Kangaroo Island, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

As all the pictures, brochures & websites will tell you; Kangaroo Island (KI) simply is a little gem. Surrounded by beautiful beaches, breathtaking cliff tops & rock formations, not to mention the absolute abundance in Australian wild life – it really is a true blue magical destination.

Though being the third biggest island in Australia it actually isn’t that little! We managed to clock up almost 600 k’s circumnavigating the island in only 2 ½ days! With a wealth of different roads covering KI, it made it easy for us to hop, skip & jump around to wherever we pleased. A warning that the majority of the roads are dirt / gravel & so ensuring all belongings are secure & as dust proof as possible before you set off is a good tip.

We were a little pushed for time, as we had booked as an after thought. This proved somewhat challenging. Our plans were rather ambitious for the short time frame we had given ourselves. Wanting to see the whole island, we were two big kids on a mission! There were some beaches where we literally ran down, did a little dance & were like “right, seen that. Next one!”. NOT ideal & not our usual style!! If we had our time again we would spend a whole week – allowing for enough time to add in some hikes & truly experience KI.

After disembarking the ferry we drove clockwise around the island. There are loads of camping grounds, making it easy to just pull up along the way without driving too far off our planned route. Lots inside the national parks, but also enough that allowed dogs so we didn’t miss out 😉

We used the freebee map they gave out from the ferry terminal as our main guide; together with wiki-camps we were set! We have been using wiki-camps throughout the whole trip. It is invaluable with the amount of information & details it provides. Leaving the caravan behind was great too. Sleeping under the stars in the swag instead was blisssss. It was a lot cooler on KI than it had been on the mainland, by about 5-10 degrees. Around 23-25 each day & really cooled off at night – so don’t forget your trackies, flanny & jacket!!

I LOVED the amount of wild life we saw while on the island. Kangaroos, wedge tailed eagles & sea eagles seemed to permanently coat the sky, wombats, rosellas, Australian sea lions, New Zealand fur seals, peacocks… the list goes on!! It really was a challenge for Fred to pull me away from any locations where we found kangaroos or sea lions – I have a bit of a thing for photography, & can get quite carried away. Easily snapping 100 photos in no time. Or maybe it wasn’t ‘no time’, as Fred would be literally pulling my arm for us to move on. LOL #sorrynotsorry.

A highlight for both of us was visiting the Raptor Bird Rehabilitation Centre on the south side of the island. They had a range of predator birds that had been rescued and were either in rehabilitation preparing to be released back into the wild, or who were in permanent care after being injured or abused by humans. They had trained some of them, & they put on a really good show with the birds flying around you while the wildlife workers gave talks about the different species. Seeing the wedge tailed & sea eagles up close really gave us an appreciation for how large, strong & beautiful they really are. The cost of the show goes towards the rescue & rehabilitation of the birds, so we figured it was well worth it.

KI is covered in amazingly picturesque beaches. But our personal favourite had to be Western River Cove. It was a tiny beach, completely sheltered from the SE winds with the camp area about 100m from the beach. Fishing off the rocks in the evening, being woken by huge grazing kangaroos in the morning & a swim in crystal clear waters really made it extra special.

We drove along most of the beaches on the Northern side of the island, (you need a 4×4 for these sections) always good for beating the crowds. Not that there were many!! The whole time driving KI we were asking ourselves ‘where are all the people..?!’

Fred managed to squeeze a kite surf in at Bay of Shoals. The island provides a number of good locations for kite surfing. It is amazing to watch him, flying through the sky throwing his body in all manner of directions. It would have been the perfect end to the trip (and was in our minds until we got off the island & back near Adelaide) – until we realized Fred left his kite board behind in the dunes!!!! Some lucky bugga is going to have a field day.

Perhaps the most amusing thing for me about our visit to Kangaroo Island was the way in which cars were made to embark the ferry. I have never been on a ferry that only has ONE way for the cars to enter & exit. It is really some system they have – with the cars having to reverse onto the ferry. All part of mixing things up & making life entertaining I guess, isn’t it!?

Once again, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy the photos below.