Kangaroo Island

Part Two – Vivonne Bay & Surrounds

Vivonne Bay is on the south coast. It’s roughly the halfway mark east to west on the island and is a very pretty spot. The Harriet River flows from the north, its only about 5klms long and stops just short of the coast and occasionally, when the tides allow, empties into the Southern Ocean. It’s a great place for kayaking fishing, or long walks along the beach. We even braved the waters and had a full-on swim, this was a lot of fun, even if the water temp was a tad chilly. 😉

We solved another seaside mystery while at Vivonne. Walking along the beach, we noticed some strange creatures being washed upon the shore. The biggest we saw were 4cm, which is much bigger than the Salps we saw at Port Fairy, and very different in appearance. These pretty little creatures are called Velella velella. They go by a few common names, but mostly as the By-the-wind-sailor.

The By-the-wind-sailor is a free-floating hydrozoan of the Porpitidae family (thank you Google,) which sail across the surface of the sea as the wind hits their little sail. What’s really amazing is that some of the young will develop left hand sails, while others, right hand sails. This way they don’t all travel in the same direction. Rough seas and strong winds will blow them up onto the beaches, where they are left to die, much like our tiny Salps friends. Mother nature can be amazing, but cruel.

As well as a great location, close to the river and the beach, Vivonne Bay is also a great base for exploring the area. So, apologies in advance as this post is a little longer than usual.

Seal Bay is only a short drive from Vivonne Bay. Once there you will see another stunning coastline and, yup, you guessed it…seals.

There are a couple of options to see the seals, a paid guided tour, which takes you to a lookout then down onto the beach. Or a paid self-guided boardwalk tour. We prefer to do things at our own pace, so we opted for the self-guided boardwalk. We were lucky as the tide was high and there were plenty of seals close to the boardwalk. Whichever option you choose, you won’t be disappointed. The boardwalks are brilliant, easily accessible and give great views.

The following day, we drove into the Flinders Chase NP where you can find Admirals Arch, the Remarkable Rocks and Cape Du Couedic.  We did Admirals Arch first, and we saw more seals. They were having a ball along the rocky coastline and in their very own rock swimming pool.

Ok, no more seals… I promise. Remarkable Rocks was our next port of call. They are very interesting formations and we were able to roam all around the area, not a fence or barrier in sight. Though I’ll admit, when I walked around a corner and got hit by the strong wind, I kinda wished there was a fence.

Some people said they didn’t think the rocks were that “remarkable”, but when you look at the unique formations, and understand that it took over 500 million years of crashing waves, rain and wind erosion to create these individual rocks from one massive granite boulder. I’d say that was pretty remarkable.

Also part of Flinders Chase NP is Cape du Couedic, and another of the three lighthouses on KI. The coastline just keeps getting better and it was well worth the drive along the rough, corrugated, dirt road to see it and the lighthouse.

One cold and blustery night, Peter decided to do a spot of night fishing. Needless to say, he went alone. I was in bed at 11:30 when he left, and asleep when he crawled, shivering into bed at 2 am. He came home alone.

The following day, we both went to the jetty at Vivonne Bay to see if we could do any better. But all we were catching were crabs, which simply stole our bait and let go of the line when the air hit them. We were just about ready to give up when wham! Peter caught a flathead.

Poor little fella, I think the hook was bigger than he was. Don’t worry, he quickly slid through the cracks in the jetty and made it home safe and sound. 🙂

After that we walked to Point Ellen and watched the sun go down.

We did one last thing before leaving Vivonne Bay; we visited Little Sahara. I guess the name is self-explanatory, and the photos can fill in any blanks.

And if that didn’t put a smile on your face, try this.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!