Cape Jervis to Penneshaw - Kangaroo Island
Cape Jervis is your departure point for Kangaroo Island - Australia's third largest island, separated from the mainland by Backstairs Passage, which forms a protective barrier that has preserved the island's plant and animals in a living natural history museum.
Take your car across on the 50 minute ferry trip from Cape Jervis to Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island.
Anglers will love American River's superb fishing in the protected harbour. There are also oysters when in season, and the local bushland is home to the endangered glossy back cockatoo, tammar wallabies, brush tailed possums and other island natives.
At Clifford's Honey Farm try the honey icecream - it's great! The secret to the honey's quality is the world's only pure-bred Ligurian bee colony, brough from Italy in 1881 and kept free from genetic interference by the island's isolation.
Then on to Kingscote, the island's centre of trade and commerce, home to 1500 people. Visit Reeves Point, the site of the first European settlement in South Austraila. which today is a heritage park containing the state's first English cemetery, post office and the state's first introduced tree - a mulberry tree brought out with the first settlers.
Before heading to the south-west corner of the island, take a short trip to visit one of the island innovative food producers, Island Pure Sheep Dairy is open to visitors and offers its acclaimed produce for tasting and sale and be sure to watch the sheep being milked.
Seal Bay, a 45 minute drive from Kingscote, offers the chance to get close to some of the island's 700-strong sea lion population. Seal Bay Conservation Park staff lead beach tours throughout the day. You don't have to be an animal lover to appreciate the spectacle of 300-odd kilogram sea lions lolling about on the beach, nursing their young, waddling in for a swim or surfing waves onto the beach.
Stop and climb the white dunes of Little Sahara on the way to Vivonne Bay with its turquoise waters and beautifully shaped beach. Drive 42 kilometres west to explore the ornate limestone formations of the Kelly Hill Caves, fabled to have been discovered by an accident-prone horse named Kelly who fell into them.
Rocky River is the entrance to Flinders Chase National Park, which covers most of the island's south-western coast and includes among its many attraction, the specacular, cathedral-like rock bridge of Admiral's Arch, home to a colony of playful New Zealand fur seals. Just five minutes on is Remarkable Rocks, one of the island's most recognisable natural features. The huge cluster of weather sculptured granite boulders perched on a smooth granite dome overlooking the Southern Ocean make for a stunning photo opportunity.
Head back to Kingscote and Penneshaw on the Playford Highway through the heartland of the island. At both Parndana Wildlife Park and Paul's Place, you can get up close to native animals and birds, as well as friendly farm animals. At Penneshaw take an evening tours to see the little penguins returning to their nests from a hard day's work.
Maps
Download our map of Kangaroo Island for an overview of roads and town locations, or visit the Kangaroo Island page on SouthAustralia.com to use a Google interactive map there.
