Kangaroo Island is tiny and sits just off the South Australian Coast close to Adelaide. About 10,000 years ago, the Island was connected to the mainland and in that earlier period there is evidence of Aboriginal occupation of the land. In the period after the Island separated from the mainland, it seems that Aboriginal occupation ceased. There is not an agreed version of why that happened. However there are cave paintings and artifacts traditionally associated with prior aboriginal occupation.
We were told that a set of cave paintings found on the island, appeared to show aboriginal figures, but also taller non aboriginal hunters equipped with bows and arrows, which were not traditional aboriginal hunting tools. What I did not glean was exactly when these drawings date from.
The implication is that there were much earlier visitors to Kangaroo Island before the Aboriginal occupation died out.
As the drawings seem to pre-date the period of known exploration, it might be assumed that these were people who had massively blown off course from a far away continent. Did these people kill off the aboriginal people? Did they introduce diseases like other Europeans did on the mainland years later. Did they sail off again? They presumably had no women on their boats and therefore did not stay and settle. A mystery yet to be resolved.
By the time explorers such as Matthew Flinders arrived on the Island in 1802, the Island was unoccupied, but had been visited by sealers and some others.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_Island
To reach Kangaroo Island, you take a short ferry ride (45 minutes) on the Sealink Ferry from Cape Jervis to Penneshaw. I have been told it is the world’s most expensive ferry expressed in cost per kilometer! It could be.
I was amazed at how large articulated lorries were loaded onto this relatively small ferry. Reversing into a tight narrow space they glided into position. So how did that fit?
The rest of us had to squash in and around these large commercial vehicles.
In the two days prior to our booking many sailings had been cancelled due to the high winds and big seas. So we were relieved that after 8,000 kilometers and 45 days of road trip, we were still on schedule!
It was not a gentle glide across the pond, but an extremely choppy crossing through the Backstairs Passage. We were advised sit at the rear of the boat, close to the toilets for our ‘own comfort’!
The front bow seating area was fenced off as the front of the boat was rising and crashing down amongst untamed waves. I was happy not to look!
Kangaroo Island now has a population of around 4,000 permanent residents and the Northern part is largely a dense forested area. A nature wonderland. I was asked by a Cousin, whether they were still suffering from the effects of the devastating forest fires which occurred in 2019/20. And initially I said I thought it seemed quite recovered. That was until we visited the remoter Flinders Chase National Park and stopped by at the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary where we learnt that this recovery is still very much on going.
https://www.tourkangarooisland.com.au/visit/general-information/bushfires-on-kangaroo-island
We arrived on the island well into the afternoon and we had only an hour and a half to locate a place for the night and to find some highly recommended fish and chips. So on landing the count down started! We shot out of Penneshaw on the only tarmac road towards Kingscote, intent on finding the Petrol station purporting to sell fresh fish!
We drove as fast as we could, partly to reach the shop before 5pm, but also so we had some chance of reaching our sleeping destination before sunset, in the settlement of Emu Bay, a bit further on.
Needless to say the fish shop was closed! No fish today because the weather the previous day had not permitted the fisherman to get out. Luckily the cafe opposite was doing a good trade in cooked fish and chips. We had these wrapped up and shot off to Emu Bay to find our camping spot and view the sunset.
I was feeling well grumpy by now, because although sunset was meant to be at 5.30pm, at Emu Bay it was nearer 5.15pm, because of a large hill. The only solution was to chase the sunset and we drove up a tiny road to the top and we caught the last moments of the setting sun at Emu Bay, and tucked into our warm fish and chips in the dark next to a rusty tractor.
We descended into our camping spot and were pleasantly pleased to find new toilets installed. And we planned our tour of the island starting the following morning. There were a series of bays which we needed to reach, before booking a guided nocturnal walk at Hanson Bay Wild Life Sanctuary, to better see some of the wildlife.
Before setting off the next morning, we returned to the Kingscote petrol station to buy some fresh Whiting for dinner. This time we had success. Obviously, we had to have a mosey around Kingscote while we were there. We were surprised at how small was the Island’s main settlement.
It was looking sleepy out of season, but one or two places were being renovated for the summer. What it did have was a lovely beach frontage and a smattering of tourist shops, galleries and eateries. And a perfectly serviceable food store. I am not sure if the hotel below was operational but there it was.
The first scheduled windy stop of the day was Stokes Bay. Its promised cafe was disappointingly closed at this time of year. But we pushed open the car doors against the force of the wind, pulled our hats firmly down on our heads and tucked our coats tightly around us and headed for the beach. What this wonderful spot had to offer were large boulders at the headland that formed a tight passageway to squeeze through, which opened out onto a long pristine sandy beach. We had to pass signs warning about the notorious rip tides and were glad that we were not tempted to take a dip!
The next stop was Snelling beach. The whole thing was taking longer than we had imagined because although the roads were pretty level, they were not tarmac. So we had to drive slowly. By the time we reached Snelling, we realised that progress was going to be slow so that we needed to try and book our nocturnal walk.
However, the weather was worsening and by the time we had contacted Hanson Bay Wildlife sanctuary, they had decided that a 6pm nocturnal walk was in no one’s best interests! (By then it was actually blowing a real hooly). So Jim booked us in with Tom for a daytime walk in the morning! More of that later.
What we did have time for, was a quick visit to the Admirals Arch on the Coast to the South through the Flinders Chase National Park. It was amazing to find the wobbly road through the park!
Bear in mind that this was the area completely devastated by the forest fires only a few years ago. There was evidence of a fire but all around the dead trees, new growth had pushed up and spread.What was amazing was just how quickly the vegetation has returned. Granted that the trees are now not very tall, but what the vegetation lacks in height it makes up for in density.It did not look like scorched earth.
On reaching Admirals Arch car park, we realised we were going to be treated to one of Australias long windy visitor walkways all the way down to the sea. This ensures that visitors don’t trample the sensitive vegetation but also ensures that there are less slips and trips. I am always amazed to find that in many of these places where steps are involved, it is custom and practice in Australia to have a strategically placed defibrillator in the event of heart episodes! This was no exception.
As we descended towards the sea, we peered down into the rock pools and saw squirming swimmers having the time of their life. I was told they were junior sea lions. They could have been prancing porpoises for all I knew! We descended further and women passing up the other way close to the defibrillator, were being blown backwards by the gusty wind. As we reached closer to the waters edge we realised that we were surrounded by seals or sea lions! Some were frolicking in and out of the swell of the sea and others were lounging around apparently resting and others were heaving themselves up into higher positions to escape from the cold winds. We had come across a large colony of these mammals who were not remotely bothered about our presence.
Having got down this far we needed to press on to find the Arch.
The light was beginning to fade a bit now and it was still gusting gamely. We decided we needed to fit in one more stop before returning outside the edge of the National Park to stop for the night. The next stop were the Remarkable Rocks. I don’t have a satisfactory explanation for how these arose, but they exist and are pretty spectacular!
As the trees were swaying animatedly and the rain was now tipping down, we needed to find a safe spot to park for the night, with warm showers and a communal kitchen.
After leaving these Remarkable Rocks we returned to the border of the National Park and got ourselves into a proper campsite.
A bonus was being told if we looked up into the swaying branches of a large dimly lit tree on the campsite, in bay 20, we should see our first wild koala snoozing up there. And indeed we did. It looked like a bundle of fluff growing in between the branches. We were told it was animate! (Too dark for a decent photo!)
On this windy evening we prepared a fresh fish dinner in the camp kitchen, and Jim lit a log fire in the wood burning stove in the corner of the dining area, designed to accommodate 100 people. Not surprisingly, we had it to ourselves!
We got up in the morning prepared to be good tourists in spite of the wind and rain, and went to visit the nearby Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. We had booked a walking tour with Tom. It was here in the empty carpark, that we met Tom.
This was a passionate, talented and resilient man, who had remained during the fire of 2019 and afterwards, and together with the owner of the land, he is committed to bringing it all back together.
Clearly before the fire, this place had been thriving and receiving many visitors and booking in lots of tours. It had employed a team of staff and some were developing the business, others improving the environment for the wild life, some did guided tours and all of them were passionate about what they were preserving, developing and sharing with others. It was popular with volunteers and many young people came to spend time there learning about the wild life and how to protect and preserve it. (And indeed in the summer more people will come).
He was now the only employee on this vast Nature Reserve. It had once offered a modern visitor centre. There had been a large building accommodating a steady influx of nature loving volunteers and there were guest cabins for rent as holiday lets.
Following the fires, this all changed and like many places in this part of the Island, most buildings were destroyed, wild life and plants perished. It is now a case of rebuilding facilities and infrastructure and then encouraging people to come back and live in the area to make it all work again.
Indeed, after the fire, a small corner of this nature reserve was released to the National Park and on it they have constructed a brand new Visitor Centre just outside the Park Boundary. It had just opened when we had called in.
Tom is now alone on the nature reserve, living with his very large old mastif in a workshop area. He has tools and a ‘classroom’ which has electricity and a TV screen, but the rest of the buildings were burnt down. Now, its absentee American owner, with the help of Tom, is starting to rebuild. To assist, they need a volunteer Labour force. To attract them, they need to reconstruct the accommodation block. So there is a lot of work still to be done.
As a result of the fire, permanent jobs were lost and tourism suffered and what capacity existed has been focused on reconstruction of infrastructure. Many locals that lived in the affected areas prior to the fire and lived on tourism, left. So everything needs to build up again. Those working for the National Parks were helped through this period and they undertook work supporting the reconstruction activity. What is clear, is that those that live in the vicinity of the Flinders Chase National Park, are there for each other. And for some, it is still a bit rough!
All the debris of burnt habitation had already been cleared away. Now Tom had just started a new employee who lives nearby with his family and who was going to help him rebuild. He explained how difficult it was to get construction teams out to the area and instead the two of them were going to tackle the job.
We were there to see Koalas. These were not Koalas in a zoo or enclosure. These were Koalas in the wild. Once Tom had agreed to show us around, he had gone on the walk to locate Koalas so we were guaranteed to see them. They sleep a lot, so they don’t move around massively or frequently! He knew where they were and he did not disappoint. He explained that they had lost many koalas in the big fire which had spread over two thirds of the island.
After the fire they captured and relocated 24 Koalas off the Island to a mainland sanctuary where they would be bred in quarantine. This was to preserve the gene pool in the event of any future fire potentially totally destroying the Kangaroo Island Koala population again in the future. The remaining Koalas are breeding fast and the population is recovering. What will not recover for some time is a healthy genetic diversity in the population and so in spite of growing numbers they remain at risk.
Another feature of this Sanctuary, apart from the Kangaroos, which were numerous, as partly evidenced by the huge number of droppings over the closely cropped grasses, were the geese. These geese were breeding pairs and they were beginning to hatch and we saw geese protecting eggs and newly hatched geese scooting around, being protected by their parents. Further away, young male geese were urgently fighting in an effort to gain superiority and find a mate towards the end of the breeding season and prior to migration.
We had to skirt around a few geese whose males could be fiercely protective of their nests and the brooding females. Sorry for disturbing you guys. You win. No contest.
We were also shown plants that were popular with Kangeroo IslandKI’s special bees. We had had to throw away our honey before arriving in KI. Bio security bins were strategically positioned in port. This was to ensure that local bees were not contaminated in any way.
These Kangaroo Island bees were pretty special and had a unique DNA and produced a very pure honey which had many health giving properties. A few outlets were selling the gold plated honey and you could only buy it in small pots. As we were leaving Australia soon, we did not buy honey as such!
The plants that we were shown near the geese, were popular with the bees. It seems that the by products produced from the hives in the vicinity of these plants, have potentially life saving properties. This product is being researched by Japanese scientists as a potential cancer remedy. Sadly hives were lost in the fire and the Estate is going to have to start again with its bees.
A bit like the Paris Olympic Opening Ceremony in 2024, as we set off to look for the wildlife and to be shown planting and plans, the heavens opened on us. In spite of having waterproof gear, we were soaked and cold. And did I mention the wind?
Yes this was July and winter, but we had had a relatively mild trip so far. Our visit to the Sanctuary was amazing, but we had to retreat into the classroom when the wind and rain became torrential.
Whilst we were on The Island for our two day stint, we nervously watched out for further cancellations and wondered if we would ever get back! We worked out that if the winds were gusting over 40kms p/h we were stuffed. If they were between 30-40, there was hope!
We tried to put the weather out of our mind as we moved on to look at the Kelly Hill caves. The weather had perked up a bit but we went underground where the temperature is constantly at 16 degrees, so a tad better than outside! The Caves also had a new visitors centre and new footpaths. Their old ones too had been destroyed in the fire. Here too the planting was growing back vigorously and as we walked up to the cave entrance we were surprised by the sighting of an echidna. It unhelpfully did not hang around long enough for a decent photo!
We drove to Vivonne Bay before calling it a day.
So much more to see but time and daylight was running out. We opted to retreat back to our Emu Bay camping spot for our last night. We caught the last sunset below.
Prospect Hill
Our last visit on the island before catching the Ferry back to the mainland was Prospect Hill. This was some 400 steps up and provided spectacular views all round.
Apparently Matthew Flinders had been there before us in 1802. What astonished me, was to learn that he was doing all that exploring and navigating in his late 20’s! More recently, a very robust set of new steps had been erected to facilitate access to the outstanding viewpoint. (Needless to say, halfway up was positioned a defibrillator!). Glad to say that it was not needed this time. We left Kangaroo Island wanting more. There are fab cafes, lovely wineries, lavender farms, honey shops and many more bays supporting a variety of seals and seabirds. Our winter days were not long enough to fit this all in. I really wanted to find puffins but failed. Still we loved everything we saw.
