Kangaroo Island:

Mandy Jackson
Apr 4, 2021
5 min read

We fell madly in love with stunning Kangaroo Island and spent 9 wonderful days exploring as much of the island as possible (some parts of the island and some businesses remain closed following last year's tramatic bush fires and losses) - KI is such a scenic, friendly and diverse island paradise with a strong community culture, it is the perfect destination for a relaxing break.

Kangaroo Island is also a photographers dream - everywhere you look there is another beautiful outlook & a potential photo shot, so Mandy had fun with the camera during our visit to KI. To follow are some photos of our favourite spots on Kangaroo Island - its been really hard to narrow it down;

1. Kangaroo Island Beaches -

The beaches on Kangaroo Island have to sit at the top of our list of beautiful things to see & do on the island - there are so many beautiful beaches & bays to swim & relax in around Kangaroo Island, no matter what part of the island you are on - our favourites were as follows -

Pennington Bay:

Such a very pretty spot - the shallow & protected rockpools at the eastern end of the beach were our preferred place to swim & explore.

Browns Beach:

Browns Beach Campground was our first campsite on the island & we based ourselves here for 3 days, with hardly any other campers. Browns Beach is less than a two minute walk from the campgrounds and is a lovely gentle, clear sandy beach with cool shallow rock pools, it was really lovely to swim & walk along the beach on warm afternoons - Brandi & Dfor absolutely loved our time at Browns Beach.

Stokes Bay:

This beach was such a surprise ... when you arrive you discover access to the beach is through a long caved path and after finding your way through the rocks you suddenly spill out into this hidden & amazing spot with rockpools & a great surf beach ... a must see if you are on the island.

Vivonne Bay:

We based ourselves and camped at the Vivonne Bay Campground for 4 nights - the river & beach at Vivonne Bay are just fantastic, we had a lot of fun here and it is a beautiful spot to relax & explore.

American River Inlet:

This is a very picturesque area of Kangaroo Island & a great place to camp up if you enjoy oysters & fishing ... we didn't stay or swim here, but we did drive along the coast for a look one morning and loved the inlet & its sparkling blue outlook - very pretty spot.

2. Kangaroo Island Wineries:

Surprisingly there are a few very good vineyards on the island ... we loved the following three in order of preference.

Bay of Shoals Wines:

The Bay of Shoals vineyard is set in a breathtakingly beautiful spot above Bay of Shoals and the winery gets our 1st choice for best white on the island - we enjoyed a lovely afternoon of wine tasting at Bay of Shoals & left with several bottles of Chardonnay that we really didn't need! The winery was very dog friendly & welcoming - even when Dfor dog wanted very much to chase a resident freeranging chook or two! We also loved the surrounding Bay of Shoals area & inlets.

False Cape Wines:

We sat in the lovely gardens at False Cape Wines and enjoyed a tasting and had a delicious cheese platter for lunch - it was a very relaxing afternoon & the winery is also very dog friendly (as were most places on Kangaroo Island - except the National Parks).

Dudley Wines:

The views from the deck at Dudley Wines out across the chanel and back toward the mainland were simply stunning. We enjoyed a late morning wine tasting sitting up high on the deck at Dudley, looking out over sparkling blue water with an eagle soaring overhead - a very pretty spot (the photos really don't do the views justice unfortunately!)

3. Kangaroo Island Wildlife:

Kangaroo Island has an amazing natural environment with large areas of National and Conservation Parks ... but we encountered wildlife everywhere we went on the island.

The guy above just casually walked through the middle of our campsite at Vivonne Bay one afternoon.

Ok, so maybe the last one isn't so wild ... but we really loved him anyway!

Seal Bay Conservation Park:

This is a wonderful conservation area doing a great job of protecting & supporting the breeding program of declining numbers of wild seals. There is a boardwalk to follow down to the beach that brings you up close to a large colony of wild seals ... we found them basking in the sun on the beach, chilling and being all cute & smelly together!

KI Raptor Domain Bird Park:

This was such a fantastic bird show & very informative - we learnt so much about Australian raptor birds & bird conservation. A cheeky little wild Willy Wagtail continually gate-crashed the raptor bird show for mealworm treats - very cute! However I think the black cockatoos stole the show - they are so beautiful & full of personality - love them.

4. Flinders National Park:

Remarkable Rocks:

Well just very remarkable really! ... I loved the colours & unusual form of the rocks against the sea & sky.

Admirals Arch:

A Wonderful sea cave and a very wild bit of coastline below the lighthouse.

Cape de Couedic Lighthouse:

5. Local KI Produce:

There are actually a large number of really good local products developed on Kangaroo Island - we enjoyed visiting the following;

Island Beehive:

The KI community are very passionate about preserving disease free Kangaroo Island bees & honey (therefore no other honey products are allowed onto KI) - there are 3 honey producers on the Island. Island Beehive has a glassed beehive in the centre of their showroom where you can watch & learn about the bees at work + they had lots of KI honey & bee products for sale - very interesting.

Emu Bay Lavender Farm:

The cafe here was so incredibly good!

A fantastic, dog friendly & very relaxing local business. They bake the biggest, freshest lavender scones & the best gluten free brownies imaginable + creamy lavender ice cream - just delicious ... and the little local finches all joined us for our morning tea!

Ki Lavender Ice cream ... well yum!

Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillary:

A very friendly business - you can view the history of eucalyptus distilling on KI video + there is a great range of really good eucalyptus, ti tree & emu oil products (we spent a small fortune here!) - the cafe is not bad either.

KI Spirits (Gin Distillery):

We enjoyed our visit to KIS and worked our way through a tasting of all the sprits they had on offer - the Distillery has won awards for their flagship O'gin Gin.