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This year we decided to take a trip with the camper trailer to Kangaroo Island. The oldest daughter finished school on the 4th of December 2009, so we took of that weekend to beat the school holiday traffic. We are in SA so we thought we should do things locally.
To get to KI, you need to book the ferry across. The kids get sea sick so taking it from Cape Jarvis to Penneshaw is the best idea. Nice short trip. Booking is fairly straight forward for a vehicle online but needs to be made over the phone for a trailer. http://www.sealink.com.au/ . Cost about $630 return for a 5m vehicle, 5m trailer, 2 adults, 2 kids and an infant.
The trip from Adelaide to Cape Jarvis is fairly quick. Took all up just a little over 2 hours to do the 125km but some of this was through peak hour traffic in Adelaide. The road is fairly good up to the last about 30km where it gets fairly windy and you have a lot of idiots thinking they are driving racing cars and passing you around blind corners in their hotted up Japanese imports.
The ferry is very comfortable and also surprisingly clean. Considering that it does the crossing 4 -6 times per day and at the start of the school holidays is pretty much booked out, everything was very clean.
They tend to pack the cars very tight in so arriving about 1 hour earlier is not a bad idea if you want to avoid having to reverse your trailer down the ramp and then all the way in.
Wanna play "Where is Prado" & camper trailer.
The ferry lands at Penneshaw. It is a very small town with just basic facilities. There is no camping available, but it’s worth while dropping into the tourist center and picking up the latest camping area brochures. There are 2 caravan parks and numerous council and National Parks camping grounds on KI.
http://www.tourkangarooisland.com.au/li ... mf1553.pdf
The Kingscote caravan park has very basic facilities. Camping for the family costs about $33 per night for an un-powered campsite.
There are many attractions for the family on the Island including Kingscote. One of the must do’s is the pelican feeding. Our youngest calls them “ducks”. It is run by a local guy and he asks for a $3 donation per person. Definitely worth while.
There is also penguin parade but that’s after sunset which is way too late in summer for the little kids.
Main roads on KI are all bitumen and in a very good condition. The minor roads are dirt, but mostly very well kept except a couple of the national parks roads that were quite corrugated.
In the south of the Island is Seal Beach and Seal Bay Conservation Park. It is on the wind blown part of the coast and one of the very few places in the world you can walk on the beach within 10m of sea lions. These are Australian Seal Lions which are on the endangered list. The guided tour is excellent and the guides make sure that you stay well clear of them so that they are not disturbed, but get close enough to get some great photos. Access to the beach is along a board walk which in colder weather often has sea lions sleeping under and around it. Fantastic experience for the kids.
All the National Parks have entrance fees and as there is a lot to see, the best way to go is to get the annual pass. We would have spent more in the one week in pay as you go than the whole pass cost us.
The Sea Lions hunt for 3 days and then come for a 3 day rest on the beach so they really don’t care if people come to watch them. Apparently now that many shark nets around SA have been taken down, their numbers are slowly increasing, but that could also be a normal seasonal variability.
The information center at the top is also very interesting as the kids get to touch skins from different marine animals that have died or washed up on the beach in the last few years (including the fairy penguin).
For most of our trip we ended up camping at American River Council camp ground. American River is neither American nor a river. It is an inlet that was mistaken by the yanks many years ago and named inappropriately. The camp ground is on the outskirts of the town and since our camper trailer is not the easiest to erect (read cheap), we decided to drive to places and base ourselves in one spot. There is a toilet and a shower that is timed for 2 minutes and then off for 5 to prevent people abusing it, but that was enough to keep the almost 2yo clean.
Being an inlet it does get a little windy, but you can’t beat this view from your front doorstep.
All the other camp grounds we checked out were ok, but none had running water and our camper trailer only holds currently 40L and that’s not enough to camp with the family. I am currently looking into large tank, but I may need to install brakes as I think I am getting very close to 750kg when fully loaded.
On the south coast is also the Kelly Hill Conservation Park and the Kelly Hill Caves. Highly recommend the tour for the family. There is sheltered picnic grounds and toilets available behind the car park.
Further down the road on the South west coast is the Flinders Chase National Park. Again a visitor’s fee applies, but there is a great spot with tables and BBQ’s to have lunch. The visitors center is also well set up for family with visual displays and also a dinasour dig pit for the kids. Basically the kids get to dig in a great big sand pit to expose “dinosaur bones” and then get a certificate at the end to say they have done it.
About 13km down the narrow sealed road is Admirals Arch and Remarkable rocks. These are quite spectacular. At Admirals Arch you get quite close to NZ Fur seals playing on the rocks and the photography is quite spectacular.
Remarkable rocks are quite popular with the tour busses and it’s almost luck to get there in between.
Heading toward the west coast you go through a couple of small towns and some local attractions such as the KI Distillery, the sheep cheese factory and the Parndana Wildlife Park.
Parndana Wildlife Park is a family run small conservation park / zoo and is fantastic for the kids. They get to come close to all sort of animals and feed pony’s and Kangaroos. There is also an enclosed picnic area where you can cook up a lunch.
Heading further west along a badly corrugated road you get to the Cape Borda Lighthouse. This is a very unusual lighthouse. It’s square and still runs a traditional rotating mechanism. The whole area was burned out in 2007 and you can still see the devastation.
Overall the area is very spectacular and the 15 minute walk to the cliff face is worth while doing even if you end up carrying the little ones all the way there and back.
One of the better times to go there is at lunchtime as the 12:30pm tour has a cannon firing to coincide with the 1pm marine time. It does scare some of the kids.
There is also a deck with tables and chairs to have lunch on which is always handy with a family.
On the way back, it is worth while stopping at the lighthouse keepers cemetery and the bay at which supplies used to be offloaded – Harvey’s Return.
We ended up with fairly average weather for the first 4 days of our 7 day trip, so it wasn’t until our last day that we headed to the north to the swim beaches. And they are definitely worth while. Such clear water and lots of “ducks” (aka Pelicans) sharing the water with you. We went to Emu Bay as it was nice and close and we did go via a few local attractions as well.
Having lived in NW WA and NT we didn’t expect to be able to swim so we forgot to bring bathers, but that didn’t stop our 3 girls who promptly stripped and ran into the water nude (ie no photos).
To get to KI, you need to book the ferry across. The kids get sea sick so taking it from Cape Jarvis to Penneshaw is the best idea. Nice short trip. Booking is fairly straight forward for a vehicle online but needs to be made over the phone for a trailer. http://www.sealink.com.au/ . Cost about $630 return for a 5m vehicle, 5m trailer, 2 adults, 2 kids and an infant.
The trip from Adelaide to Cape Jarvis is fairly quick. Took all up just a little over 2 hours to do the 125km but some of this was through peak hour traffic in Adelaide. The road is fairly good up to the last about 30km where it gets fairly windy and you have a lot of idiots thinking they are driving racing cars and passing you around blind corners in their hotted up Japanese imports.
The ferry is very comfortable and also surprisingly clean. Considering that it does the crossing 4 -6 times per day and at the start of the school holidays is pretty much booked out, everything was very clean.
They tend to pack the cars very tight in so arriving about 1 hour earlier is not a bad idea if you want to avoid having to reverse your trailer down the ramp and then all the way in.
Wanna play "Where is Prado" & camper trailer.
The ferry lands at Penneshaw. It is a very small town with just basic facilities. There is no camping available, but it’s worth while dropping into the tourist center and picking up the latest camping area brochures. There are 2 caravan parks and numerous council and National Parks camping grounds on KI.
http://www.tourkangarooisland.com.au/li ... mf1553.pdf
The Kingscote caravan park has very basic facilities. Camping for the family costs about $33 per night for an un-powered campsite.
There are many attractions for the family on the Island including Kingscote. One of the must do’s is the pelican feeding. Our youngest calls them “ducks”. It is run by a local guy and he asks for a $3 donation per person. Definitely worth while.
There is also penguin parade but that’s after sunset which is way too late in summer for the little kids.
Main roads on KI are all bitumen and in a very good condition. The minor roads are dirt, but mostly very well kept except a couple of the national parks roads that were quite corrugated.
In the south of the Island is Seal Beach and Seal Bay Conservation Park. It is on the wind blown part of the coast and one of the very few places in the world you can walk on the beach within 10m of sea lions. These are Australian Seal Lions which are on the endangered list. The guided tour is excellent and the guides make sure that you stay well clear of them so that they are not disturbed, but get close enough to get some great photos. Access to the beach is along a board walk which in colder weather often has sea lions sleeping under and around it. Fantastic experience for the kids.
All the National Parks have entrance fees and as there is a lot to see, the best way to go is to get the annual pass. We would have spent more in the one week in pay as you go than the whole pass cost us.
The Sea Lions hunt for 3 days and then come for a 3 day rest on the beach so they really don’t care if people come to watch them. Apparently now that many shark nets around SA have been taken down, their numbers are slowly increasing, but that could also be a normal seasonal variability.
The information center at the top is also very interesting as the kids get to touch skins from different marine animals that have died or washed up on the beach in the last few years (including the fairy penguin).
For most of our trip we ended up camping at American River Council camp ground. American River is neither American nor a river. It is an inlet that was mistaken by the yanks many years ago and named inappropriately. The camp ground is on the outskirts of the town and since our camper trailer is not the easiest to erect (read cheap), we decided to drive to places and base ourselves in one spot. There is a toilet and a shower that is timed for 2 minutes and then off for 5 to prevent people abusing it, but that was enough to keep the almost 2yo clean.
Being an inlet it does get a little windy, but you can’t beat this view from your front doorstep.
All the other camp grounds we checked out were ok, but none had running water and our camper trailer only holds currently 40L and that’s not enough to camp with the family. I am currently looking into large tank, but I may need to install brakes as I think I am getting very close to 750kg when fully loaded.
On the south coast is also the Kelly Hill Conservation Park and the Kelly Hill Caves. Highly recommend the tour for the family. There is sheltered picnic grounds and toilets available behind the car park.
Further down the road on the South west coast is the Flinders Chase National Park. Again a visitor’s fee applies, but there is a great spot with tables and BBQ’s to have lunch. The visitors center is also well set up for family with visual displays and also a dinasour dig pit for the kids. Basically the kids get to dig in a great big sand pit to expose “dinosaur bones” and then get a certificate at the end to say they have done it.
About 13km down the narrow sealed road is Admirals Arch and Remarkable rocks. These are quite spectacular. At Admirals Arch you get quite close to NZ Fur seals playing on the rocks and the photography is quite spectacular.
Remarkable rocks are quite popular with the tour busses and it’s almost luck to get there in between.
Heading toward the west coast you go through a couple of small towns and some local attractions such as the KI Distillery, the sheep cheese factory and the Parndana Wildlife Park.
Parndana Wildlife Park is a family run small conservation park / zoo and is fantastic for the kids. They get to come close to all sort of animals and feed pony’s and Kangaroos. There is also an enclosed picnic area where you can cook up a lunch.
Heading further west along a badly corrugated road you get to the Cape Borda Lighthouse. This is a very unusual lighthouse. It’s square and still runs a traditional rotating mechanism. The whole area was burned out in 2007 and you can still see the devastation.
Overall the area is very spectacular and the 15 minute walk to the cliff face is worth while doing even if you end up carrying the little ones all the way there and back.
One of the better times to go there is at lunchtime as the 12:30pm tour has a cannon firing to coincide with the 1pm marine time. It does scare some of the kids.
There is also a deck with tables and chairs to have lunch on which is always handy with a family.
On the way back, it is worth while stopping at the lighthouse keepers cemetery and the bay at which supplies used to be offloaded – Harvey’s Return.
We ended up with fairly average weather for the first 4 days of our 7 day trip, so it wasn’t until our last day that we headed to the north to the swim beaches. And they are definitely worth while. Such clear water and lots of “ducks” (aka Pelicans) sharing the water with you. We went to Emu Bay as it was nice and close and we did go via a few local attractions as well.
Having lived in NW WA and NT we didn’t expect to be able to swim so we forgot to bring bathers, but that didn’t stop our 3 girls who promptly stripped and ran into the water nude (ie no photos).
Snaga
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