Kangaroo Island

Part Five – Overview

So, as of my last blog, we have been everywhere we wanted to go, seen everything we wanted to see and now have time up our sleeves to go back to the places we enjoyed most. However, I’m sure you won’t want to hear about the same things again, so I’ll take this opportunity to give our overall opinion of our visit to KI. Of course, there will be photos. 😊

Considering the island is built up to be one big conservation area, we were disappointed at the amount of roadkill. Kangaroos, wallabys, possums, birds, unidentifiable animals, even koalas. ☹ I don’t know if it’s the locals who know the roads, or if it’s the tourists who don’t know the roads, or a combination of both. And I understand that if something jumps out in front of you, sometimes you simply can’t avoid it. But there really is way too much road-kill on the island.

Unlike the mainland, there are no areas on KI where you can camp for free. Saying that, there are several Council run campgrounds on the eastern part of the island. The prices are reasonable but fixed, regardless of which campground you visit, and the amenities vary greatly.  Some have power, toilets, showers, non-potable water and bins, or a combination of these, others have…bins. As well as these you can book and stay in the National and Conservation Parks, or the caravan parks dotted around KI. For us, the Chapman River campground in the Lashmar Conservation Park was by far our favourite with Vivonne Bay being a close second.

While on the island we’ve been doing a bit of fishing, Peter in particular has really gotten a taste for it, especially beach fishing, though I’m not so sure he’s cut out for it. At least I know when to run away!

And he wonders why I never let him go anywhere by himself. 🙂

There are a few beaches that are shown on the KI map that are inaccessible as they are on private property. We found out the hard way that a “No Through Road” sign will often (after six kilometres of really bad dirt/sand/gravel/rocky road,) lead you to a “Private Property” sign. So, be aware of that. I mean it would be better for all, if the “No Through Road” sign was simply replaced with a “Private Road” sign, but hey that’s just me.

The coastal views are varied, from clean smooth beaches to rugged coastal cliffs and everything in between. Stunning is a word that we frequently used when describing the coastal views. The interior is a bit ordinary, except for the Dudley Peninsular. There you have rolling green hills, high views over the Backstairs Passage over to the mainland, but if you want to get some nice aerial shots with your drone, forget it. They are banned everywhere on KI.

There was not a huge amount of wildlife. I think the fire and drought has taken its toll, and even though things are recovering, the wildlife still needs a little more time (and a lot less roadkill). It could also be the season. We’re in the middle of autumn, so a lot of the reptiles will be slowing down, birds migrating, mammals keeping warm by the fire, you know, that sort of thing.

We had more overcast days than sunny, and the last two weeks we got a decent amount of rain. so much so that our floor mat ended up in the river. It was windy most days and cool, but not cold enough to stop us having fun on and in the water. We fished enough to realise we know nothing about fishing, but we do want to learn. We met a lot of nice people while on the island and look forward to keeping in touch with them.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our time on Kangaroo Island, and would recommend it as a holiday destination. Not everyone can stay six weeks as we did but do stay as long as you can. With the ferry trip being the most expensive per kilometre in Australia and one of the most costly in the world, you’ll want to get a return on your investment. It cost us a tad under $900.00 return (but we have a big rig, fourteen metres,) for a round trip of ninety minutes. That’s $10.00 per minute.

So give yourself at least a week, this will allow you to see all the highlights, Seal Bay, Remarkable Rocks, Cape Du Couedic, Lashmar Conservation Park and flinders Chase National Park, to name but a few. But, more importantly, give yourself time to stop. Take in the salt air. De-stress, unwind and just…breathe.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!