Swizzy's go East!: Down Under Adventure: Kangaroo Island!

So..next stop - Kangaroo Island!

We were very excited at the prospects of seeing the Aussie animals in the wild...however, at a cost. At a VERY HIGH cost. It costed us AUD$ 340 (CHF 340) for the return ticket on the ferry: for 1 car and 2 adults. Given that our budget was CHF 100 p/p/day, we figured that that means we'd have to stay at least 3 nights on the island to make it worthwhile.

To put it into perspective, Kangaroo Island is the size of Singapore island...with 5% of its population. So...did we manage to find enough to do for 3 nights? Hell yeah!

Arriving at Cape Jervis just in time to catch the ferry / Ankunft am Cape Jervis rechtzeitig um die Fähre zu erwischen

Tanking up before - as we figured it would be expensive on the island (note the basic petrol 'station')

Still not cheap petrol! / Nicht gunstig Benzin!

We board for the Ferry at Cape Jervis. It is run very efficiently - to our surprise - almost like being in Switzerland! There was a very strict queueing and traffic system - with lots of big, mean-looking-men-with-whistles to guide you onto the ferry. The ferry left punctually on the dot and arrived precisely 1/2hour later.

Once on the island, we stocked up on food and water for the next couple of days afte we were warned that the only other convenience store on the island is on the far West end of Kangaroo Island.

Upon arriving on Kangaroo Island, one definitely instantly feels the charm of this place. It is very beautiful and charming, in an unspoilt and uncommercialised way. The scenery is very rugged, with plenty of 'life' around you...lots of birds and plants everywhere you go - its amazing.

We were very nervous at first at the non-existence of technology here, i.e. hardly any electricity lines, NO phone reception and only 1 main road around the whole island. The other roads were all dirt roads, i.e. unpaved and definitely not levelled.

By the end of the trip, we loved the fact that there was little technology here and everything were so 'basic'.

The one and only road around the island / Die einzige Strasse die um die Inzel führt

Upon arriving at Penneshaw, first stop: Seal Bay, which is on the Southside of the island.

We first stopped at a beach round the corner from the Seal Bay Conservation Park, and it was deserted with a long stretch of beautiful fine, white sand. Unfortunately, the water was way TOO COLD to swim in,...AND as we first discovered, there were MASSIVE flies in Australia.

In fact, everything is MASSIVE in Australia...the flies, the ants, the cows (!), the mosquitoes. These flies also like to sting - to be more precise, they like to sting poor Pasci! (whose ankle swell quite a bit for a few days)

Enjoying the beach and the sun / Wir geniessen den Strand und die Sonne

Strong & cold waves = no swimming / Starke und kalte Wellen = kein Schwimmen

Beautiful rock formations by the beach / Wunderschöne Fels-Formationen am Strand

We had our first 'picnic lunch' by our car...pretty exciting. We never really camped before, so this was quite an experience for us...washing our tomatoes and carrots with the tank of water we carry in our car..and making our sandwich on a basic tabletop. :)

Next stop, SEAL BAY: was amazing!

Entrance fees was another extortionate AUD$27 p/person but we got to go on the beach, and up close with the Australian Seals in their natural surroundings. It was amazing! There are 2 kinds of Seals in Australia, the Australian Sea Lion and the New Zealand Fur Seals (who come from New Zealand...duh). T

he difference is that Australian Sea Lions have hair and the Kiwis have fur. Australian Sea Lions go out for 3 days non-stop to hunt for fish and come back to shore to laze and catch up on their zzZzzz for 3 days before going out again. The NZ Seals have shorter 'intervals'.

Aerial view of Seal Conservation Bay / Aussicht auf Seelöwe in einer geschützten Bucht

This was by far one of the biggest highlight for us - walking up the beach and watching young male Sea Lions play-fighting with each other, a baby sea Lion looking for its mummy and managing to wake-up and annoy other mum Sea Lions.

We felt so lucky to be able to be part of all this! All Sea Lions/Seals are now endangered. There are only 6 out of the 8 species left: Australia being home to 2 kinds.

Baby Australian Sea Lion looking for its mummy / Ein baby-Seelöwe sucht nach der Mutter

Big male Sea Lion sleeping / Grosse männlich See Löwe am schlafen und der Sonne geniessen

We were literally about 5 metres from the Sea Lions / Wir waren 5 meter von den See Löwen entfernt

Cute baby / Herziges Baby

Two males play-fighting

After Seal Bay, was VIVONNE BAY: another beautiful bay with sandy, white beach and a beautiful lagoon. Only pain was the journey there, about 8 km of dirt road....enough to rattle your bones and joints off.

Again, the water was way too cold to even dip your toes in! *brrr*

Pasci braved the cold waters of the South Ocean / Pasci hielt dem kalten Wasser des Ozeans stand

We then drove on the HANSON BAY: where the new luxury accomodation 'Southern Ocean Lodge' is. We felt too poor to even catch a peek of this resort...and headed onto our Caravan Park. :(

A romantic shot on Hanson Bay before leaving / Ein romatisches Photo in der Hanson Bay

We love our new Camera / Wir lieben unsere neue Kamera!

Such a beautiful beach but hardly anyone / Schöne Strand aber niemand war da

Beautiful Lagoon just behind the beach / Schöne Laguna hinter den Strand

Last shot of Hanson Bay before leaving / Letztes Photo von der Hanson Bay bevor wir zurück gingen

The Western KI Caravan Park happens to have a 'Koala walk' right next to it - one of the great advantages of Caravan Parks, as we found it - is its proximity to nature! We were sooo excited to find out that one of the Koalas has actually chosen to hang out (literally) on one of the trees IN the park itself, opposite to where we were parked for the night.

Come 7pm, about 20-30 Wallabies appeared from nowhere and hopped around looking for food. The ducks also came 'home', as well as the resident parrots and other birds and it was a maddening orchestra of all sorts of animal sounds - it was most interesting!

We still remember our first dinner on the island, opening our bottle of fine GSM and tucking into a plate of pasta - surrounded by Koala bears, Wallabies, Brush-tailed Possums and nature...it was beautiful! The sleeping part was also as unforgettable: mainly because of the noise! Poor Pasci was kept awake by some animal eating crackers outside our van and the wallabies picking the grass of the ground. Not so fun - when you're trying to sleep. ;-)

Oh, cool bit was the resident Koala decided to move trees....to the one right next to us!

Not so cool bit was when I (Mishell) had a very brief but close encounter with the Possums in the shower! Halfway shampooing my hair, instinct told me to look up to check out the 'roof' as Australia is famous for spiders, afterall...and what I saw was a pair of big, black eyes staring back at me directly above me! Another possum followed right behind... I stared at the Possum (about half meter directly above me), he stared back at me,...I didnt know to sream or jump out of the shower....luckily he decided I was not too interesting and went on with his other friend. :-o

Our resident Koala was just too cute / Unsere im Caravan Camp einheimischer Koala war sehr süss

He was not too camera shy and posed a bit for us / Er war nicht zu scheu

The Wallabies come out at dusk / Die Wallabies sind in der Abenddämmerung aufgetaucht

Surrounded by Wallabies! / Umzingelt von Wallabies

"No, you can't have some of our fine wine" / "nein, wir teilen unseren Wein nicht mit Dir!"

Koala finally awake at night! / Koala endlich wach in der Nacht!

2nd Day: ADMIRALS ARCH - where we saw New Zealand Fur Seals! The Arch itself was also pretty amazing - formed by the waves crashing agains the soft limestone over the years, forming an arch. The rough waves made it a fun factor for the seals to frolick around in...it was really cool just watching them swim around, enjoying themselves.

Picturesque lighthouse / Schöner Leuchtturm

We soon learnt to take pics of where we were / Wir haben gelernt Bilder von den Ortstafeln zu machen

You can't see it here but the little dots on the rocks are seals basking in the sun / Ihr könnt es nicht sehen, aber die wintzigen Punkte auf den Felsen sind Seelöwen am 'sünnele'

NZ Fur Seal showing off his backstroke (they swim to cool down as it gets too warm in their fur) / Neuseeländischer Seelöwe am schwimmen um abzukühlen

Admirals Arch - pretty breathtaking (but smelly - thanks to the Fur Seals) / Admirals Arch - wunderschön aber es riecht nicht so gut wegen den Seelöwen

Seal basking in the sun / Seelöwe am 'sünnele'

Note the fur around the head... / Beachte das Fell am Hals....

REMARKABLE ROCKS - which were indeed remarkable! We were intially cynical on going to see a bunch of rocks on a mountain, but it was indeed remarkable! They are basically a bunch of granite boulders pushed up by the earth movements years ago, and is 75m above sea-level.

This one looks like an eagle or hawk..very cool / Dieser schaut aus wie ein Adler...sehr cool!

Drive into the Flinders Chase National Park - interesting vegetation

Bored on the 14 km dirt road into the National Park / Gelangweilt auf der 14km langen nicht asphaltierten Strasse

We decided to go for a hike at the Flinders Chase National Park - a trail called the 'Snake Lagoon walk'. Luckily, we bumped into some workmen who told us the reason its called Snake Lagoon is not because it's full of snakes, but its just a name. Phew.

The walk was 'medium' by Australian standards but it was pretty easy, i.e. more like an 'easy'by Swiss standards; and very interesting. South Australia is unfortunately suffering a drought for the past 5 years, and the river here was pretty dried out (not sure for how long already). The National Park unfortunately had a bush fire a couple of years ago, and the after-effects were still obvious here. It made the scenery almost a little eerie - with charcoal black branches sticking out everywhere, and green shrubs underneath. Strange.

The best part of this trail was the END of it-which led us onto a beautiful and deserted beach - where we had a mini-photo shoot session. Hehe!

Bumpy Dirtroad / holprige nicht asphaltierte Strasse

Dried out riverbed (aptly named Stone River) / Ausgetrocknetes Flussbett (Stone River = Felsen Fluss)

Ahh..the end of the walk! / Ahhh...das Ende unserer Wanderung!

Deserted beach - too bad we didnt bring our swimsuits along / Einsamer Strand - schade dass wir unsere Schwimmsachen nicht mitgebracht haben

Vanity Photo session / Schönheitswettbewerb

Nice spot on the walk back / Schöner Platz auf dem Rückweg

We discovered the wild Kangaroos just behind the Caravan Park! / Wilde Kangoroos hinter dem Caravan Park

Big male Kangaroo chilling and watching us / Grosses männliches Kangoroo am entspannen

One curious male Kangaroo followed us for a little bit / Ein neugieriges Kangoroo das uns verfolgte (ein wenig)

We came back to discover the Koala still next to our car.../ Der Koala war immernoch auf dem Baum neben unserem Van

3rd Day: North Coast - Stokes Bay (with 20 km of bone-rattling dirt road) & Emu Bay.

Emu Bay is a 5km-long white beach, lovely warm waters to swim in and where we came across a dog-with-a-bucket tied to him to prevent him from escaping with strangers in cars. Cute.

Stokes Bay: you walk through a little passage of rocks to come to a beautiful white-sandy bay with hardly anyone. It was too hot to swim...

Emu Bay

Our Spaceship on Emu Bay :) / Unser Spaceship in der Emu Bucht :)

We spent our last night on KI in Kingscote as we had to catch the Ferry the next day at 930am. Kingscote is famous for 2 things, the Pelicans and its Fairy Penguins.

We saw the Pelicans at the Wharf (which reminded us of the cartoon 'Nemo'). They look so unreal...like cartoon! We decided against paying AUD$16 p/p for the Penguin Tour and 'stayed in' and enjoyed our bottle of fine Shiraz with fresh fish instead. :)

We thought they were Penguins but they were not... / Wir dachten es sind Penguine - aber sie waren es nicht...

1 Pelican....

Then came many more Pelicans! :) / Dann kammen noch mehr Pelikane :)

4th Day: A quick stop at Thomas Hill Lookout Point for a last view of Kangaroo Island before we left. One gets a 360 degrees view of the island...pretty cool.

Luckily we didnt see any Tiger snake on our trip / Glücklichweise haben wir der Tiger-schlange nicht gesehen

Drive back to Penneshaw...where we board our Ferry back to mainland. :( / Fahrt zurück nach Penneshaw...wo wir unsere Fähre zurück ans Festland genommen haben