To its early Aboriginal inhabitants Kangaroo Island was known as Karta, 'the island of the dead'. But something happened over 2000 years ago that drove away the people.
What it was that drove then away is a mystery but the island remained uninhabited until the British naval explorer Matthew Flinders called here in 1802. There may not have been any people but there were plenty of marsupials. The hungry sailors feasted on roasted kangaroo meat and Flinders showed his appreciation by naming the place Kangaroo Island.
South Australia, Kangaroo Island - Marsupial Paradise
There still are plenty of marsupials here: grey kangaroo, wallabies, bandicoots and possums are common. You’ll also find koalas and platypus and colonies of fur seals and sea lions. Unlike the rest of the country, there are no dingoes, foxes or rabbits on Kangaroo Island - a reason why it is one of the best places in Australia to view wildlife.
There are people here too, although not many. This is a large island - a hundred miles long and up to thirty-five miles wide with only about four thousand inhabitants. More than half of the island has never been cleared and the bush is what the whole of southern Australia would have looked like to the first European settlers.
South Australia, Kangaroo Island - Take a tour
Kangaroo Island is a beautiful, peaceful place just a half-hour flight from Adelaide. There is no public transport and the only way to get around is by car or to take a tour . A combination of these two would be the best way to do it. There are a number of car-hire places on the island.
After the flight from Adelaide to Kingscote, the main town, you will be met by a licensed guide with a comfortable air-conditioned 4WD. One of the advantages of taking a tour before exploring on your own is that you get a taste of driving Kangaroo Island style. There are a couple of good bitumen roads but most are unsealed, with a loose gravel surface. You have to get used to driving on them - which is slower than you would on a paved road. But there’s so much to stop and look at in the bush that driving fast is the last thing you’d want to do.
Your guide will point out wedge-tailed eagles and exotic birds, as well as strange vegetation - much of which the Aborigines used for food and medicines. And you can do a bit of bush-walking to see how it is possible to survive in this hot dry land by using only what nature provides.
South Australia, Kangaroo Island - Flinders Chase National Park
On the western end of the island is Flinders Chase National Park with its appropriately named Remarkable Rocks - giant boulders weathered into curious surreal sculptures which change shape constantly as you walk among them and see them from different angles. A great spot for photographs. There’s a unusual lighthouse nearby, carved from limestone, plus two keeper’s cottages which can be rented as holiday homes - but it’s a long way to go to buy a pint of milk.
About a mile from the Rocks is wild Cape du Couedic with its colony of New Zealand fur seals. They rest on huge flat rocks below a spectacular archway formed by the pounding sea. Petrified roots of plants that once grew in the sand dunes can still be seen hanging from the roof.
South Australia, Kangaroo Island - Get close to the animals
Probably the shyest of all the marsupials is the platypus and the place to see them is at the Rocky River Waterhole, north of Cape du Couedic. You have to be patient, and very quiet. Take binoculars with you. You’ll find kangaroos and wallabies peering at you from behind trees and bushes.
The most famous part of the island is at Seal Bay Conservation Park where you can walk as close as 16 yards to a breeding colony of rare Australian sea lions. They stretch out sleepily on the open beach, surf in the waves, fight playfully with their young, or simply wander amongst the sand dunes.
South Australia, Kangaroo Island - Night viewing
One of the most charming animals to be found on the island is the fairy penguin. Harly bigger than a bowling pin and weighing in at about two pounds they can only be seen in the evening after they waddle ashore after a hard day’s fishing. They nest in rocks right at Penneshaw Harbour where the ferries come in from the mainland. Rangers take out tours every night, using torches with red lenses so the light won’t bother the birds.
For swimming, one of the best places is at Stokes Bay. To reach it you walk through a natural tunnel in the rocks, just east of the car park emerging at a beautiful long sandy beach. The north coast has many beaches like this.
There’s a variety of accommodation on Kangaroo Island, including traditional 19th-century homesteads converted into comfortable B&B’s, country inns, motels and self-contained cottages.
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