AT THE VERY END OF THE WORLD: KANGAROO ISLAND
Where do you go in the Australian summer break to beat the crowd but gain an authentic experience with wildlife, spectacular landscape and pure countryside? There’s no issue finding the latter, but at this time of the year it’s not easy to discover the way off the beaten track. We found a spot on the map that was unfamiliar to many of our local colleagues as well, but seemed to offer all we were after: Kangaroo Island.
Kangaroo Island is the 2nd largest island in Australia after Tasmania, located in the state of South Australia, to the Southwest of Adelaide. It got its name after the endemic large brown kangaroos that roam the island, but it’s the home of not only kangaroos but sea lions, seals, wild koalas, platypus and many more animals. It’s an unspoilt land with only dirt roads to most corners, which is far enough from everything to be off most travelers' radar. With a population of around 4,500 on a 150km long island and a limited number of ferries arriving from the mainland, you don’t need to worry about tourist herds or traffic jams. Instead, make sure to fill up your car before arriving as there are only a couple of petrol stations on the entire island, and regardless of where you stay you will drive a lot to see all the main sights.
We flew to Adelaide from Sydney on the 25th December and spent the day driving around the Fleurieu Peninsula, best known for the McLaren Vale wine region. This was a slight alteration of our original plan of going straight to the island, because it turned out that on Christmas day the ferries from Cape Jarvis to the Kangaroo Island don’t operate, meaning that we gained an extra day on the peninsula before our ferry on the 26th. Well, it was not only the ferry that did not operate on the 25th, life literally stopped in the entire region, including in Adelaide: every restaurant was closed, except for a few which hosted private functions - meaning that for us these were effectively closed as well, and villages turned into ghost towns!
We could still drive around the region and see its small pretty villages like McLaren Vale and Willunga, and enjoy the spectacular views over the hilly vineyards which were worth exploring. There are also some long beaches nearby, for example Aldinga Beach, which are popular destinations for surf-lovers from Adelaide.
With the hope of finding something to eat, as well as of seeing some of the penguins the area is famous for, we also headed to Victor Harbor, a holiday beach town. A walking bridge links the town to the uninhabited Granite Island, a tiny piece of land with vivid birdlife, penguin colonies and the chance of sighting dolphins and whales (in winter). Although, as it turned out, penguins appear only after sunset which would have been too late for us to wait for, we could enjoy the lack of visitors in town and on the island on Christmas day.
The next day we drove to Port Jervis to take the ferry to Penneshaw on the Kangaroo Island. Some of the locals claim that this village is one of the best places to stay on the island because of its quiet setting, the stunning view of the straight with the mainland and the vivid wildlife around: kangaroos are regular visitors even in private gardens! Otherwise it’s one of the few places with a petrol station, which is more in demand than you would expect in the 21st century, a grocery store and a few places to eat and stay. We stayed in Baudin beach, about a 10 minute-drive from Penneshaw, which consists of about three streets (50 houses) and a tiny beach that you often don’t share with anyone else. We spent the following few days discovering the beauties of this far-away island, which seems to be the place to go when you want to hide away from the world. Here is a video that summarizes well the experience you should expect on this island:
Two of our favourite petrol stations on the island
In our experience, these are some of the best places to visit and things to do on the island:
1. Seal Bay
It’s most likely that the wildlife in Seal Bay is one of the main reasons why Kangaroo Island is sometimes referred to as the “Australian Galapagos”. The area is best known for The Seal Bay Conservation Park which hosts a large colony of Australian sea lions along a more than stunning azure blue coastline. You can see the wild sea lions from quite close as they rest, sleep and play on the beach and in the waves. This is the coast where most sea lion mums give life to their pups, and where they leave them while they are out in the ocean fishing. As part of a guided tour you can walk down to the beach, otherwise you stand on a viewing deck, which can be just as close to the animals if they decide to move into your direction on the beach. We could have spent hours watching every moment of these fun creatures and the breathtaking colours of the water!
Unrealistically turquoise beach with playful sea lions at Seal Bay
2. Flinders Chase National Park
One of the main highlights of the island is the Flinders Chase National Park which would deserve a good few days in itself. It’s located in the Southwestern corner, within about a couple of hours’ drive from the Eastern part of the island. It is a sanctuary of many endangered species (e.g. platypus, goannas) and it includes some world-famous landscapes. The best-known picture of the island is of the Remarkable Rocks which is a naturally shaped granite sculpture formation above the sea.
The park is also home to a New Zealand seal colony, also referred to as the “stinky seals” for a good reason… We learnt that the main difference between seals and sea lions (the ones we saw at the confusingly named Seal Bay) is that seals are marine animals and only come to the shore for a short period, for instance to rest, while sea lions spend a considerable time on the beach and they are comfortable living in both environments.
The seals live close to Admirals Arch, another spectacular natural arch-shaped rock formation carved by the Southern Ocean. This is close to the Cape du Couedic Lighthouse, a large white lighthouse guarding the South coast of the island.
The Park has several other sights as well, like the Cape Borda Lighthouse, and it is the starting point of the 5-day Kangaroo Islands Wilderness Track through limestone cliffs and white beaches. We wish we had more time to discover some of these too! For the purpose of trying to spot a platypus in the wild, we went on the Platypus track in the Park, which includes several ponds in the middle of a half foresty grasslands. Sadly we were not lucky enough to spot one of them – they hide underwater as soon as they hear any noise with their excellent ears, so in fact one should spend even a few hours monitoring the surface of the water to have the chance to see one. Instead we were treated with the view of a long brown Tiger snake slithering across the track a couple of meters from us!
3. Wild koalas in the trees
Apparently there are many wild koalas living on Kangaroo Island and you might lucky spotting some on the trees - but we didn’t expect this exercise to be so bloody difficult! Imagine the eucalyptus trees on which they live with the average heights of about 10 meters, and try to picture a 50cm ball on it in the most hidden corner of a branch. We had no chance of spotting one from the car even when driving very slowly, so we went to the Hanson Bay Koala reserve instead, where they live freely in an unfenced forest and they seemingly enjoy their lives! The staff check every day on which trees they have some on that day and mark the trees so that you know where to look for them, so unless they move too far during the day, you have better chances seeing them. We were lucky to see about 25 as a result of hard work from all the four of us monitoring the crowns for an hour or so, and we were lucky to even see a few tiny joeys who just came out from the pouch. Koalas spend about 16 hours a day sleeping and the rest eating eucalyptus leaves, so although not too interactive they’re really adorable furry bears.
4. Kangaroos and wallabies all around the island
The local long-hair brown kangaroo that I mentioned earlier is definitely an important part of your trip to Kangaroo Island. They run everywhere, of course mainly at dusk and sunset, therefore drivers need to be extremely careful not to hit them. Unfortunately, on the side of the road there are way too many kangaroo and wallaby corpses due to the careless drivers and animals. Legally if you hit one by your car, you need to check its pouch for joeys, and call a special helpline who will try to save them if needed. As it turned out, some of the locals also help this work by raising joeys until they get big enough to be released back into the wild. We learnt this by realizing that our neighbor at Baudin Beach was one of these people, and he was raising the 45th little kangaroo within a few years-time whose mum got killed by a car. He carried around the little one in a blanket who lives in a pouch-like bag in his house and is said to be a very clean animal.
5. Fantastic beaches
Kangaroo island is also rich in long sandy stretches of beach all around its shore. We visited a few of these:
Hanson Bay on the Southern side has a several kilometer-long ankle-deep sandy beach with turquoise colour and sand dunes.
Island beach on the North side also seemingly leads to eternity with a wide white sand stretch where you can walk for hours without realizing it.
One of Northern beaches, Emu bay, is also popular spot with another miles-long stretch of wild white sand and rich birdlife. We were lucky to see a big group of pelicans who stationed in the bay to try to get some of the fish that was prepared here for a fishing trip for the day after, We haven't seen these large birds so close - their presence truly deserves respect.
Hanson Bay and Emu Bay with majestic pelicans
6. Local farms
The island has a few products that mark it on the map for Australians:
Pure Ligurian bee honey, which is unique in the world. Kangaroo Island is home to the only pure strain of Ligurian Bee in the world, because the bees that were originally imported from Italy had since interbred with other species on the mainland and elsewhere in the world, while they stayed isolated on Kangaroo island which is too far for other bees to reach. Hence, it’s strictly controlled what product visitors bring on the island to ensure the purity of the produce. The Clifford’s Honey Farm is one of the few places that produces it today, and you can taste and buy some eucalyptus honey and the products made from it.
Another interesting farm was the Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Oil distillery, which displays some of the history of eucalyptus production on the Kangaroo island. It is a traditional industry of the island which was the first product produced for export, and fields covered most of the island. Since then the production has been largely suspended, this farm is the last one that still continues to operate to save the tradition. In the distillery various eucalyptus oil-based cosmetic and other products are offered as well as the pure oil itself.
You also have the chance to sample some cheese and other delicacies at the Island Pure Sheep Dairy farms, like fig balsamic vinegar or fig sauce which are great with cheese platters or salads too.
The drive to these farms is an exciting adventure in itself on dirt roads, scenic routes and with plenty of wildlife.
7. Culinary delights
We ended our tour with a trip to the Southeastern point of the island to the Willoughby Lighthouse, with a great view to the ocean from the South. This is where one of the best restaurants is located, Zest & Thyme, a family-run cafe with simple but creative menu and a fantastic view. By the way, the island is surprisingly rich in great restaurants of all categories considering its number of inhabitants, most probably due to the abundance of locally produced ingredients - and perhaps the inspiration that the local lifestyle encourages.
On the same dirt road it's worth stopping at the Dudley winery for tasting the locally-made selection, and to chill out on the terrace with a glass of wine while admiring the view to the mainland across the greenish-blue ocean.
