The Edge of the Earth

Still used to getting up early, we witnessed a sunrise from the house this morning. Considering it’s light around 6am, that’s a bit early for holidays! But worth it I guess!

It was a 77km drive to Vivonne Bay, our destination of the day. While the French names of places are difficult to pronounce (just wait til we get to the lighthouse near Admiral’s Arch next week) there is also conjecture about how to sound out some of the less French sounding places. Take for example, Penneshaw – is is pronounced pen–shore, or as pen-e-shore? Vivonne Bay is another one – is it Viv-on or is it Viv-own? However you choose to pronounce it, it has been voted one of the best beaches in Australia, so we were keen to check it out.

Our first stop was at an interesting collection of letterboxes near the Vivonne Bay turnoff. There were old fridges, dryers, toasters and other assorted hidey holes for the postman to deposit the mail.

We searched and found a geocache under the bridge that spans the Harriet River before driving down Jetty Rd to Castle Rock Beach (or the boat ramp beach as it might also be referred to as). This smaller bay was pristine, with white sand and turquoise waters. At the end, jutting out was a limestone headland. In the water was a smaller and quite unique limestone formation. I assume this is the ‘castle rock’. On top sat three very content looking cormorants. Kings or queens of their castle!

We drove around to Vivonne Bay itself and had a look at the beach. It was nice. It was however quite seaweedy so probably not at its best today. One of Australia’s best beaches. Well, sorry, as lovely as it was I don’t think it qualified as my favourite beach today.

After an early lunch we drove to nearby Kangaroo Island Outdoor Action. Their motto is less talk and more action, and that’s what we were seeking! This was a family treat, one that we would not normally splash out on… but as this is a bucket list destination, it needed some memorable action to compliment the awesome scenery!

We'd booked an ‘Ultimate Action Package’ for 5… this consisted of a personalised quad bike tour, sand boarding and kayaking. Today we were off on the quad bikes. This was a 3 hour trip, with just the five of us and a guide. They call it the ‘Edge of the Earth’ tour.

Once fitted up with the gear and the bikes, we practiced on their little circuit to get the hang of riding. Gemma managed to get her quad bike with all four wheels up on the tyre barrier! At that point it was decided she needed a slightly smaller one!

Going by the motto… less talk and more action… here’s some photos:

We got to the ‘edge of the world’ which was spectacular Cape Kersaint. It was a lovely beach – and we even saw some dolphins playing in the surf.

By the time we got back, our 3 hour tour had become a 4 hour tour… I think we were slower than we were meant to be. We did meet another local goanna on the way - just a young one it was.

An ice-cream at the Vivonne Bay General Store was well deserved after all that action.

Kingscote, Emu Bay & Honey

Kangaroo Island was named by Matthew Flinders in March 1802… literally and obviously after the large numbers of kangaroos he saw here. There are other places on the island with similar, obvious names, such as Pelican Lagoon which was full of, you guessed it, pelicans. Then there is Seal Bay, which was full of seals – which turned out to be sea lions, but the early explorers perhaps could not tell the difference. One place we visited on our first full day on KI was Emu Bay. I assume it was named due to the presence of emus. At one time there were emus on KI, but they were a dwarf emu and were declared extinct by 1827. We did not sight any today, dwarf or full size.

Before going to Emu Bay, we called in to the main township on the island, which is Kingscote. It is about 30 km from American River. Kingscote claims to be the first European settlement in South Australia, with a date of 1836 as the year when the settlers arrived.

We walked around the centre of town, located the supermarket, cafes and other stores. It is a quaint little town and seems to have everything you could need. On the northern side of town, towards Reeves Point we found a monument to the first settlers, an early cemetery and an old mulberry tree which is believed to be one planted by the one of the early residents.

Island Beehive is a visitor’s centre celebrating the islands unique bee industry. We popped in, photographed the old truck and oversized bee before continuing on.

Emu Bay is a lovely crescent shaped beach with a playground, campground and what looks to be mostly holiday cottages. We had lunch there and then enjoyed a coastal walk. The sun shone, but the breeze was again cool.

We decided to go from Emu Bay to Clifford’s Honey Farm as had been recommended to us – in particular to try their own honey ice cream. The honey farm was located several kilometres down a dirt road. We found our way there, then looked around in the shop, tasting different types of honey and looking in the little museum, learning a little about the local honey industry. KI bees are unique in that they are Ligurian bees. This is the only place you can find these types of bees apparently. The ice cream was really nice too!  We bought some honey to take home as well.

As we were near D’Estrees Bay we decided to head there for a look. We stopped in at a couple of places, including Wreckers Beach. It felt quite isolated and wild – did not see any signs of other people along this whole stretch of coast!

Met a local goanna on the dirt road heading back towards home. The local goannas are Rosenburg goannas – they are smaller than some of the 26 species of goanna and are listed as endangered. The one we met on the road would be endangered if he hung around on the road too long, but we ensured he was safe today!

Back at the American River turn off we had a look at the mock-up of the old ship ‘Independence’ – not really a replica, more of a monument made of railway sleepers and treated pine logs. The original ‘Independence’ lays claim to another first – the first ship built in SA. An American, Captain Pendleton came to KI after meeting the French explorer Baudin (who named many of the places around the island, which is why many names are French). Baudin told Pendelton there were plenty of seals to be found. Pendelton and his crew were after seals, wanting to take their pelts back to America. The Americans landed at what is now American River and set about building a smaller schooner, Independence to help with their seal cull. All this was in 1803. They only stayed 4 months.

After a busy day out, we enjoyed dinner and our bay views again! It seems that each of our days on KI is going to be busy, maximising the time we have and trying to fit in all we want to see and do!

Ticking the Bucket List

The lengthening days of spring mean that it is light before 6am… as we discovered leaving home around that time to begin the 720 km trip to Murray Bridge in South Australia. Murray Bridge would be a one night stopover on our way to Kangaroo Island. There are some places we had hoped to visit one day, there are some that have been must do’s on our bucket list. Kangaroo Island was one of the must dos rather than the hope to sees!

So it felt a little surreal this morning when we found ourselves on our way there! The good part about leaving at 6am on a Sunday is the lack of traffic in Melbourne. We soon negotiated our way into the city and then out across the Westgate and on the highway to Ballarat.

We had a quick snack stop on the outskirts of Ballarat and then another leg stretch in Horsham. Making great time, we ate lunch literally on the border of Vic / SA. There is a pleasant little rest stop near Serviceton. We parked in SA and the kids proceeded to leap back and forth across the red brick line marking the border so they could brag that they have now been to SA on many occasions! Carrot stick in Victoria, then a carrot stick in SA... and so it continued until lunch was eaten!

We’d booked a cabin at Avoca Dell Caravan Park near Murray Bridge for the night. Once we were settled in there we had a look at the Murray River next to the caravan park. It is certainly wider and more of a jade colour here than further upstream in Victoria.

Driving back into Murray Bridge township, we parked the car and explored the area near the road bridge that spans the Murray. Built in 1879 this was the first bridge to span the Murray River. Alongside it is the railway bridge. 

Continuing our exploration of ‘firsts’ we wandered around the grounds of the Round House which overlooks the road bridge. The home was built in 1874 for the superintendent of the bridge construction, a Mr Henry Parker. It is an unusual house in that part of it is hexagonal in shape… so I don’t why it’s not called the hexagonal house! Anyway, it’s debatable polygonal properties aside, we did enjoy the gardens and the views afforded. 

Next on our walking tour we went down to the wharf area which has a paddle steamer – it does not look all that picturesque with it’s modern roller shutters and air conditioning units.

For dinner we found ourselves at the Murray Bridge Hotel. It is a lovely looking sandstone structure with wide balconies around it. It dates from the early 1900’s. We enjoyed a delicious meal in the bistro before retiring to our cabin for the night. It had been a long day.

The next morning – possibly because we’d been up so early the day before, we were all up and ready to leave for the next leg of our journey at a very reasonable hour. This gave us plenty of time to drive the 160 km to Cape Jervis for our midday ferry service to Kangaroo Island.

The trip to Cape Jervis took us through the green rolling hills of the Fleurieu Peninsula. 

We refueled with diesel in Normanville as it’s a lot dearer on the island. We then paused at the HMAS Hobart memorial on a great stretch of coast with stunning views. The ship was scuttled off the coast here when it was retired from service.

The road dropped steeply in to Cape Jervis and at the lookout the breeze was brisk and cool, despite the sunny day.

Down at the ferry terminal, we watched the catamaran Sealion 2000 come in and unload. We were impressed with the colour and clarity of the turquoise waters, even when the ferry came in and churned up the water.

Having obtained our boarding passes, I drove onto the ferry while the rest of the clan walked on. Right on time, the ferry left the tiny harbour and began it’s 45 minute trip across the Backstairs Passage to Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island. We were on our way – it was very exciting! We spent the time up on deck although it was quite cool. The boat rocked quite a bit from left to right as it rolled with the swell. Luckily it was only a 45 min trip! A couple of family members did feel a little queasy though. 

Before we knew it, we had set foot on Kangaroo Island – although to be more accurate it was setting of rubber on bitumen! We paused at the visitor info centre at Penneshaw before driving a further 30 minutes to American River where we had a house booked for 10 nights.

We’d booked the house online and it looked pleasant enough in the photos. We were very impressed. The size of it (larger that we’d anticipated), the cleanliness and the excellent range of equipment (in the kitchen especially) was very pleasing. The views across the neighbour’s roof of the rest of town, the water and across the other side of the bay was breathtaking.

We unpacked the car and enjoyed a cuppa. We then went on a short walk along the waterfront of American River to stretch the legs after 2 days of travel. It is called American River as a group of American sealers spent about 4 months here in 1803. Technically it’s not a river though, more of a bay!

We enjoyed dinner in our dining room overlooking the magnificent bay… hence the name of the house ‘Bayview Lodge’. It lives up to it what it’s name suggests – unlike the Roundhouse of Murray Bridge.