Animals, rocks and sand in Kangaroo Island

{ Australia Feb/Mar 2009 - Day 7 & 8 - Kangaroo Island, South Australia }

The first day in Kangaroo Island was spent with a lighthouse, honey farm, fish and chips and small tiny penguins. The remaining two days had more lighthouses, limestones, rocks and sand with lots of animals thrown in between.

Woke up in the morning at the Emu Bay Holiday Homes and getting acquainted with the area we spent the night. Arrived very late the night before and the whole area was pitch black! And before we know it, we had to leave! Oh well, that's the thing about road trip around a big island - you can't really stay put in the same place. We drove to a nearby town to a simple brunch and coffee.


First stop for the day is to the most charming little square-shaped lighthouse, Cape Borda. We went there just in time to see the historic cannon being fired - specially for just the two of us! Yes, it was pretty empty when we got there. There were the old lighthouse keepers cottages and a small museum. The lighthouse was in a cliff, and in the days when the lighthouse keepers were staying there, supplies will reach by boat and hauled up using a steel railway at Harvey's Return. They stayed there in a small little community, without much contact with others. It must be quite a tough job for the lighthouse keepers, and their families. Down the road was a small Lighthouse Keeper's Cemetery. The next lighthouse we saw, Cape du Couedic, was a more typical lighthouse - a long thin cylindrical shaped lighthouse!


We then made our way to Admiral's Arch with hollowed-out limestone and lots of seals! The area is home to a colony of some 4,000 New Zealand fur seals that play in the rock pools and rest on the rocks. It was my first encounter with seals, although they were pretty far away! With the strong wind, bright sun and beautiful scenery, it was turning out to be the kind of trip I was hoping for in Kangaroo Island!


Next in our list is a place called Remarkable Rocks at Kirkpatrick Point. With a name like that, we expected some interesting looking rocks, but still, the real thing blew my mind. It turned out to be a collection of gigantic rocks of weird shapes balancing on top of massive granite dome. After years of strong wind, the boulders are now of various shapes and sizes!


Being in Kangaroo Island, we decided to stay in a "hotel" with a difference. The Western KI Caravan Park and Wildlife Reserve. It has small little huts that are rented out if you do not have a caravan. We spent some time exploring the Flinders Chase National Park, seeing lots of animals unique to Australia - wallabies and koala!

 


The next morning, we went to the Kelly Hill Cave, a limestone cave and Little Sahara, a white sand dune. It was our first encounter in a sand dune, and the sheer volume of the sand was intimidating. I started imagining strong wind blowing the sand and covering me up! Suffice to say, that we did not spend a lot of time there, although the experience is still vivid to me!


The next and lost stop is a must-go if you happen to be in Kangaroo Island, the Seal Bay Conservation Park - home to the Australian sea lions. We managed to be up close to them, sharing a beach and just watched them sun tanning, playing with the birds, and making noisy sound. It was quite funny watching them move about!

Spending three days in Kangaroo Island was just the right amount of time to drive around the island at a slow pace, enjoying a relaxing break from the city and experience the beautiful weather, scenery and amazing landscape. We returned our rented car, took the ferry back to Cape Jervis and then bus back to Adelaide.


This is part of the travelogues of Australia 2009 trip.

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