Cape Jervis

We arrived back in Adelaide by air on Friday afternoon, collected a car and drove down to Glenelg for a couple of nights. Glenelg is a southern suburb on the coast. You can take a tram from central Adelaide to Glenelg in twenty minutes and it is clearly a very popular spot. The place was buzzing on Saturday night, plus there was a beach concert from 4pm till 9.30pm. We gave it a miss! It is quite an historic area for a young country and in some ways did remind me of St Kilda near Melbourne, as there were several streets of what are known as coastal cottages just back from the beach, with lots of decorative ironwork. It didn't quite have St Kilda's quirky charm however.
On Sunday morning we left early, to make the one and a half hour drive south to Cape Jervis. Here is the Sealink terminal connecting with Kangaroo Island. It was a beautiful morning, the roads were quiet and the scenery down through the Fleurieu Peninsula equally beautiful. It is rolling country, mainly agricultural and the road follows the stunning coastline for a great deal of the way. You touch the edge of the McClaren Valley wine area and there are lots of charming small settlements. Typically, when we were on a schedule, we saw several places we would have liked to explore.
The ferry journey across the Backstairs Passage (just love it!) lasts about 45 mins and the Island is in view all the time. We were there just after ten o'clock. The island is very sparsely populated and largely part of a conservation area or natural park. Restrictions are strict on what can be brought in as the islanders are keen to protect their isolated habitat for the wildlife (and themselves I guess). Penneshaw, where the ferry docks is a tiny village of three small streets surrounded by some small businesses and residential properties. It has a supermarket, a bank and a penguin colony, so everything you might need in fact! My guess is that if you lived here permanently, a trip to Adelaide would be necessary every few weeks to stock up. There is a small airfield, so you could fly if you didn't want to take the ferry, but a few hours in a car is nothing to an Australian - can't be, otherwise they would never get anywhere. Breakfast had been scanty, so, on advice from the lady at the Tourist Information, we stopped at The Dudley Winery for an early lunch and a glass of something interesting. The view was to die for and the lunch equally good. We tried a couple of the wines and were particularly captured by the Mary's Blush Sparkling (!) and took one with us. A good start. We called at AnteChamber Bay, just down the road and arrived at a white sand beach which we had all to ourselves, apart from the over friendly flies of course. The bush came right down to the coast, the sun was shining and the sea turquoise. Sheer chill out, with a touch of exercise for the fly swatting arm!
Our home for the next three nights is Sea Dragon Lodge. On arrival (40 mins from Penneshaw, half on gravel roads) we were shown to our eco lodge with a view down a small secluded valley to a private beach. You are miles from anywhere apart from the Cape Willoughby lighthouse at the end of the road and meals are brought to the lodge in a preordered hamper. There is certainly nowhere else to go! It is relaxing in the extreme and very beautiful. I sense a long standing memory building.
Oh, and by the way the 'skippy' hunt is over. At 6.30pm there were three kangaroos browsing not 30 feet from the cabin. Yippee !!Read more