Kangaroo Island adventures...

Location: Kangaroo Island (KI)

Date 31 March – 4 April

Wikipedia  results for KI are: Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island after Tasmania and Melville Island. It is 112 kilometres (70 mi) southwest of Adelaide at the entrance of Gulf St Vincent. At its closest point to the mainland, it is 13 kilometres (8 mi) offshore from Cape Jervis, on the tip of theFleurieu Peninsula in the state of South Australia. The island is 150 km (93 mi) long and between 900 m (980 yd) and 57 km (35 mi) wide. 

On the 31^st we met Maaike at Cape Jervis which is the teeniest tiniest harbour village I have ever seen. It literally only has the ferry crossing. It was really good to see Maaike again after 7 weeks and we will travel together probably up to Sydney depending on the time.

When we heard the word Kangaroo island (KI) we thought.. YEY Roo’s everywhere! Unfortunately a big part of the island had suffered a massive bush-fire ( part of black-sunday 2009) which killed a lot of animals (so sad). 

The first day (cuz we arrived late) we camped directly next to the ferry. The only camping with hot water showers (without time limit) and boy did we need some after the 2 cold dives earlier that day. The temperature dropped a lot as well on the island and the sun vanished behind the clouds.

All of a sudden the campervan we first shared with 2 now had to hold 3 people and a tent plus air mattress, and not to forget a surfboard and a body board. I can here you thinking ... "How the"...Yup that is what we thought as well. Luckily the surfboard and body board could be tucked away on the roof and as the days went by we had a system going on of loading the car as efficient as possible :) 

The second day we went to Flinders park at the south-east end of the island, known for its many wild animals ( but also the part that was burned in 2009). We did a 10K hike and only saw geese and 3 walibi’s needless to say that we were slightly disappointed. That day we camped on a nice small secluded camping in the park. Just when we were enjoying some wine we heard some scratching.......2 possums (we think mommy and baby) were eating all the road kill ( mostly big bugs) of our car ( enough to feed a whole village of possums!). Later when we were preparing dinner at the BBQ area we even saw 2 Echidnas! Apparently the latter are kind of rare to see so up and personal. We also met a really nice couple who offered a room in their house when we would visit Melbourne.

possum eating our road kill

 The next day we went to the north end of Flinders park but first we walked the “koala Walk”. YEY our first Koala’s. What a lazy animal that is! But so cute to see that little woollen creature sitting on the tinniest part of the three. They were all very high up though so close-ups weren't really an option. Kangaroo’s were also lying left right and centre here. What I didn't know is that a kangaroo is actually Nocturnal! It grazes from let’s say 5PM to midnight sleeps during the coldest part of the day, wakes up at 9-ish then grazes until 10-11 in the morning after which it rests throughout the hottest part of the afternoon. When we saw these boys they were definitely resting!

Koala?

That night we were the only ones to camp on the far end of the park. The nights are still freezing so we ended up in the camper van watching a movie. The next day we hiked a 9K trail to the lighthouse which was kind of pointless but we still got our morning exercise ;) We did notice that as soon as a true Australian has a little much to do they go kind of mad. I guess when you are used to doing 1 thing at a time it must be very overwhelming when all of a sudden you have to do 2 ;)  It is actually very amusing to see a stressed Australian ;)

Free camping

That day we continued our trip back to the “ferry-side” of the islands visiting some beaches on our way and enjoying the nice views. We even had a close encounter with a Koala. Mr Koala decided to cross the road just as we drove by. Thank god this Koala was wide away and jumped back on time. IT jumped in a small tree nearby and we had the chance of seeing a Koala really close. They are actually a lot browner and less cuddly than I thought they would be. But apparently the females are cuddlier and grey looking and this was most definitely an old bachelor.

We also visited the “remarkable rocks” which are as it says... remarkable. Even though it is not high-season it did feel like the busses were offloading by the minute. However we did manage to enjoy the scenery which was absolutely stunning.

All pics can be found here:

AU - Kangaroo Island 2011

Ayo,

Marrem