Kangaroo Island

This weekend marked the first time I had left New South Wales and traveled to a different state here in Australia. Veronica had been in South Australia for the week on a job, so we decided last minute to buy a ticket so I could fly out on Friday to meet Veronica in Adelaide.

Our destination was Kangaroo Island, about 2 hours South of Adelaide by car and ferry. The drive from Adelaide to Cape Jervis was simply awesome. Rolling, green hills falling into the ocean reminded me of photos of the Scottish Highlands. Before arriving at the ferry we stopped at a Wind Farm right on the coast. Simply incredible how hugantic those beasts are! After a 45 minute ferry ride we landed on Kangaroo Island. Drove off the ferry and literally 3 minutes later we arrived at our B&B. What a cool little island. Actually, it isn’t really that little. The island is quite narrow in parts, but it is pretty long from the East end to the West end. Apparently it is the 3rd largest island in Australia behind Tasmania and another island I have since forgotten the name of. Having arrived late afternoon we threw our bags inside and went and had dinner at the Penneshaw Hotel pub. Veronica and I have never been so impressed by pub food. Actually, every single meal we had on the island was delicious. Must be due to the fact that they try and use all local produce since the island is such a fertile place. After dinner we took a brief walk down to the beach and we stumbled upon a Wallabie. It had been a long day for both of us, so we went back to the B&B and promptly passed out.

Saturday morning we started early, getting in the car by 7:30 to head off to Kingscote, the largest town on the island. Grabbed a coffee and we then headed to Seal Bay National Park. The park is situated right there on the ocean, and it was cold! The microclimates on the island were freaky. Where we were staying on the North East end was sunny and dry, where as the Southern side of the island was cloudy, windy and occasionally rainy. Ended up taking a tour so we could go hang out with the Sea Lions on the beach. Since we only had one full day we were in constant motion. We next stopped to pick up a sandboard on our way to Little Sahara. I would love to tell you all that both V and I were poetry in motion carving up the sand dunes, but that would be a dirty lie. My first ride I hit my keester so hard I had trouble sitting the rest of the weekend. AWESOME! After finally brushing off all the sand we went and had lunch at the general store at Vivonne Bay. Tasty burgers. We then drove down to Vivonne Bay Beach, and wow, freaking nice beach. Apparently it was voted/named the best beach in Australia, but I don’t know who voted. Very cold, but it would be an awesome place to spend the day in the summer. From the beach we drove to Flinders National Park to see two major tourist attractions. First up were the Remarkable Rocks. Perched on a cliff above the Southern Ocean, these rocks had been carved out by the wind for thousands of years. Very cool, and yes, remarkable. Saw an insane, slabbing wave breaking underneath the cliff that looked positively scary. On the way back to the car we saw an echidna (Australian porucpine). Next was the Admiral’s Arch, where a huge colony of New Zealand sea lions hang out. By this time it was late afternoon and the weather was getting a bit nasty. Windy, rainy and cold, we practically ran to the attractions, took pictures and ran back to the car. Luckily, we finally saw some kangaroos that were alive on the drive back. Veronica and I were beginning to think that the only roos on the island were the road kill that dotted every road on the island. On the way back to Penneshaw we stopped at a winery and then traveled to the 3rd town on the island, American River. Yep, this place was named for the American’s that settled there to whale. Pretty, but not that impressive. That night we went to the Italian restaurant in Penneshaw and had a good feed. Driving back to our place we saw a penguin ambling quite nimbly across the road. Passed out early again.

Sunday we made our way to Prospect Hill, where Matthew Flinder’s first viewed the entire island back in 1803. Good views, and it was time to go catch a ferry back to the mainland. Made it back to Adelaide at lunchtime and had a great meal at Austral, a pub on Rundle Street (think of the West End Dallas natives). Our last order of business was to drive into the Adelaide Hills for a scenic tour. Very pretty place, green and lush, vineyards everywhere, and winding roads that were super fun to drive in our nice rental Holden Sport Wagon. I forgot how much fun it was to drive when you have a nice car. No disrespect to the White Chariot of course. Arrived at the airport on time and we got back to Manly a little after 10 pm. It was a great vacation, but it was way too short. Go figure.