Kangaroo Island

Arriving in Penneshaw after a 35 minute ferry journey, the place looks deserted and bloody cold. We head straight for the camp site at Browns Beach which is in the national parks along side the beach and are council run. They cost $17 and are well equipped with bbq's, toilets and a cold shower but the lovely beach makes up for that. After cooking some steak and potatoes on the bbq's we had a lovely long walk along the beach. When we got back to the van some other campers came over and we chatted for a couple of hours, then a local guy had speared a "snook" fish a bit like an eel and was offering it to us to cook. He was a real "crocodile Dundee" kind of guy.
Up and about at 07.30 for a cuppa and some breakfast then it was time to start exploring this island. Straight away we saw kangaroos in the field as we headed off down the road, we pulled into Prospect Hill and climbed the stairs to see the amazing view across the island. From there we headed onto Kingscote to get some info, glad we did cos in the dock area were some New Zealand fur seals and a sea lion just lazing in the sunshine. Lots of Pelicans and Black Swans were in the water along with a penguin colony at the beach. We paid the honey shop a visit as Sally likes honey and the free samples that are on offer. We wanted to get to the birds of prey display at Raptor Domain center for 2.30 and what a great show, well worth the effort to get there.
Our camp site tonight is at Vivonne Bay, again by the beach and surrounded by the outback. When we arrived at the small but well equipped site there sitting in a tree is a Koala, made our day. After some photos we head for a walk along the beach, it's a bit windy but the sun is out but still cold.
Sausages on the bbq tonight with some rice, I do love cooking outside. Apart from the Koala in the tree the second best thing about this site is that the shower is hot and for $2.00 you get 5 minutes of heaven.
Up and dressed by 7.30 and our friendly Koala is still fast asleep so we said goodbye and headed on our way. 12km down the road is the Kelly Hill Caves but they didn't open until 10.30 so we had some time so went for a walk around their center. While walking we encountered a huge Echidna rummaging through the undergrowth, strange thing is people we talk to have never seen any, I suppose they just aren't taking the time to look.
Kelly's Hill Caves are a dry cave not very deep but very special with the different colors shining through the rocks due to the mineral make up. The cave is only small and has been well looked after.
From there we headed to Flinders Chase National Park where for an entry fee you can spend the whole day. From the visitors center we went to the far head land to see the Remarkable Rocks and they are remarkable. A huge bounder erupted from the seabed millions of years ago and formed a kind of circular headland. Amazing to walk over but I think in a few years people will be stopped from going on the rock.
A bit further down the coast is Admirals Arch, again a huge archway created by the force of the sea battering the headland. Along that edge where fur seals lazing on the the rocks, some pups where playing in a rock pool. A quick look at Cape du Couedic lighthouse and then of for a little walk to Weirs Cove. This is where the stores were brought ashore and stored for the lighthouse workers.
Time to sort out a site for tonight and we opted to pay tonight in a proper site with all mod cons. Once parked up they, had a lagoon walk around the site with the promise of Koalas and Kangaroos. Well we could hear the Koalas but couldn't see them but we did spot a family of Kangaroos and mum had a Joey in her pouch.
After leaving the site we headed back into the Flinders Park to do a hike, we opted for the Black Swamp Hike which is a 9km hike across the ancient swamps where lots of million year old bones have been found. The hike takes you around the platypus waterhole but we were not lucky enough to see any. The hike took us 2.30hrs to do but it became mega hot and a well earned ice cream was in order. What we did see were lots of Goanna's, these are quite big lizards that dig holes looking for worms. We must of seen a dozen of them on the path and they were not bothered about us being there. After some lunch it was time to head back across the island and to Brown Beach camp site where we are spending our last night on KI. We had the most beautiful sunset ever that night and it was so hot, the flys drove us insane that we had to get into the van and sweat it out. While cooking at the bbq I got attacked by mosquitos so not only was it very hot that night I was scratching also. After a very restless night the alarm went off at 6am so we can head to the ferry port to get the 8.30 ferry and head back to the main land.