Tuesday...30 April 2013

Kangaroo Island
Day Two
After a good nights sleep in a nice little cabin where Himself spent the early evening chatting to a small kangaroo on the steps of our cabin, we were up early again  to continue our trek around Kangaroo Island.
Kangaroo Island has its own variety of kangaroos. Called....wait for it....the Kangaroo Island kangaroo! They are medium sized, dark grey and have a softer face than most of the ones seen on the mainland. Most tourists get to see quite a few while on the island.

We travelled along the West End Highway until it met up with Playford Highway just where the bitumen runs out and then went 30 kms along the dirt to the last of the three lighthouses on the island. This one is at Cape Borda. It is not a 'normal' looking lighthouse. As it is 155 metres above sea level already it does not need to be very high to be visible to the passing ships so at 54 metres high it is also the lowest in building height in southern Australia.

The cannon at the front was fired to warn ships if they were in danger and is still fired once a day for tourists.
The bloke in charge of this one was particularly helpful and we found out that it is possible to rent all the old lighthouse cottages on the island for holidays. I collected a price list and found out that people that are 'into' lighthouses are called pharophiles.  There is also a dedicated lighthouse publication called Prism put out by the people at www.lighthouses.org.au (just in case anyone wants to subscribe!).
Another 30 kms of dirt put us back on Playford Highway and we had morning tea at a little town called Parndana. This town is definitely a farming town. Apart from a Pub, a Post Office and a Store the only other serious business visible was the John Deere Dealer. It needs to be mentioned that the major activity on Kangaroo Island is agriculture and tourism is secondary.
Next stop was Emu Bay. There is another lighthouse marked on the map but in reality it is only a beacon. From there we went back into Kingscote where we had lunch. Kingscote is a pretty little village and is the major business hub for the island. The normal island population is only around 4400 so none of the towns are very big.
Moving off again after lunch we headed back along Hog Bay Road for a look at another pretty little place called American River.  It is neither American nor does it have a river. It was named after a group of American sealers who camped there. These days it is a bird watching area. Without going very far we saw lots of black swans and pelicans.
From there it was a short drive back to Penneshaw which is where the ferry leaves to return to the mainland.

Another fairly smooth crossing saw us back on the mainland and two hours later we were back in our little caravan absorbing the wonder of it all. We did not see or do everything that was available but we certainly covered most of the island in our travels. There were also quite a few wineries but we settled for just a couple as we have been in and out of lots over our travels and we are limited to what we can fit under the bed!