!

we had a fabulous day for di’s birthday starting with eggs florentine with wild water cress for breakfast and then a trip up to cape wickham and dissapointment bay before returning to yellow rock for dinner with friends tim & claire, and claire’s parents chris and louise. i cooked abalone slices in butter and garlic for a starter, followed by a chilli spiced mince abalone on rice and the finale of lobster salad with baby potatoes and wild local rocket with a lemon, garlic and butter dressing.

we spent a day exploring the south of the island, visiting surprise bay and stokes point, seeing a huge copperhead snake and a few furry echidnas before ending up at grassy (the other town on the island), for dinner. we got the keys to the sailing club and used their bbq to cook dinner and ate sitting beside their wonderful warm wood fire with friends of the blakes, john and lyn, before watching the fairy penguins make their nightly trek out of the ocean and back to their nests.

yesterday sal and kai and i had a day on our own and explored the kelp factory and kelp walk on the coast by currie before having lunch in a cosy cafe in currie and then heading home via the chesse factory for a tasting and stock up before an explore along porkys beach and heading home to another meal of bbq wallaby and a few glasses of fine red wine!

we will leave the island with many happy memories and a much better understanding of what attracted the blakes this far south! i think we really got in the rythym of our gap year here too, i feel more disconnected from my previous life and engaged in what lies ahead for the next 12 months!

thank you andrew and di for so generously sharing your little piece of paradise with us, your amazing home is better than anything we had expected, far surpassing the expectations created by the tv show and your own descriptions and photos! thanks for all the delicious food, cold beer and great wine.