Without a doubt the most restless sleep I have ever had in my entire life!  I was constantly waking to check my phone for the time thinking my alarm wouldn’t go off and the dreams I had didn’t help either.  They consisted of me not waking up in time to catch the bus, not being able to fit everything in my bag, and starving.  At a point one of my dreams seemed so real that I was a little surprised when I woke up to see that the time wasn’t 6:45 but 3:23 instead.  I woke 3 minutes before my alarm went off and decided that’s as good ahead start as any.  Trying to get ready and not wake my three roommates was extremely difficult.  I ended up dragging everything out into the hall and packing it there because I felt so bad about the noise I was trying not to make.  I got very hot very fast and had to take my shirt off.  As my luck would have it a guy going to Kangaroo Island came out into the hall to find me in a sports bra, sweatpants, and my big Timberlands on.  Of course all my stuff had to be strewn across the hall way as well.  I had to help him navigate through my stuff and he was very careful not to step onto my bra that was placed in the middle of everything. 

After a brief time in the bathroom I was off to the central bus station with nothing in my stomach and already sweaty clothes; it wasn’t even that warm out.  I met the same guy at the bus station and we got to talking.  He is from the UK and is here on a university exchange to intern at a hospital in Melbourne after he finishes his tour.  He has very blonde hair, a slight English accent and glasses.  The only thing I neglected to get was his name… but I figured you guys would like to know if I was meeting anyone at all on my trip so this is the best I can do at the moment.

On my 2-hour bus ride I was able to cool down and sleep for a bit before we got to the more scenic part of the ride.  We drove past barley fields that where 15km long, multiple red wine fields and olive orchards that now replace the almond orchards.  It was very beautiful as the sun was just starting to come up over the hills lighting up the yellow fields of barley making them golden. 

There seemed to be a very distinct cloud cover as the bus entered the part of the ride where there only seemed to be rolling hills and animal farms.  It was very exciting seeing the rolling hills because I had seen them in the film about volcanic activity in Mt. Gambier.  There were very fluffy sheep and hundreds of cattle mixed in with kangaroo that jumped away when the driver honked his horn. 

The bus driver referred to himself as a scallywag because he is the only bus driver that stops at the bakery on his way to the ferry.  I was so happy to hear that because I hadn’t eaten since noon the previous day and was famished!  I ordered a lovely vegetarian pizza thingy that was so delicious and washed it down with a well-deserved bottle of water.

I am on the ferry now and it is a very rocking crossing; the swells are huge and it is raining.   I will be very happy once I get to the sanctuary and hope they will let me shower my nastyness away.  If they don’t I think I’ll just raise my arms which will most likely persuade them otherwise.  The ferry ride is 45 minutes and my eyes are getting heavy, the rocking seems to be putting me to sleep.

An hour drive later to Kingscote by myself and I have met Cat.  She is the new manager of Hansons Bay Sanctuary.  I got do my own grocery shopping that the sanctuary pays for, don’t worry mom I got lots of veggies and beans.  The closest town to the sanctuary is an hour away, which means we have to get what we need and hope it will last until next Thursday.  I slept most of the way to the sanctuary except when the driver when to THE Hansons Bay instead of the sanctuary.  He was driving like a madman down a dirt road covered in potholes!  After he realized we weren’t at the sanctuary we turned around and I got to see my first echidna digging for food!  It was very exciting.

Unpacking and making myself feel at home was quick to do, but I am not sure how at home I feel yet.  I am the only volunteer here other than a lady who is in her late sixties.  All the other people who are close to my age stay in the staff member housing.  So far I have met Megan who is from Whales, she arrived with me today, as well as Claire.  She is from Toronto and has been volunteering at the sanctuary for 9 months.  She says that the island is absolutely beautiful!  It’s a little cloudy at the moment so I don’t really see what she means.  The drive here though was stunning; all farmland and fields that stretch for miles.

We got a walking tour of some of the grounds by David.  He is in his late forties and will be staying in the volunteer house with Ninna (sixty year old, I think that’s her name) and I.  I have now received my volunteer t-shirt and have learned that I am only allowed one 4 minute shower a day…this is going to be tough!

Unfortunately I am now starting to feel a bit homesick because it doesn’t seem like there is much here to do.  A new volunteer named Michaela will be coming next Thursday so maybe I’ll have some one my own age to hangout with at the house.  Hopefully I wont have any trouble making friends with the staff members who are a couple years older than me and we can find something to do.

I am trying my best to look on the bright side of everything when I don’t feel so happy.  Tonight at 7 which is in 2 hours, I will assist in a night tour.  We should see more koalas, more kangaroos, possums and wallabies.  I get to go ahead and do the spotting of things with my big a$$ torch.  For now I will decided on my shower and watch Pokemon.