Hopping Mad about Kangaroo Island - Part 1

What a start to our trip to Kangaroo Island as we had to get up at early to check in by 6:30am to get the 7am ferry.  We do some pre-departure checks before we leave each time, mainly to ensure the indicators, break lights and fridge are all working.  This morning when we were obviously in a rush, it just so happened to be the day the fridge decided not to work on the car battery.  There was no time to play with it so we hit the road.  Add to that, Kayla hadn’t slept well the night before so neither had Jason and I.

We made it a few minutes to spare but as there was a line up to check in I only just got the pass back to Jason as they were directing him to load the van onto the ferry.  I started to watch, and then I started to panic so did what any good wife does and turned my back and went inside where I couldn’t see.  There were people directing Jason on and talking to him on the UHF so they certainly didn’t need me around.

Jason reversing the caravan on (see how low it is at the back - that is when I turned away).

 

Before I knew it I was boarding the boat with the kids as only the drivers were allowed in the cars for boarding.  Jason then joined us up in the cabin area and we enjoyed breakfast and a much needed coffee as we sailed across to Kangaroo Island.  I did manage to go up top and see the van loaded on the boat.  At first I couldn’t see it, but it was that far back I had to go down the walkway a bit.  Even though the weather report had said that the day was going to be windy, we had a smooth sailing forty-five minute trip over and unloaded at the other side.  So off we unloaded and tried to quickly check the fridge but it still wasn’t working so there was nothing we could do but get going and plug it into power.

The car and caravans first trip across water.

As part of the price of the ferry we got a free night accommodation at the Parndana Caravan Park which is just out the back of the tavern.  We scored an easy park so reversed in the van, plugged her in and set off straight away to discover this great island.  As we stayed in three different locations the idea was just to explore the places closest to each park, so our first stop was Stokes Bay and when we first pulled up we just looked at each other and said ‘Is that it’???  Hamish wasn’t keen to get out of the car but we were determined to make the most of it so pried him out of his seat and walked down to the rocky beach.  As we got closer though I spotted a sign on the rocks that said ‘Beach’ and an arrow so suddenly realised we weren't there yet.  Intrigued we followed the track and by now Hamish was leading the way, really enjoying the adventure.

Beautiful drives through the island.

This is the beach we first pulled up and wonder if that was it.

Following the path - such explorers.

You come out through here.

We had to walk through a tight little cave area but when we came out the other side there was this little hidden oasis of a beach where it honestly felt like we were the first people to discover this beautiful place.  Best of all there was a rock pool that was fully protected for the kids to swim in.  The only down side was that we hadn’t thought to bring our togs.  Really a stupid oversight considering it was meant to get to 38 degrees that day and we headed straight to a bay!  I was certainly enjoying the warmer day and the fact that we didn’t need to wear jumpers.  We also met another family there who were travelling around Australia, having left Sydney not long after our departure date. 

Paradise has been discovered.

So calm and lots of fish.

Kayla had fun exploring.

The rocky area led to a nice sandy pool for kids to swim in.

Due to our lack of swimwear we decided to head into the main town on the island, Kingscote, for lunch and to visit the information centre.  We had a fabulous meal at the pub overlooking the water and then went looking for the information centre.  We found a shop that had the tell-tale sign but they really didn’t have any information and couldn’t even tell me about some walks.  Next stop was the Sealink office who kindly pointed me in the direction of the National Parks office.  There I was able to pick up all the information on walks (suitable for families) and purchased a parks pass.  It set us back $185 but it gives us a year’s worth of access… not really helpful when you are only here for 6 days.

So a quick stop back at the van to turn on the air conditioner (it was a hot day) and to change into togs and then we were back on the road to Stokes Bay for a swim.  The walk was a little bit harder this time as we were loaded up with boggy boards, snorkelling gear, towels and of course the buckets and spades.  Honestly felt like a pack horse.  Hamish was running through in hope of seeing his friends (from the family we met in the morning) and yes they were still there.  They were camping at the campgrounds near the carpark, so Hamish was off exploring.

We had a long chat with the other family and swapped stories.  It was good to hear she was finding Distance Ed pretty good and she was teaching all three of her kids, so it was some re-assurance that I needed.  The kids played, swam, looked for crabs, snorkelled through caves and swam some more.  They could have stayed until the sunset but it was starting to cool down a bit and get close to dinner time so we called it quits and headed back to the van.  We hadn’t even spent a full day at Kangaroo Island and already we were blown away with its beauty.  Inland it is just like the mainland of South Australia, but the coastline feels more untouched.

The next morning we had to move onto the next caravan park.  I sort of had wished that we had booked in there for two nights.  Whilst the park at Parndana itself wasn’t much, it was a great location and it was nice, small and quiet.  We got up late so there wasn’t much time to spare before having to move on, so I caught up on the blog a bit and then we walked into town to stock up on milk and fruit.  We couldn’t leave this park too early as it would take us less than an hour to the next one and if we got there too early there was the risk that someone could still be in the site from the night before.

By the time we got there though it was after 10am and thankfully the site had been vacated.  Mind you the Manager couldn’t tell us if it had or not and we would have to find out when we pulled up!  We scored and even had water.  This made us happy as I had been told that there was no water at caravan parks over on the island, or not all sites had access to water.  So whilst we can carry 160 litres of water, it doesn’t last long or you just can’t have showers in the van.  We are happy to use the shower blocks but it is not as easy as just jumping into your own shower.  It also means we can top up our water here before we leave as the next park doesn’t have any.

When we were half way through setting up another caravan pulled in beside us and we recognised it straight away as the van we had watched getting loaded onto the ferry.  They were a family of four from Western Australia and had their own two little kids (6 months and 2 ½).  So we got chatting and checked out each other’s vans before heading out exploring together after lunch.  We had to quickly call into the information centre to register and get our pass.  As I was walking back out of the centre there was a koala in the tree to the left, perfectly positioned for the tourists!  Probably the most photographed koala on the island.

We then we headed to the Remarkable Rocks which didn’t seem far on the map, but like everything else on the island it seemed to take a long time to get to it.  The drive however is spectacular and the countryside changed from thick high scrub to low thick scrub.  We don’t know how anyone explored this sort of country but came to the conclusion that these natural formations may have been discovered from the sea!  It was incredible getting up close and seeing them.  The only down side was that there was a lot of other tourists doing the same, so you had to wait your turn and it was hard not to get a photo without someone else in it.  This would probably be something great to see early in the morning when most are still asleep.

Driving through the National Park.

Our first glimpse way in the distance.

Someone was eager to check it out.

Oh no we are being eaten by a rock.

You honestly could spend hours there just wandering around discovering everything, or just sitting back and admiring the view.  There is even one rock where inside is pretty much hollow, so kids slide in and under it can then stand up without hitting their heads on it.  Hamish was happy to go in and stand up to show me.  I didn’t dare go in as I was scared I would become stuck, but I did get down on my tummy to take a photo.  Kayla then thought this was a great idea and proceeded to lie on my back so I couldn’t get up for a while.

Makes for some great snaps with the kids.

Hamish standing up in the hidden rock cave.

Oh it is a tough life.

After that we were very excited to head down to Admirals Arch.  We were lucky to score a park as there doesn’t seem to be much space for parking considering the number of tourists that were visiting today.  The walk down is a nice and easy boardwalk for the majority of it.  You keep stopping to take pictures of the rugged coastline and seals, but then at the next point you are even closer again to the seals so you take more photos.  Eventually you come to all the steps down and then the smell hits you.  It isn’t a sweet smell at all, but then I guess what did we expect, it is a wet rocky area where seals live. 

It is a rough coastline.

The archway with a few seals down below.

Everyone watching the seals.

The arch is so impressive and Wayne pointed out to us that we had actually walked over it without even realising.  There were some seals down below and we could have spent ages watching them.  Hamish however was having more fun going up and down all the stairs and saying hello to everyone.  Since he was keen to head off I thought I would follow him as it was better to get half way back up whilst he still had the energy to walk it.  By the time we reached the end of the steps he was over it and wanted to be carried back to the car.  Talk about making it a hard walk back for me but we got there.

Checking out a boat heading out to sea.

Now to walk back up the hill.

Someone ran out of battery power.

The lighthouse at the top.

That night we had dinner with our neighbours out on the big picnic table between our two sites.  On the other side of Wayne and Tanya’s caravan was another family who were on holidays from Broken Hill, so they came and joined us for drinks afterwards.  Kayla was getting tired so I took her to bed whilst the boys kicked on with a few more drinks and stories.  It was nice meeting another couple like ourselves who have sold up to travel and relocate to a new place.  They are thinking Byron Bay, which must be the as far opposite of the country as where they use to live in Dampier, Western Australia.

The next morning Jason and Wayne went out to do a walk.  By now I was tired due to lack of sleep as Kayla had woken up when Jason had come to bed and took a fair while to settle again.  When she did eventually settle it was in our bed and she then proceeded to take up much of my space as possible.  I tried to entertain them by going on a walk around the park and down to one of the lagoons but Hamish wasn’t keen on walking and I couldn’t really carry two kids so it was a bit of a disaster.  Not really what I needed after a sleepless night.

The view from Jason's walk.

Imagine this after rain.

When Jason got back we packed up the car and headed out for the day as we wanted to try and see everything down this end of the island where there seemed to certainly be a lot to do.  We stopped at the Kelly Hill Caves first for a guided tour.  All our entries into the parks and tours had already been paid for with the Family Parks pass (yearly pass), so at least we knew we were getting our monies worth out of it.  Even though we had done the Capricornia/Olsen caves just outside Rockhampton, this one was different again.  So many stalactites and stalagmites formations and the colours were just beautiful. 

The cave all lit up.

The kids enjoyed being able to touch the different parts.

How cool is this formation.

Our tour only took us through a small portion of the caves as apparently two square kilometres of caves have been mapped out with the belief that there is still a lot more to be discovered.  It was also amazing to hear about the fossils/bones that had been discovered down there, some being the Tasmanian devil and a now extinct miniature emu.  To get in and out of the cave there were a few steep steps to go down and then up to the exit.  I had to lug Hamish up these stairs as he was a bit scared.  Talk about give me a good workout and so I felt we deserved an ice cream afterwards.  Kayla really enjoyed hers and certainly made a mess of it.

Can't believe there is 2km of caves down there.

Ice cream all down her front - still no smiles.

Next stop was Seal Bay which has a tour right down onto the beach so you are less than ten metres away from them.  It was also included in our Kangaroo Island Parks Pass so that was a bonus.  It was great to get up so close and you realise they can move fast if they want to.  The only downside was that due to the wind and noise from the ocean, it was really hard to hear the tour guide unless you were right up next to him.  So we didn’t get to hear everything he was saying and learn about the seals as much as I would have liked.

Such a tough life.

This is how close we got to them.

Interesting watching them interact.

Someone couldn't have cared less.

By now we were all tired and hungry so we stopped in at the Raptor Domain café for lunch.  They really just do burgers and I had the lamb burger with mint sauce and it was delicious.  With full bellies we continued onto Little Sahara to see what it was like.  This is where you can snowboard or toboggan down the sand dunes.  As we pulled in we saw that our neighbours had also just arrived, so we decided to do it together as that way I could also take photos and video footage of Wayne going down with Isaac.  The walk in was longer than we thought and I think we were quite worn out by the time we got to the bottom of the sand dune.

This is how we roll.

Kayla trying to catch up.

We had a blast though and the kids just wanted to go more and more.  I took Kayla down and she just loved it.  We only walked half way up each time as the kids had to walk up themselves.  I tried to walk to the top once but the wind was blowing quite a bit up there so you just ended up getting sand blasted.  It only cost $29 for two hours hire but I think we only lasted one hour all up and that was including the walk in and back out.  Mind you, if you went earlier in the day you might have stayed longer as it was quite warm.

The kids coming down on their own.

Hamish pushing Isaac off.

Now we headed back to the van for some much needed rest but on the way we quickly called into Vivonne Bay which was voted one the most beautiful beaches in Australia one year, though I am not sure which one.  It has beautiful white sand and the bluest ocean, but best of all there aren’t a million tourists on it.  That afternoon after a rest, Wayne kindly helped us out by reversing his car up to our caravan to see if our fridge would switch over when attached to his car.  It didn’t so now at least we knew that the problem isn’t on the car side, but more the caravan/fridge side.  So we have given our ever friendly Coromal Service mate Craig the heads up about this issue as we have already got it booked in to have solar panels added to the roof.

Kind of like Airlie but without the tourists (and warm weather).

You nearly have it all to yourself.

Beautiful white beaches and blue water.

As it cools down quite a bit in the afternoon we had a quiet dinner inside before layering up to venture outside for drinks with the neighbours.  It is great sharing stories and Wayne brought out all these odd items he had picked up along their travels at antique stores.  I think he would have so much fun out the back of Dad’s shed going through things.  I have to admit though that it was fun hearing about them all and where he had collected them from.  Though I think the mums were a little nervous about the old rabbit trap being set with the kids running around.  I put the kids to sleep whilst the boys kicked on and Jason took out our map book so he could note different places that Ben & Wayne recommended on the other SA Peninsulas.

Enjoying Stokes Bay.

Plenty of room.