THE scenery stuns, the wildlife captivates, the food and wine teases the palate, and the cottage industries are never run-of-the-mill.
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We are talking clean and green Kangaroo Island, which sits off South Australia’s coastline, and is one of Australia’s tourism hot spots.
Its popularity has already seen one of the world’s top luxury resorts, Southern Ocean Lodge, open on the island’s remote south-west corner.
Yet, the islanders remain unfazed by its fame. While many locals are involved in the tourist industry, they don’t want to lose their laidback lifestyle.
As our coach captain-tour guide Kevin Howard remarks, “Visitors often say the island is caught in a time warp, and in some ways that is true. We have a unique lifestyle. Where else can you stop the car in town, leave the keys in the ignition, go off to do business, and get back to find nothing has been touched?”
Kevin’s family has lived on the island for generations as sheep farmers, and he knows just about all the island’s 4500 residents. “I’m always waving at someone, or stopping to have a chat.”
When Matthew Flinders charted Terra Australis in 1802 it was a no-brainer for the British explorer to give the island its name as it was teeming with kangaroos.
Today Kangaroo Island – the third largest island in Australia after Tasmania and Melville Island – is a designated wildlife sanctuary, which adds to its appeal for Australian and international visitors. All want to get up close and personal with native wildlife that includes 250,000 kangaroos, one million wallabies, numerous koalas, sea lions and rare birds.
There’s koala-spotting at Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, kangaroos galore at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, giant birds of prey at Raptor Domain, fur seals cavorting near Admirals Arch, and large sea lions lumbering along the soft white sand at SealBay.
Then there’s boulder-hopping at the sculpted Remarkable Rocks covered in photogenic orange lichen.
We are on SeaLink’s two-day Best of Kangaroo Island coach tour, and on board are Italian honeymooners already looking forward to the honey ice cream at Clifford’s honey farm. There they will also check out hives of Ligurian bees that originally hailed from Italy, but now call this island home.
Indeed, the island’s strict quarantine law has resulted in the Ligurian bees being the only pure-bred honey bees left in the world.
Kevin tells us many of the island’s farmers turned to tourism-related activities, and to cottage industries such as beekeeping and eucalyptus oil distilling, to make ends meet when the sheep market collapsed. Aquaculture and potato farming also came to the fore.
He gives us a taste of the islanders’ quirky side by driving along a road known locally as the “drunken highway” as it weaves snake-like across the landscape with not a straight section in sight.
Then there’s Dead Horse Lagoon, named after a horse that became stuck in the mud during a drought.
Further on, he points to a long white limestone wall originally built to protect the property’s vegetable garden from marauding wildlife. But once the owner retired he continued building the dry-stone wall around the property, and he has never been fitter.
Kevin points to the mown paddock of another islander who is so keen on cricket that he created his own cricket ground called the MCG, not after the hallowed ground in Melbourne, but after his own initials.
There is no shortage of tourist accommodation, from B&Bs to homesteads and hotels, as well as properties suited to families, and a shearing shed for backpackers.
Our overnight stay at the historic Ozone Hotel on the waterfront at Kingscote is a delightful surprise with its stylish art deco rooms.
True, we run out of time to visit many places, such as the farm where sheep are milked for cheese-making, the gin distillery that uses native juniper berries, the vineyard atop a hill with stunning ocean views, and Vivonne Bay, ranked as Australia’s best beach by a Sydney University research team.
But we can always come back for those.
If you go...
THE two-day SeaLink Kangaroo Island coach tour operates daily from Adelaide and prices start from $567.50 per person twin share.
Prices include return coach transfers from selected Adelaide and Glenelg hotels to Cape Jervis, return ferry transfers from Cape Jervis to Penneshaw, choice of accommodation on Kangaroo Island, breakfast and lunch daily, touring in an air-conditioned coach, all park entry fees and guided tours – 131-301, www.sealink.com.au
