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Published: March 6th 2018
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We had an early start this morning because we were booked on the 9.00am ferry from Cape Jervis, at the very end of the Fleurieu Peninsula, across to Penneshaw on the Dudley Peninsula (eastern end) of Kangaroo Island. We needed to be checked-in by 8.30am so departed Victor Harbour just after 7.00am to be sure of a timely arrival.
We had a good run to Cape Jervis - no farmer out with a combine harvester or a flock of sheep to hold us up - and arrived before they unlocked the doors to the check-in office! Much better to be early than late though. Only drivers are allowed to be in the vehicles as they are loaded onto the KI Ferry. The reason for this soon became obvious - they pack the vehicles in tight! Bernie was asked to reverse the Golf into a corner. The car wranglers had him back it in so close that every sensor in the car was squealing and he had to shimmy out the driver’s side door; there is no way I could have exited on the other side if I had been in the car.
The ferry left
right on time with a fairly stiff breeze blowing from the south-east. Of course this meant that we did rather wallow across the Backstairs Passage to KI because there was quite a swell. For a little while we were pitching front to back as well as rolling from side to side. The captain dug the nose in a couple of times sending spay up over the upper deck where we were standing. There were a few people wandering around with sick bags but, fortunately, no-one had to use one, not in my line of sight anyway.
We docked in Penneshaw just a few minutes late which was understandable given the heavy going. The vehicles were unloaded much more quickly than the foot passengers; for some reason it takes longer to organise the gangplank for the foot traffic than to drop the thingy at the end of the boat for the vehicles to drive out onto the dock.
Our first stop was at the Penneshaw Visitor Information Centre with a plan to purchase Kangaroo Island Tourist Passes that will save us $$ on visiting quite a few of the places that we plan to visit.
Unfortunately they only had three passes left so it was suggested that we purchase our passes at one of the sites ... or at the natural resources centre in Kingscote.
From Penneshaw we set off along the main road to Kingscote. We stopped at Pennington Bay to take some photos of the beautiful beach before continuing around to American River. We decided to stop at the Oyster Farm Shop for lunch and, although other choices were available, we ate oysters. We opted for a mixed hot dozen (each!) because neither of us is mad keen on our oysters raw.
We couldn’t find any of the roads that were supposed to take us over to Nepean Bay from American River so we headed back the way we had come with a brief photo stop at the Muston Lookout. We arrived in Kingscote a bit after 2.00pm and found our way to the post office which we had been told is right next door to the natural resources centre. Yay, no supply problem here with the Kangaroo Island Tourist Passes so we purchased our passes and acquired the booklet for the Parks of Kangaroo Island so
that we have information for all the walks/hikes that are available on the island. Hopefully that will mean we are a bit more prepared than we were on the mainland!
From the town centre we made our way to our home away from home for the next six nights ‘SeaKI’ a lovely little house just a few streets back from the main street. After unpacking the car we spent a bit of time at the house familiarising ourselves with the amenities. We even managed to find a hose to hose the salt of the car. The Golf was very near the loading ramp so copped a bit of sea spray on the ferry crossing. We plan to go into town for some fish and chips tonight for dinner. Always tastes so much better when you are by the sea!
Steps:
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Caroline Brunner
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Hello Stephen!
Kangaroo Island is another place I have on my Bucket List. Thanks for sharing your traveller's insight and observations Tracey. Loving your photos too, as always. AND it's SOOOOO good to see Stephen again !!!!! [lol]