Kangaroo Island

April 9, 2017 - cozy 10 degrees and wind - yes, that's right, Australia doesn't mean it's sunny and warm everywhere ;)

We set our alarm early to be outside for sunrise and possibly see penguins. Both were almost a complete failure. Not only did we not see any penguins, but we almost missed the sunrise. So we found out that the time on the phone for sunrise actually means the completely risen sun... However, we enjoyed watching some little kangaroos quietly having breakfast.

At 8 a.m., we drove to Seals Bay, about a 1.5 hour drive. For $13, we could walk on a pier towards the beach and observe wild seals along the coast. Some even made themselves comfortable in the dune. Despite the sun, it was extremely windy and cold, but we enjoyed the view and watched the sleeping (or lazy?) animals.

From here, we headed to Admirals Arch with a stopover at Vivonne Bay and Hanson Bay. The former sounded more promising than it was. Here, we had a small view of a water inlet, but nothing more. In Hanson Bay, we went to a wildlife sanctuary. There was a path fenced by large eucalyptus trees and we discovered many koalas in it. Many were sleeping or eating. What else would they do ;)
Further outside the wildlife sanctuary was a meadow and a wallaby trail. At least we spotted a wild echidna on the meadow, whereas the wallaby trail was a disappointment. Except for remains of animal skeletons here and there, we couldn't find anything. Our path led to another meadow with small trees and just as we were about to turn back, we saw a whole herd of wallabies. With enough distance, we were able to take some photos and videos, as these animals were very shy and watched us closely.

Admirals Arch and the Remarkable Rocks were still on our to-do list for the day. As the day was slowly coming to an end and we still had to drive several kilometers, we quickly returned to the car and continued. To get to the mentioned points, we actually had to pay an entrance fee... Entrance fee to drive through a national park - not that Kangaroo Island wasn't already expensive enough...

There was a large lighthouse at Admirals Arch. From here, you could walk towards the coast through the dune-like landscape on foot and had a wonderful view of the coast. Further down, there were more paths and a wooden boardwalk that led to additional viewpoints. Here, we discovered plenty of wild seals. At first, they couldn't be seen due to their fur blending in with the rock formations!

Our last stop before heading back to the ferry was the Remarkable Rocks. An interesting arrangement of rocks where I could even see faces and other shapes from certain angles. As these were right by the coast, there was an appropriate warning sign and danger zones marked. You never know how tourists can be ;)

We set off and drove for about 2 hours to the ferry terminal in Penneshaw. After driving the individual distances all day, which I wanted to do anyway, I was glad when we arrived at the ferry. We quickly bought a cheese pizza and drove for another hour after arriving in Cape Jervis to our motel in Victor Harbor.

In summary of the day, Kangaroo Island is a beautiful island. The roads are very deserted and we hardly encountered any tourists except at Admirals Arch. Unfortunately, we didn't see live kangaroos everywhere on our drives. Dead kangaroos were lying on the roadside and even on the roads. Apparently, nobody on the island feels responsible for removing them. Therefore, we often saw ravens picking at the carcasses and even half-skeletonized ones decomposing on the roadside.