KANGAROO ISLAND

WE HAD DECIDED BEFORE LEAVING HOME THAT WE WOULD HAVE A FEW DAYS ON THE ISLAND OR KI AS EVERYONE CALLS IT,  SO:-



Kangaroo Island Map with our route in yellow



Monday 5.3.2012:     

We had lunch at Cape Jervis and watched the vehicle ferry come in. We were booked on the 3.30pm ferry to Kangaroo Island, and as we were almost last to drive on the ferry we were one of the first to leave the ferry on arrival.   The trip was quite smooth as the wind had died down, it can be very rough although it only takes about 45 minutes to do the crossing. We drove on up the hill at Penneshaw with lots of cars following, we drove on to Kingscote about 65 kilometers away and checked into the Tourist Park that we had prebooked for the night .



Penneshaw from ferry





Tall Mallee trees form a canopy over the road



Tuesday 6.3.2012.  17 degrees - mid 20’s - sun and wind.   Looked around the small town of Kingscote then drove to Reeve Point and read up on the history of the area where they decided to settle way back in the 1800’s.   They abandoned the idea of a settlement when the water ran out, but there remains some old trees such as a Mulberry tree which the settlers planted, a lovely big tree and it looks quite healthy.   Drove out to Emu Bay nice little village by the sea but nothing else so as it was very windy we drove back to Kingscote. 

Kingscote Jetty



Emu Bay



As we left Kingscote we called in to the Island Beehive which is a facility that makes honey from Ligurian bees which were bought out from Italy in the 1884 and  today the honey is sold as pure and organic. These bees are unique in the world. Next we called in to a sheep dairy where they milk the sheep for their milk which they make into cheese and yogurt, it is very tasty although it contains a lot more fat than milk from a cow.



Milking Sheep



We drove west along the middle of the island to Parndana and stayed in the overnight park at the hotel and had a lovely meal at the pub, cooked using the herbs grown on the island, possibly the natural herbs introduced to them by the aboriginal people, it was a very tasty meal.

Wednesday 7.3.2012  17 degrees to 27 degrees - sunny day.   Drove north to Stokes Bay to see the beach and found it by squeezing through a tunnel in the cliff. Walked along the beach which was long and flat no surf. 



Stokes Bay





Access to beach through a tunnel



We then drove back to the middle of the island to check out a marron farm which turned out to be like our yabbies and Tasmanian crayfish, the marron has more flesh on it.   We enjoyed a lovely platter for two with lovely hot and cold marron, Tasmanian scallops and tiger prawns with dipping sauces which are a specialty of the island, another very tasty meal.  We need more exercise to work off the meals.

Our next stop was Flinders Chase Conservation Park, we went on a three kilometer hike to see platypus, we saw lots of kangaroos, wallabies, and geese, but the platypus are very shy, Lloyd did manage to see one diving down in the water.

Thursday 8.3.2012:   11 degrees - 27 degrees - sunny.   Went to the lighthouse at Cape Du Couedic and walked a kilometer or so down to Admirals Arch where we saw lots of seals sprawled out on the rocks sunbaking, when they get too hot, they just roll into the water or drag themselves down the rocks to the waters edge and dive in.



Admirals Arch



Drove further on to Remarkable Rocks an unusual formation of granite amongst the limestone, these rocks have been eroding for millions of years the wind and rain creating some unusual sculptured shapes.

Remarkable Rocks

Kelly Hill Caves was our next stop they were interesting limestone caves which they are still exploring, they just don’t know how far they extend, they just keep finding more caves. Since the countryside is very dry there has not been much water in the cave system and the formations are not that spectacular.

Spent the night at Vivonne Bay a self registration Van Park, very nicely laid out and we found we had a koala in the tree beside us, Lloyd also saw a wallaby and a goanna.  Met a couple from the central coast in NSW who told us Vivonne Bay is supposed to be one of the best surfing beaches in Australia, but we both agreed we thought NSW had far better surfing beaches.



Vivionne Beach




Sleepy Koala



Friday 9.3.2012:  9 degrees - 25 degrees - sunny.   Last day on the island.  On our way to Penneshaw we checked out Seal Bay and saw lots of seals on the beach also saw a mother and baby seal very close to us on the boardwalk. 



Seal Bay boardwalk



 

We visited a Lavender Farm and had to try lavender scones, then we saw over a Eucalyptus Oil Farm and saw how they make eucalyptus oil, the final tourist attraction for the day was walking up Prospect Hill our legs and knees were very sore after the five hundred steps going straight up, thankfully the view was worthwhile.  It is at the narrowest part of the island so you can see the water on both sides.  We were so leg sore that we decided against going looking for penguins at night coming up the beach near the Van park we were staying in.



Emu at the eucalyptus factory



American River and Pelican bay



Panorama looking east from top of Prospect Hill




approx 540 steps up to get this shot



Saturday 10.3.2012;  Another cold night but warmed up to a nice day. We were booked on the 11:30 ferry back to the mainland so took our time packing up, fueled up and emptied the waste tanks. Looked around Penneshaw and lined up to board the ferry. Not many vehicles going over as this is a longweekend in SA and most of the traffic was to the island.



Penneshaw Beach



From here its over to the mainland then to Victor Harbour and Goolwa, we will then decide where to go next.