10 treasures of Kangaroo Island

Kan­ga­roo Island has a well-earned rep­u­ta­tion as an amaz­ing spot to vis­it, but with so much to do, it’s hard to know where to start.

Here are some tips for a great stay to help you make the most of the island’s unique scenery, wildlife and heritage.

1. KI Wilder­ness Trail

This five-day, 61km trail is one of Australia’s great walks, and you should def­i­nite­ly try it for your­self. Begin­ning at the Flinders Chase Vis­i­tor Cen­tre and end­ing at Kel­ly Hill Caves, it weaves its way through the most botan­i­cal­ly unique area in all of South Aus­tralia, offer­ing spec­tac­u­lar coast­line views over the South­ern Ocean. There are four camp­sites to break your jour­ney along the way, but if you pre­fer some­thing more lux­u­ri­ous, tour oper­a­tors offer a num­ber of options that include overnight stays in lodges.

2. Seal Bay

Seal Bay is the only place in the world where you can walk on the beach with the endan­gered Aus­tralian sea lion. The area is home to a breed­ing colony of about 800 sea lions, and if you time your vis­it well, you can expect to see lots of adorable pups. You can choose from a guid­ed tour on the beach, or a self-guid­ed tour on the boardwalk.

3. Kel­ly Hill Caves

Set in the nat­ur­al bush set­ting of Kel­ly Hill Caves Con­ser­va­tion Park, these caves are full of amaz­ing lime­stone for­ma­tions built up over mil­lions of years. Guests can wan­der the Show Cave, mar­vel­ling at the shapes and colours of the sta­lac­tites and sta­lag­mites, or join an adven­ture cav­ing tour with an expe­ri­enced guide to see the oth­er hid­den chambers.

4. Admiral’s Arch

Admiral’s Arch is an intrigu­ing rock for­ma­tion on the south-west­ern tip of Flinders Chase Nation­al Park, at Cape de Couedic (pro­nounced ​‘coo-dee’). A colony of long-nosed fur seals lives near­by the amaz­ing lime­stone arch, and you can see them loung­ing and play­ing on the rocks and in the water.

5. Remark­able Rocks

Are you sens­ing a rock theme yet? Also locat­ed in Flinders Chase Nation­al Park, Remark­able Rocks is Kan­ga­roo Island’s best-known land­mark. The 500-mil­lion-year-old gran­ite boul­ders have been sculpt­ed over the ages by wind and water, leav­ing behind stun­ning shapes cov­ered in orange lichen.

6. Sponge Gar­dens Sanc­tu­ary Zone

SA has a net­work of 19 marine parks, includ­ing Encounter Marine Park, which takes in the east­ern end of Kan­ga­roo Island and spreads out to the main­land from Port Noar­lun­ga to the Coorong. The Sponge Gar­dens Sanc­tu­ary Zone is one of 10 sanc­tu­ary zones in the park, and it’s a fan­tas­tic place to dive, pro­vid­ing habi­tat for icon­ic species such as blue grop­er, har­le­quin fish and south­ern blue dev­il, as well as large sponges.

7. Wildlife

Home to hun­dreds of native species, includ­ing more than 270 species of birds, Kan­ga­roo Island has been called Australia’s Gala­pa­gos. It is free from many pest plants and ani­mals, pro­vid­ing a refuge for threat­ened and endan­gered species that makes it the per­fect des­ti­na­tion for wildlife-watch­ers. Keen-eyed vis­i­tors will spot Rosenberg’s goan­nas, echid­nas, tam­mar wal­la­bies, glossy black cock­a­toos, white-bel­lied sea-eagles, and even some of the thriv­ing pop­u­la­tion of duck-billed platypuses.

Hot tip: If you want to have the best chance of see­ing a platy­pus, try the well-named Platy­pus Water­holes in Flinders Chase at dawn or dusk.

8. Mar­itime heritage

The waters around Kan­ga­roo Island are famous­ly treach­er­ous and have claimed at least 80 ships and many lives since Euro­pean set­tle­ment in 1836. The Kan­ga­roo Island Ship­wreck Trail includes sev­en wrecks includ­ing some that are excel­lent dive sites, such as Port­land Maru, Fides, Osman­li and Loch Venachar.

9. The lighthouses

Light­hous­es helped reduce the num­ber of ships lost off its coast, and are now an impor­tant aspect of the island’s mar­itime safe­ty and her­itage. The island is home to his­toric light sta­tions at Cape Bor­da, Cape du Couedic and Cape Willough­by. Cape Bor­da and Cape Willough­by both have a vis­i­tor cen­tre and a muse­um, and light­house tours are avail­able there and at Cape Bor­da. But the best news? You can stay in the her­itage-list­ed light­keep­ers’ cot­tages.

10. Antecham­ber Bay

There is no short­age of amaz­ing beach­es on Kan­ga­roo Island, but the long sandy beach at Antecham­ber Bay in Lash­mar Con­ser­va­tion Park is a real stand-out. Lash­mar is an ide­al loca­tion for swim­ming, fish­ing and bird­watch­ing and is just a short dri­ve from Cape Willough­by light sta­tion. Explore the park fur­ther by canoe­ing along the tran­quil Chap­man Riv­er which flows through the park and into the sea at Antecham­ber Bay. A scenic pic­nic area and camp­ground are also avail­able in the park.

Feel­ing inspired to get to Kan­ga­roo Island? Check out our blogs aboutthings to do in Flinders ChaseandSeal Bay’s sea lions and pupsto get more of a taste of this amaz­ing destination.

Main image: Antecham­ber Bay