Welcome to our day on Kangaroo Island! Today, we are going to do a LOT of driving, as I previously mentioned, I did not realize how LARGE this island is! It is hard balancing rest and relaxation with wanting to do things too! I was amazed as I got 6 hours straight sleep which is a record so far on this trip for me! So quiet and peaceful! The bed was so comfortable too – a great comforter on it plus a wonderful thick cotton blanket – the kind I like!
The owner had provided GF corn flakes for me (she had asked if anyone had food allergies which is cool) along with GF bread and for Andrew there was an assortment of cereals to choose from along with milk, yogurt and fruit cups in the fridge. Oh and there was coffee too! Two kinds – instant and French press! Such luxury! After a good breakfast we were off on our quest today to discover Kangaroo Island. However first, as we had already done some driving to Victor Harbour, the ferry and to the Hanson Nature Park and we were going to do more, we needed to get some gas so we did not run out in the wilderness! As we had stopped and gotten groceries yesterday in Kingscote, we had a coupon for 4 cents off gas, so we decided to make use of it! We drove back to Kingscote and got some gas and then back across the Island to Seal Bay to visit the Southern Fur Sea Lions who like to visit the beach there.
Again, here is the map of where we are going and what we are going to do for reference – today we are going to drive from Kingscote (middle top right) down to the bottom on the red road to where you see a little red “hook” in the middle – that is Seal Bay. Then we will continue to the left past the blue arrow where we were yesterday to where the road turns and heads south. Right where it turns and heads south is the entrance to the Flinders Chase National Park. From there, which is hard to see on this map, we will go to both Remarkable Rocks and Cape du Couedic to see the lighthouse and Admirals Arch. Then we will drive the red road heading north called West End Road and then along Playford Road back to Kingscote for dinner and then back to Beaudin Beach which is just to the right of Pennshaw where the ferry terminal is to our B&B. That will be about 350 kilometers of driving for Andrew today! I told you that KI is a BIG island!
Another point about driving on Kangaroo Island – it is quite interesting when looking at the map above or Google Maps – it shows roads like red and brown above – however not all of them are paved! Some are hard packed dirt and some are just dirt and rocks. It adds to the fun when driving. And then, on all the roads every kilometre or two there also would be a kangaroo at the side of the road – usually feet up on its back – dead.
After successfully getting gas in Kingscoke and Lynda getting some beverages, we arrived at Seal Bay, which is another conservation area and it has about a ½ kilomentre sloping ramp down to a viewing area where you can see the sea lions on the beach hanging out for the day. These southern sea lions, like the ones near Horseshoe Bay outside of Vancouver, are fur bearing sea lions, unlike seals which do not have fur. That is a pretty big distinction that they ranger who was at the education centre told me, after she asked where we were from (like it was not obvious from my hat!). Andrew and I bought tickets to go down and sea the see the sun bathing sea lions! Here are our pictures of the roll down to the beach viewing area!
It was interesting to see the whale skeleton on our way down – there are Humpback and Southern Right whales that ply the waters from May to October as they make their way to breeding grounds. These types of whales are baleen whales who do not have teeth – they have bristles instead which filter food from the water. There also are sperm and killer whales in the area, with teeth that hunt other whales and sea lions as we saw on the beach.
Now we have visited the mainly female sea lions and their offspring and heard the honking of some males, it is time for us to go to the National Park and check out some Remarkable Rocks, Lighthouse and the Admirals Arch! This was going to take us about 90 minutes to drive to, however this road is going to be paved…. based on our experience yesterday! Along the way, we passed by the Hanson Conservation area and eventually arrived at the Flinders Chase National Park. We got there at about 2:45 pm and it was just before it closed! I was a bit hungry so we quickly got a map of where we needed to go and visited the restaurant which was closing at 3 pm. The ONLY snack left was guess what? A gluten free caramel nut bar! They even showed me the box before serving it to me – I was pretty excited to get such a rare treat! Now that I have power food, we were off to drive to Remarkable Rocks!
The Remarkable Rocks are a rock formation that was formed by molten rock over 500 million years ago that pushed up as the upper layer cracked and peeled away forming a type of granite. The exposed red granite is made up of quartz, feldspar and mica where it has had thousands of years of surface weathering and erosion to make the rocks look like they do today. These are known as domed inselbergs or “islands of rocks”.
Back in the car, we were then off to the Cape du Couedic Lighthouse and then Andrew went and did the Admiral’s Arch walk – which was not accessible for me. The Cape du Couedic Lighthouse, which I was able to visit, is named after the French Naval Officer Charles Louis du Couedic. As the Southern Ocean was a nasty place for sailors due to extreme weather and poor visibility, many shipwrecks happened. This lighthouse, built in 1907, had lamps fueled by oil and kerosene and its lights could be seen up to 40 km away at sea. The lighthouse now uses solar powered LED lights to fuel the light source.
Then Andrew walked down to the Admirals Arch to check it out while I waited in the car. The arch has been carved by sea erosion over thousands of years and is known for its distinctive stalactites and a colony of long-nosed fur seals that frequent the area on their way to Seal Bay.
Now, we are getting hungry! We decided to take the “northern route” back to Kingscote for a change of scenery and go for dinner. As data coverage on Kangaroo Island is a bit LACKING (thus is why these posts got backlogged) I was able to find a restaurant that served gluten free pizza when we got close to the small town called Bella and boy it was GOOD! Andrew had the meat lovers pizza as normal and I had a chicken and spinach pizza – the crust was so light, thin and easy to eat that I ate the whole thing! Wow! Now with full stomachs, we checked out the local “swimming beach” which is actually a guarded pool with salt water with a breakwater so the tide comes in and out, with sand and picnic shelters! Pretty nice! As the sun was starting to set though and we still had about 45 minutes to drive, we decided to get going back to the B&B for the nigh!
Tomorrow we are going to visit the lighthouse that is on the north east point of Kangaroo Island – not far from where we are staying and then back to Pennshaw to catch the ferry at 1 pm. We have a 7 pm flight to Melbourne tomorrow from Adelaide for the next part of our journey! See you tomorrow!