We’re quite a bit behind on this bloggy thing. Too much has been going on in the last little while. Anyway, somehow we have ended up at Cactus Beach, SA. It wasn’t easy, but very interesting. More on that a bit later.
Now, to jump back a few weeks…
Leaving McLaren Vale behind us we head over to Kangaroo Island.
It was a bit tight on the ferry but Jayne did a damned fine job of reversing Amander all the way to the back of the ferry & stopped just centimetres in front of me in the Landcruiser. Not so squeezy!
Kangaroo Island (KI) is much bigger than it looks.
Penneshaw Information Centre was our first port of call to figure out which of the many KI campgrounds we might fit into. Browns Beach Camp seemed the closest & best choice for our first base camp & luckily there was plenty of space & a few larger camp sites for us to choose from.
Low tide at Browns Beach means a 500m walk to get wet up to the waist so a bit of wallowing was done. We also managed a very shallow snorkel & saw a few fishies, but nothing dinner plate size. As it turned out this was to be our last swim/snorkel for some time.
On one of our beach walks we discovered this little cutie. Absolutely beautiful. My best guess is that it’s a Banjo Ray/Shark/Fiddler Ray. It swam right up to me to say hello. Only about 1.2 metres from tip to tail.
Oh look! More Vineyards! Off to visit Bay of Shoals, Spring Road & the Islander Estate Vineyard. Lovely points of interest but the wine was not really to our taste. Islander Estate had a couple worth a second go, so some extra samples were procured for future review.
We checked out Cape Willoughby Lighthouse & a campground at Antechamber Bay. We were really hoping for a dip at Cape Willoughby. We took the self guided walk down to the old landing where the supplies were once offloaded. The water was crystal clear but there was a bit too much swell to jump off and crawl back onto the rocks.
Still there’s more Vineyards. False Cape Wines Cellar Door. Having peaked a bit early on a number of previous vineyard crawls/tours, we thought just one today would do. To our surprise, False Cape is the wine jewel of the isle. We tasted their whole offering & liked everything. We looked at each other in complete disbelief. This was truely the vine/wine highlight of KI. Another carton goes in the back of the Landcruiser. Lunch there was fabulous as well.
A reconnaissance trip to Emu Bay to check on a campsite & then we relocated to Emu Bay Camp.
“Is that a fat koala I can see,
Hanging precariously in a small gum tree!
Half asleep with the buzz of bees,
That gum tree may well buckle at the knees!”
From here we visited Stokes Bay Beach & Snelling Beach, we even drove onto Emu Bay Beach as seems to be the custom in these parts. Even if you drive a Volvo. They must be locals.
Day tripper to D’Estrees Bay via Clifford’s Honey Farm for honey tasting & honey ice cream sampling. Drove along the bay to check out Tea Trees Campsite, Wheatons Beach & Sewer Beach (No there isn’t a sewer outlet nearby). Evidently the locals named it such due to the challenging surf. I.e. If you come off in the wrong spot you end up in the sh!t. There are lots of rocks & reef about on the outer reef break. Not to mention penguins, seals & great whites. So the name is fairly apt. I suppose the name would discourage some tourists as well.
Sewer Beach would appear to be the best surfing beach on KI. Even with the slight onshore breeze there were a selection of rideable waves above my pay scale.
On the way back dropped into Kangaroo Island Cider & Eucalyptus Distillery. Not a fan of their cider but an interesting history of the Eucalyptus business.
Dropped by Kingscote to check on an available fresh water source to top up the tanks. Dropped by Island Behive, honey tasting & another excuse to partake of honey ice cream sampling.
We then did a run up to Boxing Beach above the Bay of Shoals on the North Coast. Yet another beautiful secluded beach. Water quality & clarity is awesome everywhere on KI.
In between all this we made a few visits into Kingscote for a couple of doctors appointments as I appear to have been bitten by a spider or some other bug (but not a tick). What started out like a very small pimple turned into a throbbing angry red wound within a few days.
A double course of antibiotics & a stab to the leg by the local KI doctor (Dr Lance, not his real name) seems to have the wound healing back on track. Two very entertaining visits to the Medical Centre & one long visit to KI Hospital on a Saturday. To be continued…
VanExtraOrdinaire.com 
KI looks stunning!
Wonderful! Who would have thought all of that could be found on an island off the coast somewhere?