Around The World Without Flying: Kangaroo Island Part 1

After my arrival in Adelaide on the Ghan, I was very excited to travel the next day to Kangaroo Island, which I had heard so much about. I was to discover that Kangaroo Island is seven times larger than Singapore, and yet is only the third largest island off the Australian mainland - Tasmania being the largest of course.

As I cannot fly, first I went on a coach from Adelaide to Cape Jervis through some very picturesque countryside. After the remote desert landscapes I had just travelled through, which I loved by the way, here were rolling hills covered with lush green grass. From golds and reds and purples and browns dotted with spinifex, termite mounds, boab trees and so forth, and rugged terrain to smooth fields of green. What a contrast!

From Cape Jervis I caught a large, modern ferry over to the island. I was just so lucky, though. This was August, and there had just been bad weather and rough seas, so ours was the first ferry able to cross over there for a day or so. The ride was perfectly smooth and it was just great to see the island come into view.

The ferry docked in a charming, small seaside village called Penneshaw, where I was to stay for two nights. After checking in, I explored the village, and was intrigued by a small group of birds busily flying in and out of some bushes on the beachfront over the road from the hotel. That evening I walked to a place from where you could take a guided tour to see some penguins. There were only a few of us, which meant we could walk close to the guide, who had a torch. That was very fortuitous, as the dirt track was not lit up, of course, or the penguins would not come out of their burrows. As it was, we only saw a couple of brown penguins quite a distance from us. Unfortunately I could not photograph them though. But I was still glad I saw them and had a pleasant walk over hills overlooking the sea on what was a balmy evening.

The next day I went on an all-day tour of the main attractions on the island. We were on just a very small coach. There were maybe only about twelve of us, all from different parts of the world. We soon bonded and had a great time on this shared experience. Driving through the island showed us some of the different landscapes on the island, from bushland to farmland to rocky shores, and different plant species.

Our first stop was at Seal Bay, where we were taken by a special guide to see the many Australian sea-lions, including young ones, lazing on the beach as well as on the pathway down to it. It was a fabulous experience walking amongst them, though of course we had to maintain a respectful distance to avoid them becoming aggressive. I still remember our guide telling us this was the best time of the year to see them. Apparently the weather here is far too hot in summer - the temperatures on the beach can be in the high 40s (Celsius) and there is a huge risk of bushfires.

Next we went to a bistro and museum, where we had a great lunch. We then visited a park at Hanson Bay where we saw some koalas nestled in trees.

I will continue this in my next post, as already I have enough photos to show you . . . which I hope you enjoy.