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Published: February 13th 2012
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As for all of the mini adventures we've been having, it was an early start to head for Kangaroo Island (KI as the locals call it!).
The drive from Adelaide to Cape Jervis was very beautiful with few towns in between but with spectacular views of the coast as we neared the port. It was easy to book our transport and first night's stay (a little pricey but well worth it). Foot passengers go on separate so I had to watch as it looked like Anna would have to reverse the van on but she didn't have to in the end much to her relief as there was a bit of an audience! The passage across wasn't quite of Irish Sea proportions but it was a bit bouncy for Anna woo but luckily only queasiness the main symptom (she wouldn't be quite so fortunate on the way back!!).
We arrived in Penneshaw around lunchtime and our camp site was just 200m away from the port so once settled we had loads of time to explore the town (a couple of streets but with everything you could hope to have) and take a dip in the Southern Ocean at the
lovely protected cove. KI was the first settlement in Southern Australia and there is lots of history about Flinders and Baudin the Englishman and Frenchman who met in KI on their explorations and swapped information despite their countries being at war at the time. The cove also houses a penguin population but they are in their 'downing' season so can't really be seen at this time of year. We met some nice people and they gave us advice about getting around the island as it is quite big (155km in length) and petrol stations are few and far between and v expensive (up to $2 a litre!).
With four nights to play with we went on the Kingscote the next day which is the main town on the island, the commercial hub so the literature goes! It was much bigger than other places but still small but again with everything you need – we dubbed it the CH of KI! We went there via American River named after American sealers who settled there and who thought the sea inlet there was a river. Tiny but very pretty and Anna had her first experience of unsealed roads in the camper
van as we took a short cut back out towards Kingscote, a bit of a shaky ride but not bad.
We stayed about 3km outside of Kingscote so had a lovely walk along the beach into town and did a bit of shopping and imbibing before witnessing pelican feeding down at the wharf which was very funny as John who does it was very entertaining. These pelicans are prettier than the ones we saw in San Francisco but are still bizarre looking! They don't depend on this feeding thankfully but they can all tell the time as they swooped in exactly at 5 to be fed! It was cool to be that close to them. We then had our own feeding time of fish and chips by the sea which were lovely and wandered back to the camp site.
After a good night's rest we were now heading to the west of the island which is more remote and has (even!) less shops etc. so having fuelled up we decided to stop at Emu Bay first which is another beautiful beach and was somewhere we could take the van down to (ahem!). It wasn't quite swimming weather so
we turned back around and though we'd got down ok, little Clarabelle got stuck in the sand as Anna tried to avoid knocking someone down! We had help from a local lady and her friend but we were stuck fast and then by chance our knight in shining armour arrived in the form of a local with a 4x4 and a towing rope! He made quick work of getting us out though we did damage one of the blinds for the van but it was worth it!! We were told (often) that it happens all the time but Anna found that cold comfort......
Fully released we made quick time to our camp site which is set in a wilderness park and we had lots of kangaroos, wallabies and koalas for company. It was then off into the Flinders Chase National Park which gave us access to see Admirals Arch and the Remarkable Rocks. This was great fun as it was an allsorts weather day so we had a strong wind, great skies and a bit of rain which made the scenery all the more breathtaking. We got a bonus of seeing loads of seals who were claiming their territory
and also feeding their cubs. It was brilliant and better than having to pay to go see them at Seal Bay! Admirals Arch is an arch cut through the rocks by the sea and after this we did a nice walk to Weir's cove which the lighthouse keepers of the past used to have to do to get their supplies which was no easy feat. Remarkable Rocks were incredibly rugged particularly in the windy wet weather we had and are a rusty coloured collection of granite boulders perched on the cliff edge. It was a great day and topped off by seeing wallabies and kangaroos bouncing along the road though they do think the own the road and are a bit unpredictable! Unfortunately, they do not really rule the road as the amount of road kill we saw in our 5 days on the island shows.....
After a lovely night of homemade spag bol and more tasty local wine, our last full day on the island was spent at Vivonne Bay which is a tiny spot located near Seal Bay. Down a bone rattling unsealed road is the hidden treasure of the unstaffed camp site nestled into the river
estuary which flows into the most gorgeous beach. It was the perfect stop off after our educational stop off at the Kelly Hill Caves. We had a great little tour with Mary the guide after she warmed up following a bit of a chilly start (it was early in the morning!).
Having self registered at the camp site (only 10 bucks for the night!) we headed straight for the beach as it was beautifully hot, sunny day and perfect for a splash in the Southern Ocean again. I taught Anna how to take on the waves like I used to at Bray beach when I was kid – namely squat down and let the waves bash you! It was great fun and we felt like we were the only two people in the world there as it was so unspoilt. We had home made burgers for dinner and did a bit of sorting out before settling down for the night and reflecting on the perfect end to our KI adventure and looking forward to our last few days in Oz and looking forward to the Kiwi escapades ahead!!
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