Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island is great. Sealink is really bad. We didn’t book a ticket so we just turned up on Sunday morning and got on by standby.

It was $313 for 2 adults and a van. 45 minutes, but this is no Circular Quay to manly ferry service fee. A small discount (about $30) was given due to mentioning my parents had just visited and recommending the island. Now for that price wouldn’t you expect at the least a nice cup of coffee while sailing the Back Stairs Passage (sounds a bit rude eh?) for 45 minutes? Apparently not. That’s why a hand written sign was stuck to the coffee machine reading “Do not ask for free coffee or tea as refusal often offends”.

The problem with Sealink is the male staff who direct the drivers onto the ferry. Not all of them, just some of them. Particularly the one who had a very red nose and most probably a Sunday morning hangover. As I was being assisted by one staff member and the reversing camera, a red nosed staff member began to intervene telling me I should look in my drivers mirror, which I was. As I told him he got so angry I thought he was about to pull me out of the car of something. I don’t know how he would know where I was looking anyway as I was wearing my sunglasses and being helped already by another staff member. I’m considering writing a complaint to the company about it.

And by the way on the way back there was another problem because Anthea didn’t give me my ticket, only the car ticket. The staff member couldn’t understand why my wife didn’t give me my ticket and only the car ticket. Does it really matter? My name is on the car ticket, on my booking print out and on his booking print out. But it could still be a problem for some people.

On the way over we met a Dutch retired lady who ws cycling around Australia. Amazing.

Kangaroo Island is big. The 113^th biggest island and bigger than Luxemberg. We headed to Kingscote. A nice little town with everything you need. A good jetty for fishing. The caravan park was right on the water. Jus about everything is around the island!

The next day we headed to the west end to Flinders Chase National Park. We stayed there for one night at the camp grounds. The next day we went to see the New Zealand Fur Seals at Admirals Arch. We also went to Remarkable Rocks. That’s where we spotted the Tiger Snake. It was a very cold and windy day so he wasn’t moving much. We then headed right to the coast to West Bay along a 25km dirt road. Never again in the Transit! Nothing got broken but it took over an hour each way! There wasn’t much there besides kangaroos & echidnas and a pristine beach.

The next day we went to Clifford’s honey bee farm where they make honey using the Ligurian bees. We bought some honey mead. We couldn’t find the queen bee in the glass hive. Did you know bees use dance as a form of communication? Getting back to my Viking roots! We also went back to Kingscote before going on a penguin tour and staying at a campsite before heading back on the ferry.

Kangaroo is a mecca for wildlife. A lot of the food is really good (local beef, honey, wine, etc). Everyone wants to have a chat. Apparently the fishing is good, but you have to actually know what you’re doing for that to be true. A local lady gave us a lift into town, she wasn’t even going our way! But the cost of the ferry is a real turnoff. Perhaps the high price keeps visitor out, but I don’t think this is the case.

We’ve just booked the ferry to Tasmania which cost $696. In our booking confirmation it says we received a $469 discount as part of the Bass Strait Passenger Vehicle Equalisation Scheme. So perhaps that puts Kangaroo Island ferry cost into perspective.