Kangaroo Island is the third largest island in Australia (not including the mainland). It's Tasmania 1, Melville Island in top end 2, and then Kangaroo Island. In total area it is just under half the size of Cyprus. It's a big place to explore.
So why did I think I can do it in two days?
The plan for today was relatively straight forward. Drive to the end of the island and look at some rocks and stuff. If there is time on the return journey, see if there is anything interesting to eat and/or drink.
The Flinders Chase National Park is located at the western end of the island. About a ninety minute drive from where I am staying.
2020 was a brutal year for bush fires in Australia and Kangaroo Island was not spared. Over 210 thousand hectares of land was burnt (almost half the island), including most of the Flinders Chase National Park. By way of comparison, the Kilmore/Kinglake fire complex of Black Saturday burned 330 thousand hectares.
The National Parks information centre burnt to the ground and much effort has gone into a replacement, which has recently opened:
Again by way of comparison, the replacement visitor information centre for Kinglake National Park has yet to be built, after 15 years.
The Flinders Chase National Park is recovering well from the fires. And whilst there is new growth everyone it is hard to ignore the burnt remnants of the old vegetation still in place.
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| Look! Rocks in the distance! |
When talking to the Park Ranger at the Visitor Information Centre, it was suggested that there were two attractions I might want to focus on. Both required a little bit of walking. I was up for it.
On the way, I stopped to look at the Cape du Couedic Lightstation:
The first walk was down to see a rock cutting known as Admirals Arch. The walk down there showed the effort made to rebuild the walking paths in the park. Proper paths all the down, combined with thick wooden rails along large stretches of it.
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| How many can you see here? |
After about 20 minutes of walking, here is the prize at the end of the line:
Or, without my head in the way:
After catching my breath I drove to the next attraction - the Remarkable Rocks.
I'll skip the walking bit and just show you some pictures of these rocks:
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| From afar |
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| A bit closer |
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| Real Close |
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| Also Real Close |
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| A nearby less remarkable rock |
By the time I made it back to the car, my body decided that that was enough strenuous activity for the day.
Driving back I made a stop at Clifford's Honey Farm and picked up some tasty stuff, including the honey ice cream (consumed immediately), honey wheat beer (consumed 1 later) and some mead (to be consumed later).
The final stop for the day was at the Kangaroo Island Distillery, which apparently was the country's first gin distiller.
Now we have some history with this distillery. The business was owned by a company called Mighty Craft Ltd and we had shares in this winner of a company, which then went belly-up earlier this year.
Shenanigans at the corporate level had not impacted the output of this distillery.
I was forced to try some of their wares. I might have subsequently bought some.
I am staying in a small fishing village called American River. Looks quite peaceful.
PIE REVIEW
Today's bakery of choice is the Rabbit Warren Bakery, located in Kingscote, the major town of the island.
(Sorry, no photo of the bakery - I forgot).
The pie that caught my eye was their Guiness Pie.
The pie was $7.80, however you got a lot of pie for that money.
The gravy was rich and thick, as you would probably expect from using Guiness, and the large juns of meat were cooked perfectly.
I was going to put tomato sauce on the pie, however decided against it. I think this was the right move.
This pie goes to number two on the list, behind, yesterday's pie. I'll publish the full pie ladder in coming days.
Podcast of the day: The Rest is Politics US Election wrap up.
- its funny hearing the same people who were emphatic in their predictions of a Harris victory yesterday explain today why Trump was always going to win the election.
Total km traveled: 1,580
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