Kangaroo Island Introduction

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Parent Category: South Australia

Category: Kangaroo Island

Created: Thursday, 16 February 2012 05:52

The island has approximately 4500 inhabitants and is 155 kilometres East to West, and is surprisingly diverse. It contains a few wilderness protections areas, conservation parks, National parks, Grazing & Farm Land, forests, scrubs, and wetlands. It is claimed that over half the island is old growth, and it shows. KI, if nothing else, is a beautiful natural environ to explore. Over the last decade KI has shifted from agriculture to tourism as the primary industry, re-authoring itself to the changing tastes of the world.

The island is divided into 7 regions to explore, 6 coastal and 1 inland, each offering various levels and densities of accommodation – Camping, hotels, holiday homes, restored colonial cottages. There is somewhere for everyone and every budget.

There are two ways to get to KI, which as the crow flies it is 130 odd kilometres from Adelaide. – by plane or by car.

When it comes to planning your holiday to KI, it is good to plan ahead and there are a number of useful publications to get:

South Australia, Kangaroo Island Visitor Guide (part of a collection of publications by the SA Government that give a general overview of the different regions, food and accommodation options, tourist activities and a map) available for download from www.southaustralia.com and www.tourkangarooisland.com.au

Parks of Kangaroo Island (Published by the Department of Environment and Heritage), this book offers information about each of the parks and conservation areas available on the island and their facilities, as well as details of the bushwalks/hiking available. 26 walks are listed in the book and they vary in difficulty from easy (9) to hard (3) covering over 100 kilometres of track. Available for download from www.environment.sa.gov.au

Kangaroo Island's Parks from www.parks.sa.gov.au gives you the contact details for a number of parks and their opening hours along with tours offered and their prices.

From these publications and their respective websites you can start to build your trip to KI. A good thing to note though, is that while Kangaroo Island is not large, it does take a bit of time to get anywhere – from 20 minutes to 2½ hours. So, if you really want to enjoy what the island has to offer you need a few days.

For this trip, we are here to relax and enjoy Kangaroo Island and have planned only a few activities.

Snake Lagoon Hike & Weirs Cove Hike in Flinders Chase National Park

Adventure Caving at Kelly Hill Caves

Tasting the local produce of the island

The walks we have chosen because of another publication we came across in 2010. The Trails SA 40 Great South Australian Short Walks. We have used this book as an excuse to travel to regions of South Australia and look at parts we might not have seen before. The booklet is filled with small walks that are often part of more extensive ones, which we might not have come across otherwise.

Adventure Caving is chosen because it is not a very common activity in South Australia, with the Naracoorte Caves the only one's we were familiar with.

Tasting local produce has become a large part of what we do when we travel. South Australia is developing some very remarkable boutique foods and drinks. Cellar Doors and Farm Gates give a great opportunity to speak with the locals and producers of these products. You will be surprised by some of what you find in any of the regions you travel to in South Australia.

I cannot recommend enough how important it is to have an itinerary when visiting a place like Kangaroo Island. Everything takes time to get to, and without at least a small amount of planning, you will end up spending most of your time travelling back and forward rather than enjoying what the Island has to offer.

The day starts early, 6am. A quick breakfast and final double check of packed supplies. The care is loaded with most of what we'll need for anything we do on the island.. We have booked the 9am ferry from from Cape Jervis, located a two hour drive south of Adelaide. We hit South Road and keep on going. The general rule is, follow the road until it hits water. We make good time, the traffic flowing smoothly and the lights going our way until we get to Bedford Park where the timing of the traffic lights goes out of flow into the stop start that people complain about in Adelaide so much. Through the South traffic thickens and the road changes from two to three lanes then back to two on different sides of a set of lights. Past Noarlunga the drive becomes beautiful, the Adelaide hills lit brightly from breaks in the pearly clouds. The Adelaide hills are dry, coloured straw to red, with scatterings of green/grey trees and vineyards. The sea, off to our right, seems calm with deep hues of blue accentuated by pencil thin lines of wave white wash rolling towards shore. Past Aldinga, South road weaves inland slightly so we lose view of the ocean, replaced by tree topped hills, down through Myponga and past its tree lined reservoir, across Wattle Flat and into Yankalilla. We stop at the Yankalilla bakery for some breakfast before the road heads westward once more to Normanville and the ocean. From Normanville the road winds through step seaside hills and valleys to Cape Jervis.

We don't see anything of Cape Jervis as we follow the road into the Sealink Ferry terminal. The sealing ferry is both a passenger and transport ferry, capable of carrying upwards of 300 people and around 50 vehicles. It is the major transport between the mainland and the island. The Sealink is very comfortable with plenty of seating and a small Cafe. This morning it wasn't anywhere near full, with a few dozen tourists, locals returning to the island, and people coming across for the KI races taking place this weekend.

The Ferry cost varies depending on the time of day and the season. For two people with car, return, your are looking between $250 and $400.

The ferry takes around 45 minutes to cross the Backstairs passage to Penneshaw and today it's a smooth trip, with a relatively calm and flat sea. The Weather defines the length of the trip and Backstairs passage has been known to get very rough, being one of the most dangerous stretches of water in Australia. I know from the last time I travelled here what its like in choppy waters when it took over an hour to reach Penneshaw, so I'm pleased that today it is calm. We eat our breakfast and watch the receding mainland and approaching island and a short DVD of South Australia from the air, go up on deck and take a few photos in the wondrous cool morning.

The ferry ride is over quite quickly. The drivers are called to their vehicles and the rest of us make our way to the exit. It's quit an exodus as at the end of the jetty the passengers bottleneck, trying to find their hire car or tour company or pick up, while others try to find the best vantage spot to get their ride when it exits the ferry.

We are off to Kingscote, where we are staying at a friend's place. The drive to Kingscote is 58 kilometres and it is suggested that you allow 45 minutes for it. It starts Southwest along the coast with beautiful views for the first 20 minutes until you turn Northwest and cut inland from American River toward Western Cove. It is a nice drive and you can't help but marvel at the quality of the asphalt.

We arrive at our accommodation and set up for our weekend on the Island.

The final itinerary is:

Day 1 - Drive to Ferry, Drive to Kingscote, Settle in, buy any other supplies, Tasting KI - Kangaroo Island Spirits

Day 2 – Hiking – Rocky River w Platypus Waterholes, Weirs Cove, Snake Lagoon

Day 3 – Caving at Kelly Hill, KI Races Street Party

Day 4 – Eucalyptus Distillery, Clifford's Honey, Emu Bay Lavender Farm, Bay of Shoals, Island Beehive, Island Pure Dairy