Signing you up...
DAY ONE
AM: We left Adelaide at 6.15am on board the SeaLink coach bound for Cape Jervis, arriving shortly after 8.30am to board the SeaLink ferry for the 45-minute crossing to Penneshaw. During the crossing we saw several whales crashing around – what a great way to start our adventure. Once on dry land we set off on our SeaLink coach that would take us around the island for the day. Our first stop was the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park near the centre of the island – here we saw a wide range of wildlife and fed kangaroos and patted koalas.
From there we headed to Seal Bay Conservation Park on the south coast. I now know why seals just lie there asleep: they hunt for three days and travel up to 100km to get to their feeding ground and then just dive, dive, dive, time and time again. They get back to land exhausted. We saw one seal drag himself out of the water and collapse for a well-earned sleep. We then moved a bit further down the coast to Vivonne Bay Lodge for lunch.
PM: After lunch we headed east towards the main town of Kingscote and toured Clifford’s Honey Farm – their honey ice cream is delish! Our accommodation that night was the Seaside Inn in Kingscote where we had great views overlooking the bay. Dinner was at the nearby Aurora Ozone Hotel.
DAY TWO
AM: After the most amazing European-style continental breakfast at Seaside Inn with all the trimmings we headed off with Kangaroo Island Odysseys for a 4WD tour. First we went koala-viewing – in the wilderness – all seeing who could spot a koala up high in the trees. Then on to Kelly Hill Caves near the southwestern end of the island – what a great experience to see the amazing stalactite formations – followed by wonderful gourmet picnic lunch. While lunch was being prepared we went for a walk to see what wildlife we could find and encountered a snake – luckily it was asleep. None of us got too close!
PM: After lunch we went on to Flinders Chase National Park where we visited Admirals Arch and the Remarkable Rocks. This was the first time in the whole trip that we had seen any other tourists – Kangaroo Island is indeed a wilderness. After looking at amazing scenery and more seals we had afternoon tea in a field with kangaroos and then set off on the big drive back to Penneshaw to catch the ferry back to the mainland. We had pre-ordered dinner at Ultima Thule Café in Penneshaw close to the ferry and finally arrived back in Adelaide around 11pm after a long but thoroughly enjoyable day.
There were still heaps of things to see and do on Kangaroo Island and I would love to go back to try more of the local food specialities and go wine-tasting at some of the many wineries. You definitely need to stay for two nights and have three days to explore the island – which I knew was big but not a rather large 150km by 50km! I would also fly back to Adelaide on Rex (Regional Express Airlines) which has a flight departing Kingscote at 6.30pm and arriving in Adelaide 30 short minutes later.
