Today we visited Kangaroo Island. The weather was terrible with catastrophic fire weather predicted, 40 degrees, a hot north westerly blowing at 20-40kph and extremely low humidity.
In spite of this we rolled up at 8.30am for what was an uneventful and almost pleasant, 45 minute sail across Backstairs Passage to Penneshaw, the ferry terminal on Kangaroo Island.
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| 071114 Penneshaw here we come. Looking towards Kangaroo Is from the ferry |
We were awake of course, but then our eyes were truly opened when we realised this is the third biggest island off the Australian mainland. It is 155km long and 55km wide. Today we were to travel its full length, and return of course, so it was no wonder it was 7pm when we arrived back at Penneshaw for the return ferry voyage. Fortunately during the day, some cloud appeared and that made the day more bearable, weather wise.
Kangaroo Island, unsurprisingly, looks like the mainland. One third of the island has been left in its natural state so there are plenty of native animals living in the bushland. Wheat, barley and canola are the main cereal crops and none is genetically modified, a sales plus in some countries. There are plenty of sheep and about 40,000 head of cattle. These numbers are well above the number of permanent residents living there, around 4500. Tourism is now, Kangaroo Island's biggest industry. Rainfall at the western end is 400mm/annum and at the eastern end, 300mm.
Our first port of call was to Seal Bay where there exists a colony of Australian Sea Lions. They were strewn all along the beach, recovering from their three day visit to the continental shelf to feed. They rest for three days, feed their young and then repeat the process. We walked to within 20m of them under the watchful eye of a guide and the animals ignored us, somewhat imperiously. Sadly the colony's numbers are slowly depleting.
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| 071114 Australian Sea Lions on the beach at Seal Bay |
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| 071114 "I'm the boss around here" |
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| 071114 The beach at Seal Bay - with Sea Lions lying around |
Next we went to Vivonne Bay, not to see the bay, but rather to have lunch.
Our third port of call was the Hanson Koala Walk and there were plenty of koalas there. The original koala population was decimated many years ago and a number was imported from Victoria. These are now flourishing and have no natural predators on the island.
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| 071114 Koalas at Hanson Bay |
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| 071114 "No misbehaving. I've got my eyes on you |
We then drove through the Flinders Chase Natural Park, which takes up a huge portion of the western end of the island. It is all natural bushland. Within the Chase we visited Remarkable Rocks, which is a granite massif with some weathered granite rocks on its top, and Cape du Couedic. At this cape there is a lighthouse and a large colony of New Zealand Fur Seals. Unlike the Australian Sea Lions, this colony is expanding rapidly.
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| 071114 Remarkable Rocks |
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| 071114 Remarkable Rocks and the coast north |
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| 071114 Weather erosion of the Remarkable Rocks |
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| 071114 New Zealand Fur Seals at Cape du Couedic |
Today was an exhausting day, particularly with having to travel such large distances. The coach was full so we had the usual problem of keeping the masses moving to meet timing deadlines, like reaching the ferry before it sailed. If we come again, we would stop on the island and spend a few days to see its attractions at a more leisurely pace. Pity for those that had to go back to Adelaide after completing the tour, another 106km in a bus.
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