Number One in Our Favorites (so far)
Trip Start
Aug 17, 2008
1
17
44
Trip End
Jun 17, 2009
Kangaroo Island,
South Australia,
Australia
Saturday, November 1, 2008
The only way to reach KI (if you don't fly there) is a 45 minutes ferry ride. While this doesn't sound like much, it can get rough at times, as we've experienced during our return trip. However, it looks like travel excitement can act as antidote to sea sickness as G has barely noticed the rough seas and then only to take more photos or filming away while shouting "Hey, check this out!" every 2 minutes or so. As about L, let's just say she was happy that G did not book that trip to Antarctica he kept pushing for :-)
We don't think we've mentioned until now how good the Australians are with providing information to tourists. Almost every little village has its own information center where some volunteer is present 8-10 hours/day ready to answer questions or to hand out free (and usually very well-done) brochures and maps (which you can also recycle after use). KI was no exception and we were lucky this time to pay attention to one of the many brochures for tourist accommodations and one ad (Western KI Caravan Park) to self-contained cabins right next to an eucalyptus forest where "koalas are falling off the trees" and kangaroos are grazing "right outside your cabin," caught our eye. While skeptical about the claim, we thought we should give it a try, and for sure we did not regret it. The cabin was wonderful; a mini-home with everything you need it in it, even a small family room for reading and watching TV and a guest bedroom. And the ad was indeed spot on: in a five-minute walk through the forest we've seen at least ten koalas, including two mothers and their cubs. The koalas are indeed as cute and fluffy as we've seen in pictures and they can stay in one place for hours (they love tree branches that form a V); no wonder the aboriginals name them "bum in a fork!" A well-deserved reputation! Interestingly, koalas are not native to the island and they were brought here in the 1930's to save them from disappearing. And survived they did, as nowadays they are considered a pest here, stripping naked of leaves whole forests of eucalyptus if left unchecked. Nevertheless, nothing beats in cuteness a mother koala and her cub and tourists like us do appreciate the opportunity to see them this close.
This location was also promising lots of kangaroos and wallabies to be seen up close and, indeed, during the day we've seen kangaroos grazing in front of the cabin and at night wallabies coming out by the dozen. All we had to do was to pull out some beer from the fridge and chill out on the patio. They were parading in front of us even better than at the zoo. It was an unbelievable experience and the amusing part was that when G was trying to get a better photo of some of the kangaroos and got too close to them, the kangaroos invariably kept moving around showing him their "derriere" for the shot. Quite frustrating for G but, apparently, not even the wildlife loves paparazzi. Anyway, by the end of our stay we were so used with seeing kangaroos and koalas that we were not even trying to photograph them anymore :-) Bottom line: the Western KI Caravan Park has our 5 star recommendation and don't hesitate to stay here if you ever make it to this part of the world. It has all you need: clean, comfortable facilities, reasonable prices and "koalas that fall off the trees." Literally!
Another great experience with wildlife in KI was the Seal Bay, the name being self explanatory. This beach is used by a colony of Australian sea lions as accommodation when not fishing in the sea and for raising their cubs. The Australian sea lions have the interesting habit of fishing out at the see for three days and then coming back to the beach and sleeping for three days (their union seems to endorse 72-hours shifts). We got really close to them (with a tour organized by the park staff) and observed them for a couple of hours while they slept, fed their cubs and fought each other (this seems to be the male favorite way of spending the time). It is amazing how we were tolerated standing/staring/taking photos just feet away from a mother and her cub! The next day, at Cape du Couedic we got to see two more species, the New Zeeland fur seal and the Australian fur seal doing pretty much the same things but this time on a rocky promontory where the cubs were having a lot of fun in the few pools of water gathered among rocks. They were having so much fun, they did look like kids playing at a swimming pool. Only that the water here was so much colder :-) It was also interesting to note that all three species were sharing these rocks with no apparent conflicts although they did differ a lot in size, shape and personalities.
In addition to the diverse wildlife, KI also has some really fascinating geological structures. The Remarkable Rocks are granite blocks that the weather transformed into incredible abstractionist sculptures. The rocks sit on a huge granite boulder that is constantly battered by the relentless Antarctic Ocean waves (the view of the ocean "boiling" at your feet is an unforgettable experience) and strong winds coming straight from the Antarctic 24/7. We spent a couple of hours there just watching the waves and enduring a bit of rough winds and then we moved on to Admiral's Arch, another impressive rock arch sculpted by the ocean.
Starting at the Admiral's Arch, you can follow a trail that describes the tragic (many, many) shipwrecks that rest in this area some of them from as far back as the 17th century. Apparently the tragedies were so frequent back in the days of sails and wooden ships that the South Australian government decided to place a few lighthouses around the island to prevent those tragedies from happening. The track in itself was very interesting (as is the maritime museum in Flagstaff Hill, a must-see; but more about this later) but the visit to the Cape Borda Lighthouse was in fact a disappointment. Instead of being immersed in the stories of the tragic wrecks or learning more about the structure and the role of the lighthouse (the kind of info we expected from the guided tour we took), the guide, an otherwise funny Australian "bloke," kept jumping around the ideas and telling us all kind of irrelevant facts. Although one caught our attention (probably the only interesting piece of information in the whole 1 hour tour): In the very early 20th century the Australians (and the British Empire) were really worried (not to say paranoid) about a possible Russian invasion. Apparently, when the Russian Baltic fleet was heading for the Far East to fight the Japanese in 1904, the Australians were hastily building a warning and defense network of lighthouses and port fortifications preparing for a possible Russian invasion. It looks like the Russians had better things to do and headed directly for the Korea Strait where, in 1905, the Japanese navy solved the crisis by sinking the Baltic fleet (in the battle of Tsushima) and, with it, any dreams of future maritime glory for the Russians. And, of course, the Australian lighthouse keepers (the ones who were supposed to detect the enemy fleet in the Australian waters) started sleeping better at night.
Another great trail to hike in KI is the Snake Lagoon Trail (6 km roundtrip) that starts at a small lagoon (that actually looks like a golf course due to the kangaroos and wallabies constant grazing there) and through a forest of sugar gum trees and then follows a beautiful river until it flows into the ocean. We loved this trail as it offers so many dramatic changes of scenery in a relatively short period of time: the green lagoon/billabong, the green and gray forest (the forest has burnt in a large fire in December 2007 that destroyed more than half of the national park but signs of the vegetation coming back to life are everywhere), the red river banks, the fantastic golden beach, a beautiful blue ocean and the huge, white waves. We do recommend a hike here due to its relative isolation and the feeling of having the whole river estuary and the fantastic beach for yourself is absolutely fantastic. Not to mention the feeling that your neighbor across the sea is Antarctica. Don't bring your swim wear though: the rip currents are very strong, the waves are huge and the water is really, really cold. Better bring your camera!
Talking about the geological attractions of the island, one interesting stop was at Kelly Caves. These caves are formed in the limestone that covers a good part of the island and there are a few beautiful calcite formations to be seen here. Besides the usual stalactites and stalagmites one can also see a few helictites. These are cave formations that change their axis from the usual vertical and get a curving or angular form that looks as if they have grown in zero gravity. They are probably the result of capillary forces acting on tiny water droplets, a force often strong enough at this scale to defy gravity (at least so says the theory). They are quite rare formations and even rarer within an arm length like here (don't touch them though; they are very, very fragile - see photo). We've never seen helictites before and they do look strange defying gravity in their fragility.
The last, but not the least interesting, stop in KI was at Clifford's honey farm, Yes, we could not bypass visiting a place that advertised free honey tasting :-) KI is famous for being the only place in the world where pure bred Ligurian bees still exist. Imported initially from Italy in 1884, these bees were the oldest breed of bees (some tracing it back to Roman times) but were afterwards wiped out by diseases and parasites throughout the world. However, due to its remoteness (and quarantine measures) KI remains to this day the last place in the world where they survive (As a side note, before boarding the ferry to KI there are multiple signs and warnings not to bring honey products to the island). It seems that these bees are more docile and hard working than the breeds we have now in the Europe and we can testify that their honey is absolutely delicious. As is the home made honey ice cream we have tried here (a first for us). Yummy! Also don't miss the glass-covered hive where you can see how hard the bees work and how well-organized they are. Without doubt, they are a society with really strong work ethics!
As we said at the beginning of this posting, KI is a really special place and you need at least a week to see it thoroughly. We spent here only four days and were not able to see everything that the island has to offer. We do hope to come back again though sometime. Who knows, maybe those kangaroos will become more tolerant to paparazzi by then...
