Kangaroo Island (KI) was one goal of this trip I managed to fulfill. After R&R at Venus Bay, I headed to Port Elliot (a few miles east of Victor Harbor) showgrounds RV camp. It is close to Cape Jervis and the ferry I needed to catch early the next morning. It only takes 45-minutes from Capre Jervis to Kangaroo Island. Australia has a number of offshore islands of interest, but this was my first. The Port Elliot showgrounds were a pleasant surprise. Inland birds were more in evidence than in any of my previous camps.

In the evening hundreds, maybe thousands of cockatoos fly in to roost in the showground trees. The noise and activity of the incoming flocks was amazing.

I had to leave by 8 AM to catch the ferry…a difficult proposition for a slow starter like me. But out my camper door a field full of galah cockatoos got me going. Beautiful, noisy birds.

The native population that once occupied Kangaroo Island island disappeared from the archaeological record sometime after the land became an island following rising sea levels around 10,000 years ago. It was subsequently occupied intermittently by fur seal hunters and whalers in the early 1800s. From 1836, with British colonization, people settled permanently.

Kangaroo Island is now a popular, nature-based tourist destination located 8 miles off the coast of South Australia, roughly 70 miles southwest of Adelaide. Only about 5,000 people call it home. That number could dwindle further with an aging population and young people moving to the mainland. It is Australia’s third-largest island, Tasmania being the largest. Famous for the rugged coastline and wildlife, the 96-mile-long island is a sanctuary for introduced wild kangaroos, koalas, and echidnas. Sea lions and fur seals bask on rocks along the southern coast. Besides tourism, agriculture provides income…wine grapes, honey, wool, meat (beef and mutton) and canola. Very strict quarantine rules protect the local honey industry which raises the rare, purebred Ligurian bee.

As usual, I ferried over without a clue where to go upon arrival.  I left the populated area around Penneshaw for the north coast. But to get there one must cross the narrow area near Pennington Bay.

On to the scenic and lightly populated north shore and its dirt roads.

I chose the Western River Cove campground along the shore. There were only a few other campers. The road in is steep and curvy. Large RVs and trailer-campers are prohibited. My kind of place.

Cross the foot bridge and follow the river to the mouth, and one finds a lovely beach and amazing rocks.

Across the valley from my campsite were grazing sheep (there are a lot of sheep on KI), some kangaroos, a tree growing at an odd angle and a white-faced heron in deep grass, an unusual spot to find a heron.

Most of the roads on the island are dirt, some in better shape than others. Traffic on these roads is minimal.The larger campers stick to the paved roads with occasional paved offshoots to touristy coastal areas.  On to Cape Borda. The Cape Borda lighthouse was built in 1858, the only square stone lighthouse in South Australia.

Originally there was no road linking Cape Borda to the rest of the island and all supplies were hauled up from ships docking every three months at a nearby cove known as Harvey’s Return. There is a campground there now and a VERY steep trail to the cove.

The island is subject to bushfires in the summer (as is the mainland), and suffered particularly devastating fires in 2020. The fires burned more than 520,000 acres; about 52 percent of the island. Signs of these fires are evident 6 years later. Even though the hardy vegetation is rebounding nicely, there aren’t many big trees left.

 

 

As a result of the fires an estimated 80% of the 50,000 koalas on the island died which is why they are much harder to find now. Foxes and rabbits (introduced scourges on the mainland) are absent on KI, but feral cats on the other hand, are top predators of native species. Islanders are trying to eliminate all cats. People’s pet cats must be registered and micro-chipped.

 

 

Flinders Chase National Park covers most of the western end of the island. The interior of the park is difficult-to-access scrub, but the southern coastal area is very popular. They have a lovely campground which I took advantage of (showers, covered picnic tables, the always available barbies, etc.)

 

 

The second of 4 lighthouses on the island is near Admiral’s Arch; the Cape du Couedic lighthouse. The lighthouse and 4 cottages were built of native stone from 1906 to 1909. Like at Cape Borda, steamships supplied the lighthouse keepers and their families only every 3 months.  Not until the 1940’s did a rough track and a sturdy truck start delivering goods to the lighthouse keeper more frequently.

 

 

Up until the 1830’s fur seals were prized for their pelts and sealers took advantage. Because the species (then known as New Zealand fur seals) was hunted to near extinction, the remaining population was too depleted to support commercial trade. The market collapsed. Strict government protections went into effect allowing the seals to recover. But decreasing demand permanently ended the industry. This species of seal has incredibly thick fur (up to 15,000 hairs per square centimeter!) that keeps water from reaching their skin. Hundreds rest here between long feeding trips at sea. 

There is another big attraction on the south shore further east where barking sea lions delight tourists. Sea lions don’t have such thick coats so they get cold and huddle together to keep warm when the temperatures dip.

Not far from the lighthouse is    Weirs cove.

 

The families stored their fuel and non-perishables in a storehouse at at the top of the cliff. Building materials and everything else needed to be hauled up the 295-foot cliff on foot.  Eventually, they built some sort of mechanical lift to winch up everything including people.

Moving east along the southern shore I stopped at Kelly Hill caves. But, the caves were closed so took a walk on a loop trail there and then moved on. The caves are formed in limestone, but it’s a geologically young and different type of limestone formed of shell fragments and sand dunes. However, from the photos online, the caves look like pretty standard limestone caves.

Roadside attractions follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a night at Timber Creek campground, the weather quickly deteriorated. High winds and dark, glowering skies didn’t make another night camping on the island look appealing so I booked a passage back to the mainland a day early. There, the weather was windy, but sunny. 

It was too early to camp at Port Elliot again, so I found an interesting, free campsite listed in the camping bible provide by the Spaceship folks. That’s where I’ll start my next post. I’m including a photo of a weird pink lake on Kangaroo Is. and a small photo of a leafy seadragon to tempt my diver friends with tales of other people’s great scuba adventures off the north coast.