Getting closer to the end of the master thesis is taking its toll on the regularity with which I update our blog. Resulting in a very belated: "Happy 2013"!
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One of the main attractions of South Australia is undoubtedly Kangaroo Island. With its 4250 square kilometres (1/10th of Switzerland or about three times the area of Greater London) it is Australias third biggest island after Tasmania and Melville Island. Because it is not connected to the main land a part of the endemic flora and fauna could surive or was brought there in order to secure their preservation.
Location of Kangaroo Island (Wikipedia)
Matt, accompanied by Linda and his car Toadie were supposed to pick us up on Friday at 8:30 am. This would give us enough time to shop in Central Market and get to Cape Jervis by noon. The kick off of a weekend plan that Matt and myself had "carefully" crafted - mainly to appease Linda who likes to have a structured framework. Naturally it failed immediately. Due to heavy traffic we hit Central Market at 9:30 - no need to panic. Whilst casually driving southwards at 80 km/h and taking in the sights we suddenly realised it was 11:30 and we had 45 km to go. Missing the ferry would have cost us $ 22 each and 3 h - the next one was not leaving until 3 pm. We were left with the option of flooring the throttle and Matt taught Toadie how to fly along the coast with up to 150 km/h. At 11:57 we arrived at the port and reversed instantly onto the vessel. The woman at the check in was slighlty confused about our sequence of things but, in true Aussie style, didn't make a big deal out of it...
Map of Kangaroo Island and our route
After this rather stressful start and a calm 45 minute cruise we enjoyed the sights at the Bay of Shoals, Emu Bay and Stokes Bay - proving that the two wheelie Toadie is a true dirt road star. Slightly to the dislike of Linda who didn't enjoy the rattling...:) Western River Cove was our campground of choice for the first night. We were the only ones in this stunning place, had a private beach, barbie and toilet. Kangaroos encircled our tent and the vibrations of their hopping gently rocked us to sleep. The pleasant besiegers were still grazing early next morning - at least twenty in our direct vicinity.
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Top: Bay of shoals and Emu Bay, Bottom: Cave at Stokes Bay and view of the campground at Western River Cove
The reason for our early start was an egg laying, beak bearing, semi aquatic mammal - the platypus, best spotted at night / early morning. Luck was on our side and after patiently waiting for almost an hour in total we had seen three of them. One in full size because he performed a "dolphin roll" right in front of us. Snake lagoon (a MUST when you're on KI), Admirals Arch, and Remarkble Rocks were the other stops for the day before camping at Vivionne Bay - ranked the second nicest beach in Australia (whatever that means). The only regret was not bringing climbing shoes with us. The Remarkable Rocks would have had some interesting problems to solve...
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Snake Lagoon (only accessible via dirt roads and then on foot)
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View and lighthouse at Cape du Couedic
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Remarkable rocks
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Evening shadows and sunrise at Vivionne Bay
Determined to not experience the same adrenalin rush as when we got to Kangaroo Island, we decided to take it easy on the last day. Sandboarding in Little Sahara (really fun - especially the second row of dunes where no one goes) and visiting Seal Bay (The seals are cute but it's overpriced - Admirals Arch offers (different) seals for free) were on our do to list before heading to Antechamber Bay to cook dinner.
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Little Sahara: views and sandboarding
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Seal bay boardwalk
From there we returned to Penneshaw - so early that the check-in for the ferry wasn't open yet. A coffee later and back at the registration counter we checked our reservation and it said: Monday 21.1.2013. WHAT? How could that happen? Surely we booked the return on Sunday... Our good friend adrenalin was back. Next step: switching to emergency plan: make the guy at the counter laugh. Telling him about having had a retard moment and joking about being drunk at work when booking the tickets won him over. There was just enough space on the boat and he let us on without having to re-book for $ 22 each. We couldn't believe our luck but were on edge until well clear of the island and sure they wouldn't make us debark again...
Conclusions from this trip:
- Kangaroo Island is awesome. Almost everything Australia has to offer is condensed right there. To make the most of it I would advise taking a car that you can take off road. Otherwise you will miss some amazing spots.
- Under no circumstances travel with Elvira, Matt or me if you love well planned trips. Spontaneity and improvisation is our forte. And that is exactly how I "plan" to walk through Southeast Asia with Elvira...:)
