Kangaroo Island
South Australia'S Wildlife Island, A Ferry Or Short Flight From Adelaide, Where Sea Lions Haul Out On The Open Sand At Seal Bay And The Remarkable Rocks And Admirals Arch Anchor Flinders Chase At The Wild Western Tip · Kingscote, South Australia
Kangaroo Island sits off the Fleurieu Peninsula, a forty-minute ferry from Cape Jervis or a short flight from Adelaide, and it carries more large wildlife per kilometre of road than almost anywhere else in Australia. Sea lions haul out in the open sand at Seal Bay in numbers large enough that rangers walk small groups between the animals rather than the other way around. The western end of the island is Flinders Chase National Park, badly burned in the 2019-2020 bushfires and now recovering, where the wind-carved granite boulders of the Remarkable Rocks sit on a headland above the surf and Admirals Arch frames a colony of New Zealand fur seals below a boardwalk. Koalas, echidnas, goannas and wallabies are common enough on the island's roads that driving after dusk is genuinely risky. Kingscote and Penneshaw are the two small towns, and most of the island beyond them is farmland and scrubby bush with surf beaches on the south and calmer bays on the north. A rental car is close to essential; there is no useful public transport once off the ferry.
An island off the Fleurieu Peninsula, reached by ferry from Cape Jervis or by air from Adelaide, with Seal Bay and Flinders Chase at its western end, Kingscote, South Australia, Australia
Seal Bay's boardwalk and guided beach tours run daily from around nine to five, shorter in winter, and the beach walk is only possible with a ranger because it is a breeding colony rather than a sightseeing beach - independent access to the sand is not allowed. Flinders Chase National Park and its Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch boardwalks are open through daylight hours and close at dusk with no gate after that; both sites are free to view, though the park charges a small vehicle entry fee. The visitor centre at Flinders Chase keeps shorter daytime hours and is sometimes closed on weekdays outside peak season following fire damage. The Sealink ferry from Cape Jervis runs several times daily and bookings fill fast over summer and long weekends.