In a lucky turn of events, we were given the opportunity to hitch a ride to Kangaroo Island, a small island just South West of Adelaide. It's truly a magical place, and I'd definitely suggest it to everyone to go once in their life. All the popular spots are there: clear-water beaches, surfing beaches, caves, deserts, rocky cliffs, giant mysterious natural occurrences, and of course the outback and all it has to offer in flora and fauna. Let's start with some history!
Kangaroo Island was discovered in 1802 by Matthew Flinders (you'll see a lot of places named Flinders in Australia) and is part of the state of South Australia. It's a lot bigger than we thought, stretching about 90 miles East to West and 35 miles North to South, making it Australia's 3rd largest island. Kingscote, where we stayed, is the biggest city on the island, as well as the first settlement in South Australia.
We carpooled with some coworkers down to Cape Jervis, where we caught the ferry over to the island. It only took 45min and you can actually see the island from the main land.
^ The island in the distance.
^ They have their own bees that make their own honey, and restrictions on where they can and can't have bees. Not sure about the potatoes, but foxes, rabbits, and weeds would take the place over. Introduction of foxes was the main reason for the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger, as well as 50% of other species there.
^ Coworkers
^ Blurry pic, but these things are genius!
Upon our landing, it was very apparent that this island was an unexpected paradise. No time to waste though! We set off for Kingscote.
^ Two signs you don't want to see in close proximity to each other. Surprisingly we didn't see a single live kangaroo. One wallaby at night, but that was it! Go figure.. take a trip to Kangaroo Island and don't see a single one. There was a ton of roadkill, however. The average speed on sealed roads (paved) was around 100-110km/h but we ran into quite a few dirt roads that slowed our traveling down a bit. The quintessential Australian road:
Kingscote is a lot like Brookings, OR. It's a fishing town, has one main street that is actually only 2 blocks worth of shops, and doesn't really have much aside from hotels and gift shops.
^ They have this pool which is actually just a sectioned-off part of the bay. There's a sign that says "please do not put sharks in the pool."
For all your outback excursions:
Or you could always just get one of these:
So on the first day we dropped off our bags and worked our way toward the center of the island. There wasn't much time, so we just went to Island Pure Dairy, a sheep farm, and Island Beehive, a honey farm.
^ Iono what this is but it's rad.
Sheepery! The whole feeding/milking process was much more humane than I expected, which was nice to see. They also had a cheese and yogurt tasting.
Killer spiders on the roof mate! Nah, just a golden orb weaver, but about 3.5" wide and very quick.
On the way back we stopped by the Island Beehive for some honey, ice cream, and get a tour of the facilities.
Apparently bees live for 6 weeks and only produce half a teaspoon of honey, so these people take it very seriously if any is wasted.
The next day was our coworker and her fiance's wedding, which was the reason for our visit to the island. This also led to one of my favorite experiences in Australia thus far: driving! Our mode of transport? A Hyundai Accent.
Left hand shifting what?!
The wedding was held on Snellings Beach, a beautiful hidden-away spot on the North coast.
^ Marina made some friends.
It was an awesome traditional wedding. Perfect location and perfect ceremony!
Ok back on the road!
The next day we woke up early because there was way too much to see and the stupid daylight savings time was messing us up. This was our only full day, however, so we wanted to hit all the famous spots. First things first, drive all the way over to Flinder's Chase on the other side of the island.
About 15-20min after the visitors center is Cape Du Couedic, home of the Admiral's Arch.
And in all it's glory.. the arch! I seriously could have spent hours just sitting there looking around. The seals climbed up and got really close to us, and the view through it was simply amazing. Pretty close by were the Remarkable Rocks, a collection of wind-shaped boulders by the edge of a cliff. How did they get here? Who put them there? Aliens? Probably.
Remarkable! But we were in a hurry because Seal Beach was going to close at 5pm.
Whale bones, bru! With the clock counting down, we headed West back the way we came to check out Vivonne Bay. It's a truly amazing beach due to how big it is and how little people are out there.
The waves are a bit more intense than you would want for swimming, but the water was freezing anyway. Along the beach we found a ton of cuttlefish bones, and even some seahorses and puffer fish.
^ Playin with the macro setting.
At night we went on a penguin walk a few blocks away from our hotel. The penguins of Kangaroo Island only grow to about a foot tall, which makes them overly cute. I don't have any pictures, but we did record a lot of video from the aquarium inside as well, so I may post that.
Pennington Beach the next day. This turned out to be our favorite by far. On the other side of the rocks it was completely empty. Awesome sand, water, and more puffer fish. Deadly (one can kill 30 people), but still cute and cuddly.
And of course before leaving the island, we had to stop by a famous winery for some tasting.
Alas, we had to wake up from this dream vacation and catch the ferry back to the mainland.
Farewell Kangaroo Island! We shall be back again someday.
