Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island

Our voyage from Hobart to Kangaroo Island should only have taken a day. But with a nasty storm approaching from the western side of Tasmania, including 24 foot swells and 80 mph winds, our captain wisely decided to change course and tuck us up away from the brunt of it. 

This meant cancelling our call to Port Arthur, a close neighbor of Hobart, and going back east and north around Tasmania, through the Bass Strait in order to then scoot out and head west to Kangaroo Island. 

The strategy was successful even though we did have rough seas and lots of wind. 

We arrived in the bay outside the little port town of Penneshaw and dropped anchor about 10:30 AM. By the time tender operations got underway it was 11:30 and our all day call at the island was cut in half. Better half than nothing, I would say. 

I had a private tour booked and so was on the first tender to the dock to meet the tour guide, along with my as yet unknown other two passengers. Our guide was waiting for us and after introductions we were off. I had seen the other couple around the ship but we had never met before. Alice and John, from Chicago, are very nice and we enjoyed the tour. 

One of the most popular places to visit here is Seal Bay Beach. Besides being a beautiful beach with gorgeous views, it's also home to a good population of Australian Sea Lions. You have to be escorted onto the beach with a ranger guide,  as the sea lions are sometimes prone to attacking, especially if they are annoyed. If you get too close to them and bother them they can actually chase you and bite you. They are eared seals and they can run you down! Ack!

We also visited a lavender farm where we enjoyed a short break. I had a delicious scone with lavender jelly and...... a local beer!

Kangaroo Island only has a population of about 4,000. Given its land size, that averages out to about 1 square kilometer per person. Pretty sparse. It's also aptly named because there are lots of wild kangaroos here. And wallabies. And some snakes. And echidnas (they look like little porcupines). We saw all of these on the tour today. 

Too soon, it was time to return to the dock and get on one of the last tenders of the day. Tomorrow we visit Adelaide. It will be another new port for me.