Kangaroo Island Day 2

Boy, it has been a hot one today. The temperature hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit this afternoon and we arrived back at the villa this evening like a couple of grease-spots. A cool shower had never been so welcome. We set out to discover the southern coast this morning, picking out the features that interested us most. It is relatively quiet here at the moment, as it is just before the children's long summer holiday. In a few weeks the island will be heaving.
We drove to the far end of Kangaroo Island (a 2hour drive) and the Flinders Chase National Park. It is a large area of wilderness, occupying most of the western end of the island, rich in wildlife and with a stunning coastline. The southern coast is the complete antithesis of the north. High eroded limestone cliffs and the southern ocean pounding along its length. We stopped at the visitor centre to pick up maps and pay the entrance fee. To my delight when we emerged from the car, there were koalas in the gum trees overhead. I counted six, including a mother and baby. They are so gorgeous and so brilliantly camouflaged, that you could pass within two feet of one without realising. They spend the vast majority of the day snoozing in the fork of a tree looking like a furry grey football and the night chomping on eucalyptus leaves. I even managed to forget the dratted flies for a few minutes as I snapped away.
We drove another 15 Kms down to the Admirals Arch boardwalk at the end of the promontory. It descends through the eroded cliff top that looks just like a perfectly planted rock garden. Alan Titmarsh would be thrilled with it. There are perfectly adapted plants and grasses dotted throughout the limestone pavement. It is a joy to behold - well for some of us anyway! There were fur seals basking on the rocks below and swimming so calmly and elegantly in the wild surf as it crashes on to the rocks. Again, their camouflage is brilliant and you need to look very carefully to pick them out.
Turning a final corner you come face to face with the most spectacular limestone arch. The roof is gnarled and dripping with stalagmite like drops in black and white and the eye is drawn to the snarling ocean crashing on to the rocks below. A lone sentinel male fur seal is silhouetted against sea and it is a true wonder of nature. The climb back up to the the car park was tough going in the ferocious heat.
Our next port of call was to the Remarkable Rocks, yet another of Mother Natures masterpieces. On a another promontory stands a dome of granite that was exposed to fracturing and weathering over two million years ago and balanced on the top are these incredibly arranged and eroded rocks. I will post a picture and if I were to tell you that this was a Henry Moore sculpture you would not be surprised! We did not manage to get up close and personal here. The flies were just ferocious and even with a fly net, the whinging poms could only stand so much and had to beat a hasty retreat to the car. Mind you there were plenty of whinging Aussies as well! Weir Cove was the other feature we were keen to visit, but a three mile hike in over 100 degrees did not appeal and would have been pretty foolhardy if I'm honest, so pictures will have to suffice.
There are also some beautiful beaches further along the south coast, one of which is home to a colony of the Australian Sea Lion. We walked a long boardwalk through the dunes in the stifling heat and came to the overlook. There spreadeagled on the beach were the creatures we had come to see. After a couple of minutes Peter says "Is this it then? Are they going to do anything?" At which point a couple of the bulls squared up to one another before quickly settling down to another zizz. I had to admit defeat and we retreated to the visitor centre for a well deserved ice cream. A highlight for Peter I suspect; the ice cream that is!
And so our stay on the beautiful unspoilt Kangaroo Island is almost at an end and we will enjoy our view from the villa for the final evening; study our resident kangaroos that are out there once more and watch a delightful pair of electric blue fairy wrens bickering in the wattle bush outside. Life can be sweet, once you've cooled down and had a glass or two of something interesting!Read more