Suzanne, the 2 standard poodles and I, spent several days at American River on Kangaroo Island with Suzanne’s sister, (Barbara Heath) and her husband (Malcolm Enright) who had flown down from Brisbane.
The days on the island were gentle, balmy late autumn ones. A storm hit the island just as I was leaving on the late Sealink ferry on Wednesday evening.
On Saturday I arrived on the island on Saturday on the 10am ferry from Cape Jervis with the poodles to open up the cottage. That early morning arrival gave me time to go exploring American River with the poodles. I started with places that I was familiar with from previous trips. The last trip with friends was 4 years ago in 2014, whilst the last photo trip was in 2013. Redbanks was one of these familiar places. Unfortunately, this time, the tide was high and it was very windy on Backstairs Passage. So we went back to the American River village and walked along the foreshore of the lagoon towards Ballast Head. This was protected from the gusty south-westerly winds.
American River was quite busy. Chinese tourists were having lunch at the Oyster Farm shop, people were fishing along the foreshore and in boats, others were at the Deck Cafe whilst there were a number of camper vans parked in the camping ground.
Clearly, American River is being discovered by tourists. There were new tennis courts, the Independence schooner was being rebuilt, there was a new general store, newly built holiday houses, and new seats on the foreshore. The proposed new ferry service, which is just around the corner, is based at American River. This holiday village is no longer the sleepy hollow it was in 2014.
Suzanne, Barbara and Malcolm arrived around 6pm and our brief holiday with Suzanne’s family started.