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00:00SBS wishes to advise members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
00:05that the following program contains images, voices or names of deceased persons and may cause distress.
00:23Woohoo!
00:24Squeeze the juice out of this road trip.
00:26We're in Darwin!
00:27Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:29Look at that.
00:32The great Australian road trip.
00:34I love driving.
00:36For generations, it's been an intrinsic part of Aussie culture.
00:42Now here's a happy, relaxed family, all set for a blessed Sunday afternoon drive.
00:49And still to this day, if you really want to experience this great southern land, you've got to hit the road.
00:56I love it so much!
00:59In this series...
01:00Wow!
01:01Food guru Melissa Leon.
01:02I am the Lotus Queen!
01:04And comedian Nazeem Hussain.
01:06People who are in comedy, there's something wrong with them.
01:10Along with writer and performer Steph Tisdell.
01:12Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!
01:15And me, Claudia Carvin.
01:16You'd look like an idiot.
01:18Cruise along some of the country's most epic roads.
01:22That's unbelievable!
01:25To uncover extraordinary places.
01:28Look at that light.
01:30There's a grog!
01:32Reveal a side of Australia that's often unseen.
01:35Rawr!
01:36I like that because that isn't really that well known.
01:39And head off the beaten track.
01:41Woo!
01:43Below red dirt.
01:45Because it's as much about the journey...
01:48As it is the destination.
01:52It can't get much better than that.
01:55I love you!
01:56Yay!
01:58This is Great Australian Road Trips.
02:01This time, Steph and I are on a South Australian road trip.
02:09From Adelaide to Kangaroo Island.
02:12Because I've always wanted to get up close to the seals.
02:15And experience the iconic, remarkable rocks.
02:25So we're here.
02:26In the festival state.
02:27I love Adelaide.
02:29I love Adelaide too.
02:31It's flat.
02:32It's easy to ride a bike around.
02:33Great theatres.
02:34I did a theatre production here.
02:35It's at the Dunstan Playhouse.
02:38Oh yes.
02:39Great audiences.
02:40Great beaches.
02:41I've done several fringe festivals here as well.
02:44It's cultural.
02:45It's good food.
02:46Excellent food.
02:49And it's surrounded by all these beautiful hills.
02:51Yes.
02:52And they make amazing wine.
02:58We're starting this road trip in Adelaide.
03:00The city of churches.
03:01Before taking the scenic route to the quaint village of Harndorf.
03:05Known for its rich Bavarian culture.
03:09Then we'll cruise through the world-renowned wine region of McLaren Vale.
03:13And continue south to the Florier Peninsula.
03:17Named after a French explorer.
03:19Before boarding the ferry to Kangaroo Island.
03:21There we'll travel to Seal Bay to see its colony of seals.
03:26Before feasting our eyes at the natural marvel that is Remarkable Rocks.
03:31I'm excited though too.
03:32Like, I'll be totally honest.
03:33I'd never heard of the Florier Peninsula.
03:34You pronounce that so pretty.
03:35Florier.
03:36Florier.
03:37Florier.
03:38Florier.
03:39Florier.
03:40What?
03:41Florier.
03:42Florier.
03:43Florier.
03:44What?
03:45Florier.
03:46People are so sexy because they get to say words like...
03:48Florier.
03:49Florier.
03:50Florier.
03:51Florier.
03:52I'm so excited that we get to do this together because I couldn't imagine a more fun person
03:56to drive around with because you love driving.
03:58Yes, I love driving.
04:00Florier.
04:01And you've got a wicked sense of humor.
04:02There's a song that gets stuck in my head every time I'm here.
04:05It just goes round and round in my head and I love the song and I love the musician.
04:09And there's actually a lane named after him here because he's so famous.
04:13Adelaide, Adelaide, Adelaide, Adelaide.
04:26Paul Kelly is not the only Adelaide-born legend to have a lane named after him.
04:31There's also a lane named after Cole Chisel.
04:34But well before these Adelaide artists hit the scene, a moment in music history was made
04:40right here.
04:41Well you've just seen the Beatles here at December 5th.
04:44On the 12th of June 1964, the Beatles touched down in Adelaide.
04:48Their first stop on their one and only Australian tour.
04:51Mysterio has really taken hold of the crowd now.
04:53They've seen their idols.
04:54Some 300,000 people crammed the city to catch a glimpse of the Fab Four, which at the time
05:00was almost half the entire population of Adelaide.
05:05I'd love to catch up with Mitchell Butell again, who directed the play that I did here, The
05:12Goat or Who Is Sylvia, which is a really wild play that we did here.
05:17OK.
05:18That's where we're going, is it not?
05:19Yes.
05:20We're going to be able to meet him.
05:21He's beautiful.
05:22He's a beautiful man.
05:23And he has lived in Adelaide for six years, so he knows it really well.
05:25It's his home.
05:26Hello, hello.
05:27Hey Mitchell.
05:28Welcome back to Adelaide.
05:29Nice to see you.
05:30Nice to see you.
05:31How are you doing mate?
05:32Nice to see you.
05:33Good.
05:34So we're meeting on this rainbow walk.
05:35The rainbow walk, the pride walk, which they put here in 2016 to commemorate Adelaide
05:52being the first place in Australia to legalise homosexuality.
05:55Amazing.
05:56I did not know that.
05:57I don't reckon many people would know that, would they?
05:59No, Adelaide, the first for many things.
06:01First place to legalise abortion, first place in Australia to give women the vote.
06:06Really?
06:07An incredibly progressive town.
06:08So this is a great, you know, testament to that.
06:11I like that, because that isn't really that well known.
06:13No, you'd think it would be Sydney or Melbourne, like that would be the perception.
06:16That's it.
06:17And you look at the same colours too.
06:20I know.
06:21You're very pride march there too.
06:22I am.
06:23I'm very bright and colourful, yes.
06:24And I have recently joined the community.
06:26Oh great.
06:27Yes, I'm bisexual and proud of it.
06:30Welcome.
06:31And now, look at this.
06:32The pride walk has a timeline stenciled onto the path to reflect major reforms in South
06:38Australia, including it being the first state to decriminalise homosexuality in 1975.
06:45It's a permanent symbol that recognises the contribution of the LGBT plus community to
06:51Adelaide's cultural diversity.
06:53So how long have you lived and worked here?
06:55I've lived here for six years now.
06:57I've worked here on and off for about 30 years.
06:59But I've been running the State Theatre Company of South Australia.
07:02Deadly.
07:03Which has been awesome.
07:04And doing a brilliant job.
07:05Well, when we have wonderful people like you coming to work for us, it's brilliant.
07:08But you do productions here that then travel all around Australia.
07:11That's right.
07:12So, like the goat that we, Claudine and I worked on, started here, then went to Sydney Theatre
07:15Company, which was phenomenally successful in both places.
07:18But not as good as here.
07:20Is that right?
07:21Look, she was good everywhere.
07:22She's, you know, different every night.
07:24That's the secret of a good actor.
07:26Well, shall we head down to the river?
07:27Yeah.
07:28Let's do it.
07:29Okay.
07:39Crossing the Torrens, or Yarrawiripari, as it's called by the Kaurna people.
07:44This beautiful, beautiful river here.
07:46And this is where we did Sylvia, the goat play.
07:52I loved it.
07:53I called it a health retreat, didn't I?
07:55A theatrical health spa.
07:57Yeah.
08:00Adelaide audiences love live performance.
08:04It's a town that really supports its artistic kind of work here.
08:11Yeah.
08:12And people get really involved because they're pretty, what's the word?
08:15Erudite, because the festival's here, the fringe is here.
08:18Sophisticated.
08:19Sophisticated.
08:20Worldless.
08:21That's the word I want, yeah.
08:22The Playhouse, it's actually 50 years old this year.
08:25So, yeah, Don Dunstan got it all happening 50 years ago.
08:29Don Dunstan was one of Australia's most visionary politicians,
08:33with a lifelong passion for the arts and education.
08:37Many of his reforms in sex discrimination, Aboriginal land rights and consumer protection were the first of their kind in Australia.
08:47And he also had great hair.
08:50How gorgeous is Mitchell Butel?
08:56Amazing.
08:57So talented, so clever.
09:00That was such a great experience, being directed by him and doing that play.
09:05What do you think makes a good director, just out of curiosity?
09:08They're your first audience member, so being able to sort of hold up a mirror and be articulate about it.
09:17Actually, the best directing advice someone gave me was be specific in your criticism in general and your praise.
09:25Oh, I love that.
09:27Isn't that great?
09:28I really like that, yeah.
09:30Our first stop on our South Australian roadie is the Bavarian town of Harndorf,
09:36Australia's oldest surviving German settlement.
09:40We are driving to Harndorf.
09:43Why is it called Harndorf for a reason? That doesn't sound like a very Australian name for town.
09:46Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
09:48What a lie.
09:49You've stumbled across something there, Claudia. It is, in fact...
09:51I'm an observant person.
09:52Yes, it's actually a Bavarian town.
09:56So I'm excited to go there, but I think the whole Adelaide Hills area is really beautiful.
10:01I've been out here before and I had one of the most wonderful stargazing experiences out here.
10:09You can just never get used to seeing a shooting star.
10:12You can't get sick of it, eh?
10:14Nice.
10:21Here we come.
10:22Welcome to Harndorf.
10:23Establish.
10:241839.
10:25Wow.
10:26You would have been, what, five?
10:30Look at how pretty this is.
10:32This is so lovely.
10:33Yeah, it's a real avenue of trees, isn't it?
10:35Yes.
10:43I'm feeling thirsty.
10:44Yeah, maybe we can get a beer and a pretzel.
10:46Could be nice to try some German beer and some salty pretzel.
10:50Yes.
10:53Harndorf Inn.
10:54Let's go for that.
10:55Yeah, let's do that.
10:56That looks like the genuine article.
10:57That's us.
10:58Look, it's got lovely little seating outside.
11:00Let's go and sit on one of those.
11:01Yes, absolutely.
11:02Well, that looks fun.
11:03Harndorf's original settlers were Lutherans, believed to be Australia's first ever religious refugees.
11:10They escaped persecution by the King of Prussia, finding sanctuary in South Australia in the early 1800s.
11:18Today, Bavarian culture is still very much alive and kicking.
11:23Hey.
11:24Take a seat here.
11:25Wow, what a great posse.
11:27It's a pretty little town.
11:29Yeah, very authentically.
11:32Yeah.
11:33Vintage.
11:34All right, so two.
11:35Totally.
11:37Thank you so much.
11:38Is there a certain way to eat pretzels?
11:40To be honest with you, I bought you some knives, but I think it's a tear and share.
11:43Straight down the middle.
11:44Bit of butter.
11:45Bit of butter.
11:46Easy.
11:47Enjoy.
11:48Thank you so much.
11:49You're welcome.
11:50Yum.
11:51You know, I waited in line for a really long time in New York to get a pretzel.
11:54Oh, I had pretzels in New York too.
11:55And what happened?
11:56Did you actually get one?
11:57Yeah, I didn't like it.
11:58You didn't like it?
11:59Mm.
12:00Do you like this one?
12:02Yeah.
12:03Yeah, I do.
12:04They're very moorish, aren't they?
12:06Yeah.
12:07Yeah.
12:08You could eat a lot of them.
12:09Yeah.
12:10Now I'm going to taste it with some beer.
12:12Mmm.
12:13That's good.
12:14Our next stop is McLaren Vale.
12:19Home to almost 90 cellar doors.
12:25making it one of the biggest wine regions in Australia.
12:26Oh, look at the vineyards.
12:27They are beautiful, aren't they?
12:28Look at this as far as the eye can see.
12:29It's grapevines and grapevines.
12:30They're all blooming, aren't they?
12:31They're very healthy.
12:32All the leaves.
12:33Yeah.
12:34Yeah.
12:35Yeah.
12:36Steph is passionate about her Indigenous culture.
12:37So she's planned our next pit stop.
12:38We're off to go meet Carl.
12:39And he's a black woman.
12:40We're off to go meet this town.
12:41And it's beautiful.
12:42We're having a wedding.
12:43We're out.
12:44And we're going to get to the village of the village.
12:45Oh, look at the vineyards.
12:46And we're going to get to the village of the village.
12:47And we're going to be finding it one of the biggest wine regions in Australia.
12:48Oh, look at the vineyards.
12:49They are beautiful, aren't they?
12:50Look at this as far as the eye can see.
12:52It's grapevines and grapevines.
12:53They're all blooming, aren't they?
12:54They're very healthy.
12:55All the leaves.
12:56Steph is passionate about her Indigenous culture, so she's planned our next pit stop.
13:05We're off to go meet Carl, and he's a black fella, and what he's doing is essentially
13:12trying to reclaim an area and introduce, yeah, black fella, black fella way, yeah.
13:19Oh, great.
13:20Which I think is really, really, really cool, especially in an area that I guess a lot of
13:24land is used for wine and all that sort of thing.
13:29Monoculture.
13:30But it's so beautiful, this whole drive out.
13:33These are big old gums.
13:35Really beautiful old gums.
13:43Carl is the senior cultural custodian of this area, and for the past two years,
13:48he and his partner Claire have begun regenerating the cultural landscape.
13:55Oh, look at that tree.
14:04This place here is Kaninipila.
14:05In the old language, it means the place of many eagles here, yeah.
14:09So this is traditional country in McLaren Vale, in the wine region, as you can see here.
14:15But this is a special little place, because this is an ancient campground here, too.
14:18Like, the old people used to come through and move them through country.
14:20Long time ago, travelling over country, and this is where they'd come and camp here, yeah.
14:25What are you planting here?
14:27So this is part of our native grass restoration, so what the majority of the grass that you
14:33could have seen here a few days ago before Carl mowed was felt grass and introduced grass,
14:38really invasive and it covered all of this area, but we're trying to bring back the native
14:42kangaroo and other native grass ecosystems.
14:46What's that crop circle-looking thing down there?
14:50Oh, that's a little bit of my cultural mowing.
14:52Oh, really?
14:53Yeah, down there, that's like the spiral, see?
14:55So this is about how we need to get people to understand our way.
14:59Yeah.
15:00We don't go directly in the community, you just don't do that protocol, you've got to
15:02come in and spiral.
15:03Circular.
15:04Oh, no.
15:05Yeah, so that's all about what's in between the lines, but the education of that and the
15:09respect for that and the respectful country.
15:14What's this one called?
15:15This is saltbush, eh?
15:17Yeah, this is saltbush.
15:18Saltbush.
15:19Yeah, so it's a atriplex, it's a scientific name, atriplex scenario, it's an edible one.
15:24Ah.
15:25You can grab a little piece of one like that and just...
15:26And eat it?
15:27Yeah.
15:28Really?
15:29Do you have a leaf?
15:30Yeah.
15:31Do you want one?
15:32You can pick it up, I guess.
15:33I'll eat one first.
15:34Yeah.
15:35Oh, the...
15:36Mm-mm.
15:37Oh, it does taste salty, doesn't it?
15:38Yeah, you can taste that salt.
15:39It does grow on the coast and you can see the shininess in the leaves is actually one
15:43of its adaptations that it stores salt and then secretes that, so...
15:48So you can eat the whole leaf?
15:50Mm-hmm.
15:51And you can, like, cook it, bake it, or...?
15:53Yes, you can have it raw like we've just done or you can bake it and stuff, it dries really
15:58nicely as well.
15:59Chop it up.
16:00It's lovely, you can make chips out of it too.
16:01Yum.
16:02Yeah, if you've got air fryer that is.
16:03I love it.
16:04Yeah.
16:05Yeah, that's what this place is here, food for us, but it's got medicine here as well,
16:11so this whole idea is coming from what we need to give back to our own people.
16:17You know, the diets that we had and everything else, we were healthy people.
16:20Now, it's about educating the next generation about that.
16:23So what are we going to put in today?
16:26All right, so here's the plants.
16:27Beautiful.
16:28And Claire can have a little yarn there.
16:29Are these some sort of banks here?
16:30Yes.
16:31Oh, what a nice pick.
16:32Look, Ed!
16:33The one plant I know.
16:34See, Madison woman here.
16:35Who can see?
16:36You got it there now, look.
16:38Yeah, straight out.
16:39The one plant that I know, yeah.
16:40And we just squeeze the bottom and it helps to loosen the roots.
16:41And do you need to irrigate them once they're in, or do they...?
16:42Well, we're going to water them as they first, today, when they first go in, and then we'll
16:55give them a little bit of water over their first summer, and then that will help them
16:58to survive.
16:59And then they're on their own.
17:00Yeah.
17:01They're adapted to this climate.
17:03This is where they grow, so they don't need a lot of nutrients and love.
17:07Oh, look, it's going in his little new home.
17:11And then just bring some of the dirt around there, sister.
17:13Oh, look.
17:14Oh, look at him.
17:16What's his name?
17:18Oh, his name's Charles.
17:20That's Charles there.
17:22Charles.
17:23You already knew that.
17:24Look at him.
17:25He's a Charles.
17:26That's good.
17:27That's Charles the Bank here, if ever I saw him.
17:29I don't know.
17:30That's good.
17:31Look at him.
17:32He's so happy.
17:34Oh, that's nice and comfy in there.
17:36There he goes.
17:37Deadly.
17:38Yeah.
17:39Just in the bowl?
17:40Yeah, yeah, in the bowl.
17:41In the bowl, Charles.
17:42Put it here.
17:43Yeah, that's him.
17:44And then push more in around it.
17:45Yeah.
17:46Pretty.
17:47Not going to take me, goody.
17:49Yeah.
17:50And then the water.
17:52There you go.
17:53Drink this up.
17:54That makes me so happy.
17:56Yep, I would like to come and visit next time I'm in South Australia.
18:00This has been really, really special.
18:01Thank you so much for having us.
18:02Bye.
18:03Nice to meet you.
18:04Thanks for having us.
18:05I love that.
18:06Yeah.
18:07There's nothing like putting a plant in the ground.
18:08How good does that feel?
18:09It does feel good.
18:10I just hope it survives and thrives.
18:11A lot of the plants are.
18:12There's so much native.
18:13Mmm-hmm.
18:14Replanting.
18:15It's beautiful.
18:16I love that.
18:26Yeah.
18:27There's nothing like putting a plant in the ground.
18:29How good does that feel?
18:30It does feel good.
18:31I just hope it survives and thrives.
18:32A lot of the plants are.
18:33There's so much native.
18:34Replanting, it's beautiful.
18:35It's nice.
18:36I love it.
18:37There's so much native.
18:38Replanting, it's beautiful.
18:41I can still taste that saltbush, those leaves in my mouth, so I looked up what is the nutritional
18:54value of saltbush.
18:56It's a rich source of antioxidants, protein and minerals.
19:01Wow.
19:02That's cool isn't it?
19:03It's so cool.
19:04Saltbush contains 20% less sodium than table salt.
19:08Wow.
19:09It's an Australian superfood.
19:11It's cool isn't it?
19:12Are you going to get into saltbush now?
19:13Yeah, I want to make saltbush chips.
19:15I want to make saltbush salad too.
19:22Coming up, we reach Kangaroo Island and swap the hard road for soft sand.
19:27No way.
19:28Hold on.
19:29No.
19:30Keep your eyes open.
19:34Would you like an apple or would you like a nut bar?
19:39No.
19:40I want a nut bar.
19:41I want that.
19:42You want a munch meat?
19:43Yes, I want a munch.
19:44Pistachio and cranberry.
19:45Slow dry roasted nutritious snack.
19:47Oh look at the ocean!
19:48Oh it's so close to the ocean.
19:51The ocean looks so beautiful doesn't it?
19:54Wow.
19:55That's a beautiful colour.
19:56It feels like the edge of the earth.
19:58We're heading to Cape Jervis, the southern tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula where we'll board
20:04the ferry to Kangaroo Island named by British captain Matthew Flinders, the first non-indigenous
20:11person to set foot here in 1802.
20:14Flinders and his crew were met by mobs of kangaroos so they called it Kangaroo Island.
20:20Our first pit stop will be a cluster of sandy dunes, otherwise known as Little Sahara.
20:27I'm hoping we're going to make this ferry because the maps say we're going to get there
20:3120 minutes before the ferry leaves but I don't know how long it takes to load all the
20:34cars on.
20:35Okay, yeah I'm a bit nervous.
20:37We were just having too much fun planting those banksies.
20:40I could have stayed there for ages.
20:42I know and we would have missed our ferry.
20:44Yeah.
20:49So Claudia, what do you know about your ancestry?
20:51I found out when I did Who Do You Think You Are that my great great grandmother, who
20:55I didn't know anything about but I saw a picture of her and she was wearing a big fur coat.
21:00She looked like quite sort of well to do.
21:03I found out that she grew up in an orphanage and I went to the orphanage that she...
21:08Where was the orphanage?
21:10Grew up in, outside of London.
21:12We parked outside this massive castle, massive mansion where Henry VIII used to come and visit
21:18this family and we were parked up there and I was like, oh no, don't tell me this is my
21:23heritage.
21:24Like, oh no, did they own this castle?
21:27Like I was freaking out a little bit and we were walking around and then they were like,
21:30they lost all their money and the building became an orphanage.
21:33And that great great grandmother with the fur coat on that I made all these presumptions
21:38about her being, you know, Miss Richie Richer, it's like making money off whale oil or something.
21:44She grew up in an orphanage.
21:47So that was amazing.
21:49Do you have any Greek heritage?
21:51No, my stepdad's Greek.
21:54So I've got his name and a lot of Greeks say that I am an honorary Greek.
22:00I love that.
22:02I feel, I feel a bit Greek and I can say .
22:09You are good at languages.
22:15We made it to the ferry and are now off to Kangaroo Island.
22:30Sea Link Terminal, that's us.
22:36We're in the belly of a whale.
22:37Yes.
22:38Hello.
22:43It's a 45 minute ferry ride from the mainland to Kangaroo Island.
23:05This stretch of water is known as Backstairs Passage.
23:10And several Indigenous women who'd been abducted by sealers
23:14are believed to have swum the 16 kilometres to their freedom.
23:18The first recorded solo crossing was made in 1995 by a South Australian marathon swimmer
23:25who crossed it in just over four and a half hours.
23:28Another attempt was made in 2022.
23:31But with just two kilometres to go, a four metre great white shark got too close for comfort
23:37and the swim was aborted.
23:39How beautiful is Kangaroo Island?
23:51More like Kangaroo Eiffel.
23:53What a beautiful place.
23:54Am I right?
23:55It's so nice to be off the mainland.
24:00It's funny to think of Australia as the mainland.
24:03Yeah, it is, isn't it?
24:05They wave to us.
24:10Whoa.
24:11Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
24:12Oh, my God.
24:13Look at that.
24:15Wow.
24:16So beautiful.
24:17Excuse me.
24:18Who do you think you are, Ocean?
24:19Exactly who you think you are.
24:20I'm very proud of you.
24:33Kangaroo Island was once connected to the Australian mainland
24:36before rising sea levels separated it around 10,000 years ago.
24:42Known by some as the Australian Galapagos,
24:45the island is home to koalas, kangaroos, echidnas and bandicoots.
24:52Ligurian bees were brought to the island from Italy in 1884.
24:58Today, they only exist on this island, making it the oldest bee sanctuary in the world.
25:06With you, all roads lead to birds, don't they?
25:10They really do.
25:11To me, birds are this really connective tissue, right?
25:16And whenever I think of nature, I go, birds are from the sky, which I love.
25:22They are in the trees, so they're high up.
25:25They also come down to the ground.
25:27They connect with flowers.
25:28They connect with other animals.
25:29They're social.
25:30They're colourful.
25:31They are the connective thing for me.
25:34I thought of you when I saw a little story about a depressed parrot that had pecked all its feathers out.
25:44Yeah.
25:45And they danced it back to...
25:46Stop it.
25:47You'll make me cry.
25:48They danced back to a bee.
25:50They kept dancing in front of it and it danced with them and its feathers grew back and it stopped pulling its own feathers out.
25:57And it just started becoming addicted to dancing.
25:59Stop it.
26:00Look at that.
26:01That's all been burnt out.
26:02Wow.
26:03That was from the bushfires because they are burnt out trees and then they're growing back.
26:15The evacuation call came in the middle of the night.
26:23Hundreds of Kangaroo Island residents told to leave their homes.
26:28The 2019 Black Summer fires burnt almost half of this remote island.
26:34More than 25,000 koalas were killed, 60,000 livestock perished and 50 homes were destroyed.
26:43Tragically, a local father and his son lost their lives.
26:48Across Australia, it is estimated that over one billion animals perished during the Black Summer fires,
26:55making them the worst wildlife disaster in modern history.
27:02Black Summer fires...
27:04I was in the writers' room for Bump and we stepped out for our lunch break
27:10and literally embers of leaves were falling in the sky and we were in the CBD in Sydney.
27:16The smell of the smoke in the air was so strong, wasn't it?
27:20And the colour of the sky.
27:22I struggle sometimes to think about or talk about those sorts of things,
27:26especially when you can see evidence of it.
27:30But there's so much power in the earth and, you know, Mother Nature has, she has plans.
27:40You know what is incredible about this landscape is all these eucalypts are called Mali trees.
27:47So the, it's like, it's from a ligno tube or something.
27:52So the root crown is in the ground.
27:55So it's bushfire resistant.
27:56So it can all burn.
27:58And then the heart of the tree lives underground.
28:01And so it just springs back.
28:05Isn't that clever?
28:06They're completely adapted, totally resilient to bushfire.
28:09It's amazing.
28:21Kangaroo Island is a diverse and unique landscape, boasting forests, wetlands and natural wonders.
28:28And our next stop is no exception.
28:31Sand dunes, sand boarding, guided tours.
28:40Oh my God, look at this dune.
28:43Oh my God.
28:44What the hell?
28:46I thought it was a cloud.
28:48Where did you come from?
28:50That is just a wall of whiteness.
28:53What dune doing here?
28:56Known as Little Sahara,
28:58this sand dune system is over two square kilometres in size.
29:03Morning.
29:04Yep, that feels good.
29:05Try that.
29:06Maybe the best way to explore it is to strap in for a buggy ride.
29:10Are you excited?
29:15Tell my mum and dad I love them.
29:17Ha ha!
29:18Bye-bye.
29:19Bye-bye.
29:20Bye-bye.
29:21Bye-bye.
29:46Wow, the sand is very white, isn't it?
29:50This is an inland sand dune system.
29:53They go up to 70 metres above sea level, okay?
29:56The whole area is about two and a half square kilometres.
29:59And you already mentioned, Claudia, that the sand looks very white.
30:02Yep.
30:03It's rich in calcium, so it's basically a ground skeleton from previous marine life.
30:07Ground skeletons?
30:08Yeah.
30:09Wow.
30:10And this goes back about 17,000 years ago, which was the last ice age.
30:14It was a moment that the ice blocks were getting bigger and bigger and was pulling water from
30:19the continental shelf where Kangaroo Island sits on, so water levels got fairly shallow
30:25and all that marine life in there basically just died, right?
30:28Ah.
30:29Ah.
30:30Because it got trapped.
30:31When the water levels even dropped more.
30:32Ah.
30:33This got all like, together with severe winds for many years from the southwest, all this
30:38kind of marine life got grounded and…
30:41Got ground up.
30:42…you see broken down.
30:43And turned into sand.
30:44And turned into sand.
30:45Basically, this area shows you the amount of marine life that was around back in that
30:50time.
30:51Wow.
30:52Are we about to go down there?
30:53Yeah, that's the idea.
30:54Oh, mama.
30:55Let's go.
30:56Fox, take us on the roller coaster.
30:59All right.
31:00Let's do it.
31:01Keep your eyes open, Steph.
31:02Keep your eyes open.
31:04Ha, ha, ha, ha.
31:09Don't forget to breathe.
31:15Oh, no way.
31:20Hold on.
31:22Oh.
31:24Oh.
31:25Oh.
31:26Ha, ha, ha, ha.
31:28Ha, ha, ha, ha.
31:32Ha, ha, ha.
31:33Ha, ha, ha.
31:35Ha, ha, ha.
31:36Next up, we get an enthusiastic welcome from some of the locals.
31:41Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
31:44Great Australian road trips, one adventure at a time, with Lexus.
32:04I haven't seen many kangaroos on Kangaroo Island.
32:07There's actually estimated to be some crazy amount,
32:11like 65,000 kangaroos on Kangaroo Island.
32:14Roughly 14 kangaroos per person.
32:17What would you do with 14 kangaroos?
32:20With 14?
32:21Yeah.
32:23I'd take some, like, that's flash mob sort of a dance.
32:34We're cruising across the majestic Kangaroo Island on our way to Seal Bay.
32:39Not to see kangaroos, but to get up close to the seal colony
32:43that's native to this island before we reach our final destination,
32:47Remarkable Rocks.
32:52I'm really, really, really excited about seals.
32:54I think that seals are wonderful.
32:56I once saw them described as sea dogs.
32:58Sea dogs.
32:59They are really cool.
33:01They're so built for exactly what they do.
33:05I mean, they feel like they're way more ocean-y than land-y.
33:09Well, they don't really move very well on the land.
33:12Yeah, no, they look like idiots.
33:13Yeah, they spend a lot of time on the land,
33:15but they don't look like they're meant to be there.
33:16Can you do your best seal noise?
33:19Oh!
33:20Oh!
33:20Is it?
33:22Something like that?
33:22Oh!
33:23Oh!
33:23No, but...
33:23Oh!
33:24Oh!
33:25Yeah, but...
33:25I sound like shaggy.
33:27Scooby, no.
33:27No, Scooby.
33:28I sound like Scooby.
33:29Oh!
33:30Oh!
33:30Oh!
33:30Oh!
33:31Oh!
33:31Oh!
33:31Oh!
33:32I just watched a show called Baby Animals recently
33:41and I cried.
33:42I had to turn it off
33:43because the sea lions, seals, whatever they were,
33:47they would...
33:47The males, just all they do is fight each other.
33:50Oh!
33:50That's all they're into.
33:51They just love a good biff.
33:53They always biff.
33:55It's our animal kingdom.
33:56I know.
33:57But they biff and they literally don't care
33:59if they are trampling babies to death.
34:01While they're biffing?
34:02They're just biffing and just trampling.
34:04Okay.
34:05Well, we might see a bit of that today.
34:06No!
34:07We might.
34:08I would throw myself in the middle of that.
34:10No, you wouldn't.
34:11No, I know I wouldn't.
34:12And also you can't.
34:13I know.
34:14But I would just want to...
34:15I would just be like...
34:16I would just be blowing so many kisses to the babies.
34:31Hi.
34:35Hi, how are you?
34:36I'm Claudia.
34:37Nice to meet you.
34:37You're Emma?
34:38Nice to meet you.
34:39Hello.
34:40G'day, I'm Steph.
34:41Nice to meet you.
34:42Yeah, lovely to meet you.
34:43Hey, look, we've both got...
34:45Oh, we do too.
34:47Desert peeves.
34:48There we go.
34:49On our jackets.
34:50Beautiful.
34:50This is my Adelaide jacket.
34:52I do love that.
34:53I read up there that there's 30% less sea lions than maybe 30 years ago.
35:01Yeah, correct.
35:02Yes.
35:03So there are a few threats directly to them today.
35:07Main threats to them are entanglements out at sea.
35:10Really?
35:10Really?
35:10That's the main threat?
35:11Correct.
35:11So not sharks or...
35:13No, no.
35:14Or hunting or...
35:16I mean, obviously there's no hunting anymore.
35:18No.
35:19So there was 200 years ago.
35:20Yeah, right.
35:21And you'll notice from here that we do have a reef system.
35:25So that's where all those waves are breaking.
35:26Yeah, wow.
35:27So very fortunate 200 years ago,
35:30sealing ships were unable to access here at Seal Bay.
35:33Oh, so that's why they didn't get hunted.
35:35Yeah, correct.
35:35It is absolutely...
35:37This is...
35:38So beautiful, isn't it?
35:39It's pretty special.
35:41By the early 1800s,
35:43around 500 sealers were working on Kangaroo Island
35:47to collect seal skins and oil from sea lions.
35:52By the 1830s,
35:54this intensive hunting by sealers
35:56led to the near extinction of the island's seals and kangaroos.
36:02So how many do you estimate there are?
36:04So here at Seal Bay,
36:06we have about 800 that reside here.
36:09Two-thirds of that number are typically out foraging,
36:11so we never have the entire span of the colony here at Seal Bay
36:14at any given time.
36:16Seal Bay is the only place
36:21where you can get this close to Australian seals in the wild.
36:27Did I hear a call or some noises from down there just then?
36:30You sure did.
36:30Sounds like some rowdy party animals down there.
36:33Shall we go down and check them out?
36:34Please, yes, yes, yes.
36:35All right, let's go.
36:37Did you hear them?
36:38Listen to them.
36:38Yeah.
36:39I know.
36:42We do have,
36:43once we get down to the bottom of the stairs,
36:44just to our left,
36:45we do have a reasonable-sized male.
36:49He's been here for a couple of days resting,
36:51so we'll make sure we're nice and quiet.
36:53Look at his beautiful...
36:54He's like a Labrador,
36:55the colour of a Labrador at the top.
36:57It's exactly what I associate them as being too,
36:59the males.
37:00They've got that big, beautiful head.
37:02They're very beautiful animals.
37:04I have a big soft spot for the balls.
37:14Beautiful.
37:14Aren't they pretty?
37:15That one's looking at us.
37:17They're two-tone, aren't they?
37:18Two-tone sort of green and grey.
37:21Look, look, look.
37:22One's coming in from the water.
37:23Oh.
37:24Oh, there we go.
37:24So maybe that one's been out for a bit of a forage
37:29or maybe they're coming back in
37:31after a morning of surfing.
37:33A bit crazy, I think.
37:34Do they just do it for fun?
37:35Yeah, yeah, so sometimes...
37:36They surf for fun?
37:37They do, yeah, yeah.
37:39Really?
37:39It's a beautiful thing to see.
37:40It shows that they're happy.
37:42Being wild animals, that's pretty special.
37:44Oh, there's so many of them.
37:47Yeah.
37:47They're all the way down the beach.
37:49Beautiful.
37:50Oh, look, one's running, one's running.
37:52Look, look.
37:52I'm salting.
37:59So are there any pups here at the moment
38:01or is it not sort of birthing time?
38:05So a lot of our pups now are about one year of age.
38:08Is that one of them?
38:10Yeah.
38:10So these two little ones here that are spooning each other,
38:13they are a couple of our pups.
38:14OK.
38:15Yeah.
38:16So this is all about conservation.
38:18You were saying that you tag them
38:19and you track, you know, sizes and stuff.
38:22What do you learn about them from tagging them?
38:25What do you get from those chips?
38:26Yeah, great question.
38:27So we can scan a female when she gives birth.
38:30We know who she is, how old she is,
38:33how many pups she's had in her lifetime,
38:35which male is guarding her as well.
38:38So we do sort of know the most dominant
38:40and successful males in the colony as well.
38:43Like, what's the harem sort of situation with the guys,
38:47with the bulls?
38:48Yeah.
38:48How many sort of wives do they have?
38:51Some of our most successful males,
38:53they might make 12 females in a breeding season.
38:5612 females in a breeding season?
38:59Yeah.
38:5912.
39:00Oh, we've all been there.
39:01He's saying, Mum, where are you?
39:06Is that a pup?
39:08Is that a pup calling out to its mum?
39:11Yeah, yeah.
39:11So it's a pup saying, hey, Mum, where are you?
39:14I'm getting hungry.
39:15Oh, oh, oh.
39:16We'll just stay nice and still.
39:18We allow them to sniff our shoes, check us out.
39:24But, of course, we want them to get bored of us.
39:26So I assume this might be a young male
39:29because he's got a big chest on him.
39:31Here he comes.
39:38Oh, bored of us.
39:42Yeah.
39:42Not interested.
39:43Yeah, you're boring.
39:43That's good.
39:44We passed that test.
39:48And this bull is still sound asleep.
39:51Yeah.
39:51He hasn't even noticed we've come and gone.
39:54No, sound asleep, understood.
39:56Exactly how we like them.
39:58Wow, what a treat.
40:03Thank you so much.
40:12Okay, that was one of the coolest things I've ever done.
40:14How knowledgeable was Emma?
40:16How...
40:17What a great guide.
40:18What a great job.
40:19Yes, what a great job.
40:20It's more to the point.
40:21I was like, what's the hardest thing about your work?
40:23She's like, well, it's not really work.
40:27Coming up, we've reached the end of the road.
40:30Literally.
40:31As we eyeball the most remarkable of rocks.
40:35Is that wind in your eyes or are you...
40:37I'm getting a little emotional.
40:38Oh, really?
40:39No, it's wind in my eyes.
40:50When you're out in nature, though, like, what's your favourite part of it?
40:55Like, the thing that you go, that's what I want to look at.
40:57Like, I love bark and I love birds, right?
41:00What are you, like, flowers?
41:03Rocks.
41:03Rocks.
41:04Rock formations.
41:05How good is this?
41:06That's actually amazing.
41:07And that's where we're going.
41:08That's actually really cool.
41:09We're going to remarkable rocks.
41:11Rock formations.
41:12They're exquisite.
41:13And that sort of geological, like, the messaging that you can get,
41:17the information you can get from rocks is pretty fascinating.
41:20That was a beautiful answer.
41:22You're a very interesting woman.
41:25Interesting.
41:26I love you.
41:27I love you, too.
41:29You're a very funny woman.
41:34We're headed to the south-western tip of Kangaroo Island,
41:37to the jewel in the crown of Flinders Chase National Park,
41:41our exquisite final stop,
41:44otherwise known as Remarkable Rocks.
41:47And this is our last day in South Australia road tripping together.
41:55How do you feel?
41:56Do you just never want to see me again?
41:58Do you want to do any more road trips with me?
42:00Yeah.
42:00Or have I burned my bridges?
42:02No, I think, yeah, I'd probably chuck you in front of the car before we go.
42:06And do-doom, drive over you.
42:08And then reverse back over.
42:10Yeah, yeah.
42:11Excellent.
42:11What about you?
42:13I've loved it.
42:14I think we need to do more.
42:16So we're going to see these Remarkable Rocks.
42:20I wonder what's so remarkable about them.
42:22Do you know?
42:22No, I feel like they're just showing off.
42:24Just name themselves Remarkable,
42:25but when we go to see them,
42:26they'll be like,
42:27hmm, I would have called them Mediocre Rocks.
42:30But they might be remarkable.
42:31They might be appropriately named.
42:33We're yet to find out.
42:34Well, they might be very heavy.
42:36How far are the Remarkable Rocks?
42:4323 kilometres away.
42:44That's a big island.
42:46It's crazy how huge this island is.
42:50When we were coming over in the ferry,
42:52I thought it was like that tiny chunk,
42:55but then I realised it was like three, four times bigger
42:58than what I could see from the boat.
43:06That's unbelievable.
43:14It genuinely is, isn't it?
43:32Let's swiftly get out and check these out.
43:34Yeah.
43:35Let's get out.
43:36I like these, um, the blossoms.
43:49Beautiful gumnut blossoms.
43:51They're incredible.
43:52And they smell stunning.
43:56Look, look, look, look, look.
43:57We can see it from here.
43:59It looks like an abstract painting.
44:01It looks like an alien put it there.
44:02Like an alien was sort of doing some art.
44:07These granite rock formations have been naturally sculpted
44:20by millions of years of weathering and erosion
44:23by wind, sea and rain.
44:26The rocks have a distinct orange-brown coloration from iron minerals within the granite.
44:33And during sunrise and sunset, they adopt a golden hue.
44:38It's beautiful.
44:39It's beautiful.
44:40What a silhouette.
44:41I mean, like, what a sort of outline.
44:43It's so...
44:44It's amazing.
44:46Unique.
44:46Absolutely beautiful.
44:47It's called honeycomb erosion, apparently.
44:49Oh!
44:49It's like a honeycomb, like the bees have been at it.
44:52Yeah.
44:52Yeah.
44:52And this is granite.
44:55Wow.
44:56Everything is eroded away on top, revealing this granite mound.
45:00People pay a lot of money for this in their kitchens, you know.
45:03Yeah, this would be a great kitchen bench.
45:08It's unreal.
45:09It's really cool, huh?
45:31I feel like we're stepping into a mouth, but in a comforting way.
45:39It's worn away in the most unusual patterns.
45:50Oh, this is nice.
45:52Should we sit down here?
45:53Yeah.
45:54There's little bits of vegetation as well, which is interesting.
45:57Oh, it's nice and warm.
45:58You know when you come out of the swimming pool and you lie on hot concrete?
46:03Oh, that's what this feels like.
46:04It's so nice.
46:09It's just crazy to think that the wind can wear away at a giant rock.
46:17Well, this is the end.
46:23We've come to the end.
46:25That's not like a threat, like you were going to say, this is the end.
46:27Push.
46:30It might not be the end.
46:31We might have some more trips ahead of us, do you think?
46:33I hope we do.
46:34But this is the end of our South Australian trip.
46:37It's been fantastic.
46:38Thank you so much.
46:39You've been the best company.
46:40And you've been really funny and a good driver.
46:42I feel like I've learned a lot from you.
46:44Well, you better, I'm learning.
46:46No.
46:47Is that wind in your eyes or are you...
46:49I'm getting a little emotional.
46:51Oh, really?
46:51No, it's wind in my eyes.
46:56Do you meditate?
46:58Yeah.
47:06Are you doing a giraffe chin?
47:09Not even a little bit.
47:10It feels like we're sitting at the edge of the earth,
47:20a perfect place to reflect on our South Australian roadie.
47:24The natural beauty of this landscape,
47:26shaped by time and weather,
47:29reflects a resilience that is deeply grounding,
47:33a reminder of the strength of the environment
47:35and the strength within us.
47:40Next time...
47:49There's a crook!
47:50..Naz takes Mel on a wild ride...
47:52Woo!
47:53..from Darwin to Arnhem Land...
47:55We made it!
47:56We made it!
47:57Yay!
47:57..on a bucket-less roadie of a lifetime.
48:00Oh, wow.
48:02Ciao!
48:02.
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