Leora recently visited Kangaroo Island in Australia. This is part one of her experience there. 

LEORA’S OVERVIEW:

Mom “I slept smiling” – my five year old was very excited to tell me the morning after our first night on the island…

MainKangarooIslandPhoto 

It’s been called “the Galapagos of Australia.” So I decided to find out for myself what Kangaroo Island was all about.  Is this a destination for children, for families?  Or is this one of those places where you find yourself settling in with a good book and relaxing with your partner, sans kids. Well the answer is that it could be both…

Off I set with my husband and 2 children (5 & 8 years old) to find out what this island was really about.

 

DAY ONE
First night is spent in Adelaide at the Richmond Hotel in the bustling downtown area. Clean, comfortable nothing too fancy but well priced and located.

 

DAY TWO
We woke up early today and with our rental car made our way to the south, a drive of approximately 2 hours, heading to Cape Jervis where the ferry would depart to Kangaroo Island.  En-route we decided to stop at the McLaren Vale wine region, grabbed some lunch and continued to the ferry. After 45 minutes on the sea ferry, a comfortable ride, we arrived at Penneshaw.

For our first two nights on the island we chose the self-catering option from our lodge and so purchased a few groceries in town.  Our home for the next two nights was Sheoaks House, situated on the north island. A lovely home set on a cliff close to ‘Snelling Beach’ (a 5 minute walk and you are on the beach). We unpacked our goods and made a lovely family meal, danced in the kitchen, drank some great inexpensive, local red wine and then played a board game.

Here you just have to be in the moment as there is nothing else but the ocean, kangaroos foraging in the hills and the family. The kids just loved having all our attention!

Girlsonbeach 

DAY THREE
Woke up at our seaside escape, and after a lovely cooked breakfast we headed down to the beach. The water was way too cold to swim but we enjoyed a walk along the white powdery beach.

With the rest of the day to ourselves we checked out what was happening on the north side of the island. We stopped briefly at the wildlife park for the kids to experience a kangaroo, koala and wallaby close up (yes a bit of a cheat but in the wild they would not get that close, sorry). We then proceeded to Stokes Bay, took a lovely walk to a beach with tidal pools and then headed to the town of Kingscote for lunch.

The small towns on the island are truly sleepy little towns, don’t expect much to be happening here and depending what time you rock up in town everything may be closed. I could not quite figure out the hours of operation and so we opted for wine at a local pizza shop that I had to almost beg to serve us!

Don’t expect much in the way of shopping either. After a good look around Kingscote I recommend that you don’t stay in the towns, so much better to locate yourself on the more private part of the island to get the full experience.

After a full day we returned to our little house on the hill and spent another night lulled to sleep by the waves.

 

Stay tuned to see Part Two about Leora’s family trip to Kangaroo Island!

 

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