After my trip along the Great Ocean Road, I stopped for 2 nights on Kangaroo Island, which is 2 hours south of Adelaide in South Australia. It's known for being undisturbed and having great respect for nature and wildlife. It is sometimes called the Galapagos of Australia and lives up to its name. I saw kangaroos everywhere; many crossed in front of my car and they actually look different than the ones on the mainland because of adaptation. There are also koalas, echidnas, and other local species that are very rare on the mainland. Here, you can spot them easily.
You have to take a ferry to Kangaroo Island and the fee for a round trip
ticket is quite hefty ($280 for 1 person in 1 car). Most of the roads are gravel or dirt and only 4600 people live on this large island. Sheep roam farm land and they make local honey. The main town of Penneshaw is small and quaint, with 4 restaurants, a gas station, and a small
Grocery store. There is a small penguin colony here too! The locals were so friendly and I loved being able to walk around the area.
Two days is barely enough to see everything; the island is over 100km one way and there are countless coves, bays, beaches, and nature parks to stop at. One of my favorite things was Seal Bay, where you can walk all the way down to the beach to view the seals resting. The pups had just been born and were nursing off their mothers, following them around, and being super playful with each other. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen.
Vivonne Bay was beautiful and pristine, so I spent some time at that beach. Only one other person was in sight and it was so peaceful.
I also did a short Ocean Safari boat ride to view marine life and as soon as we pulled out of the cove, we ran into a small pod of about 15 dolphins that were so curious of the boat - jumping to look at us, racing the boat, and playing in the wake. A few minutes after that, we ran into a group of female and baby dolphins, who were resting close to shore and circled our boat for a while. While viewing some of the island's coast line, we spotted some fur seals sitting on the rocks.
Overall, this was an amazing experience and I really appreciated the respect for nature here and loved seeing so many of these animals in their natural environments.
Ocean Safari Boat
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