Bonding with Nature and Wildlife at Kangaroo Island - Part 1

     Kangaroo Island, or affectionately known as KI, is Australia’s third largest island. It lies off the coast of South Australia, is 140 km long, and 90 km wide. KI is often referred to as Australia’s Galapagos because of its unique biodiversity and pristine environment. For nature lovers like Derrick and I, the chance to bond with nature and wildlife stirs immense joy in us.

     After months of meticulous planning, the 5th of December finally arrived and we were on the seven-hour flight to Adelaide. It was a fairly short flight and we landed at Adelaide International Airport at eight in the morning of the following day, without catching much sleep. Nevertheless, we were brimming with excitement. 

     Upon sorting out our rented Nissan Qashqai with Hertz, we drove to the outskirts of Adelaide city centre to meet Derrick’s cousin and her husband for Sunday brunch. Michelle and Tim had chosen one of their favourite places, Bar 9 at Glen Osmond Street. I did my TripAdvisor homework after Michelle decided on Bar 9 as our meeting place.  Needless to say, I heeded the recommendations and ordered the Truffled Mushroom Ragu. 

Yummy brunch at Bar 9

Bar 9's heavenly Truffled Mushroom Ragu

Derrick did the same, adding bacon to his. Both of us loved the aromatic mushroom fried in truffled oil, sandwiched between honey drizzled toasts and topped with poached eggs.

     Michelle and Tim were the ever gracious hosts. Not only did they refuse to let us pay for brunch, they then drove us to Chinatown so that we could pick up some groceries for our trip. This also gave us a chance to get acquainted with beautiful Adelaide.

     Around noon, we bade farewell to them and we then headed for Cape Jervis, a two-hour drive away. We made a short detour to Willunga Beach to check out the place, as suggested by Michelle. However, the scenery did not ignite a spark in Mr. Photographer’s eye.

     To allow the drowsy Derrick to catch a wink, I took over the wheel. It turned out to be a wise decision as I soon had to navigate around quite a winding road. Being the driver, I did not succumb to the motion sickness, which I probably might have, had I been the passenger.

     We arrived in Cape Jervis around a quarter past two, which meant we had lots of time to kill before our 4 p.m. ferry crossing. So we spent some time at the Cape Jervis Lookout, which afforded great views of the area and the ferry docked there.

Sealink ferry

View of the ferry terminal at Cape Jervis

Seeing cars being loaded onto the ferry, we decided to make some enquiries. It turned out that the ferry docked there was for the 3 p.m. crossing (an extra crossing for the day) and since there was still space, they allowed us to go in. Yahoo! 

     This meant that we arrived on Kangaroo Island an hour earlier than scheduled. As the 45-minute crossing drew to its end, excitement bubbled within us. Fortunately, the Stemetil I had taken helped to stem the seasickness as the crossing was quite rough. The Sealink ferry docked at Penneshaw but apart from a quick stop at the tourist information office to get my hands on some travel brochures, we did not linger on in Penneshaw. We were in a hurry to get to Kingscote, which was about 40 minutes away.