Kangaroo Island 

By Keith Kellett

Kangaroo Island, off the coast of South Australia, is something of an oddity. There are indeed kangaroos to be seen, but when Captain Matthew Flinders landed there in 1802, and named it, they were greatly outnumbered by seals. That attracted American sealers, who set up the first colony at American River almost before Flinders’ ship, HMS Investigator, was hull-down on the horizon. 

The oddity continues when you look for what’s left of the seals. You think that Seal Bay would be a good place to look for them, and it’s possible that you may see some there. But you’re far more likely to see sea lions. Seals are more often found further along the coast at the spectacular Admiral’s Arch, below the lighthouse at Cape Couédic. 

In fact, "KI," as Kangaroo Island is known locally, is noted more for what it hasn’t got. Unlike on mainland Australia, rabbits and foxes were never introduced here, so the indigenous wildlife has less competition for survival. 

Another thing the island doesn’t have is something a Scottish friend once called "The Way of the Island": There’s no sense of being on an island; in many places, you can climb to a high point and see nothing but "bush" in any direction. 

That catches many visitors out. Many people arrive with the idea of walking or cycling around the island, but it’s really too big for that. Since there’s little in the way of public transport, the only ways to traverse it are either to sign up for an organized tour, or to bring or hire a car. 

It’s only a 45-minute trip to KI on the car ferry from Cape Jervis, on the southern tip of South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula to the ferry port at Penneshaw. Penneshaw is a small, attractive town, as are the other main towns, which are located primarily at the eastern end of the island. 

Kingscote, the island’s administrative and shopping center, lies on the western shore of Nepean Bay, opposite Penneshaw. Its center is rather an attractive place. Most of the older buildings have red tin roofs and shady verandas, often decorated with elaborately wrought ironwork, and these lend Kingscote a folksy, Norman Rockwell-ish atmosphere. 

There are a tree-lined esplanade and a jetty, near which almost-tame cormorants and pelicans often can be seen. Penneshaw and Kingscote both have penguin burrows nearby, where Little Penguins sleep, breed and bring up their young. But, there’s little to see by daylight. Notices around the burrows inform visitors that the penguins spend the daylight hours out at sea feeding, and come ashore at night, when access to the burrows is permitted only in the company of a National Park Ranger. 

Between the two towns lies American River, also the name of an inlet, which almost bisects the island. The town claims to be the oldest settlement in South Australia, established by American sealers 30 years before the first settlers arrived on the mainland. 

The sealers are long gone, as are most of the fishermen who replaced them, and American River is now a collection of tourist lodges and holiday accommodations, and a marina. 

The island’s main road, the Playford Highway, heads westward from Nepean Bay until it meets the West End Highway in the middle of nowhere. The West End Highway heads south; the Playford Highway continues westward as a dirt road to Cape Borda, where you’ll find a lighthouse, a few former light keepers’ cottages, a National Park Visitor Centre and not much else. 

Nineteen National Parks and Conservation Areas cover more than 30 percent of the island’s area, and the biggest of them lies to the southwest of that highway intersection. That’s certainly true in the Flinders Chase National Park, which covers 32,600 hectares of bush land in the south-western corner of the island. Entry is by permit, which can be bought at the park entrance at Rocky River. We did wonder if park authorities had the wildlife trained, for we actually saw kangaroos in the car park by the park office … but they appeared only after we’d paid the entrance fee! 

Probably the best-known feature in the park is the Remarkable Rocks. It comprises huge granite boulders on an exposed headland, which the elements have sculpted into fantastic shapes. Not far away lies Cape du Couédic, with its spectacular lighthouse standing amid weathered limestone rocks covered in wildflowers. Nearby are the two outlying Casaurina Islets – which will become three in a few millennia, when the wave-worn Admiral’s Arch, below the lighthouse, collapses. Meantime, the area offers safe refuge for New Zealand Fur Seals to bask, and be observed from a respectful distance. 

Spelunkers also can check out the Kelly Hill Cave, a limestone grotto with a mind-blowing display of stalactites and stalagmites, including an extremely rare “fish-hook” stalactite. This formation exists only in a handful of places, all in the Southern Hemisphere, and geologists are still trying to work out how it has come about. 

There’s lots of other wildlife at Flinders Chase. Not counting sadly all-too-frequent roadkill, we spotted kangaroos, echidnas, goannas and koalas. We missed out on the elusive platypus, though. We hiked around the pools they frequent, but were told that there was so much water in the creek from recent rains, they would be almost impossible to find. 

But that’s the way of Kangaroo Island. The wildlife here isn’t going to look for you; you must seek it out. And that’s the way it should be — half the fun is in the looking, and it makes the finding far more exciting. If you’d have it any other way, you may as well just go to the zoo. 

For more information:

(Not only for ferry crossings; you can also book a complete transportation/accommodation package with them, if you wish) 

It’s also possible to fly to Kangaroo Island from Adelaide via Emu Airways (www.emuair.citysearch.com.au). Another Kangaroo Island oddity: naming an airline after a bird that can’t fly.  

The name of the other air service, Rex Airlines — (+61)(0)(8) 8553 9117 — doesn’t inspire much confidence either … if you say it aloud.