South Australia part 3 - South South

It’s a blog post bonanza… Three at once! We were so busy in South Australia that we didn’t have time to post all the cool stuff all at once. Here’s part 3 of our SA trip - we see koalas, we see seals, we see kangaroos, oh and we even take a swim or two!

Sunday 27th: Adelaide to Rapid Bay

Today we started our adventure down the Fleurieu Peninsula towards Kangaroo Island. After managing to get to the supermarket this morning and seeing the outrageous queue outside Costco! We decided we hadn’t had our fill of Koalas so went to Morialta Falls. We bagged the last spot in the car park and headed along the easy walk to the first falls. The falls itself was pretty unimpressive but the Koalas were great! We saw 5 in the trees, 3 were sleeping, one had a tickle, and the final one went for a full stretch, climb and buffet on the eucalyptus leaves! Well worth the 45-minute detour.

• insert YT Koala vid

We finally started our way out of Adelaide. The first stop was Brighton beach jetty. It was full of people fishing and we did see a few pull out some fish but they were all quite small. I’m sure it would be a beautiful place in summer but the wind was chilly as today so not a chance we were going in the water! At least they had some groovy seaside sculptures.

Our next stop was Onkaparinga River Mouth. The sun was out, the clouds had gone, and the wind had dropped so we went for a lovely walk down and around the beach/estuary only to realise about half way round that the water was too high for us to actually be able to get round so we had to turn back. The views were worth it though. We did contemplate a swim but decided to keep going as we are only at the top of the peninsula.

The fourth stop if the day was Port Willunga ‘Jetty’. Well… the jetty in question is ruins/sticks in the sea, but the caves the fishermen had made in the rocks were awesome and so big. We again had a lovely walk around the bay and we did manage to complete our loop this time!

Final stop of the day was the Rapid Bay Campground - our home for 2 nights while we explore Kangaroo Island tomorrow! The drive in was epic with heaps and heaps and heaps of Kangaroos and stunning views.

Monday 28th: Kangaroo Island

We set off flipping early again this morning to head to Kangaroo Island. Our ferry was 7am, we had to be there at 6.30 and the campsite was a 25-minute drive away!! The ferry was delightfully quiet and we used the time to plan out our day and find somewhere tasty for breakfast.

We arrived on the island at 7.45ish and walked straight to The Fat Beagle for brekkie. We ordered a brekkie burrito and a bene burger, which were flipping delicious and well-needed having been awake for nearly 4 hours! We washed them down with a Latte and Chai and then headed to get our hire car (it was way more expensive to bring the van over!).

Driving a normal car for the first time in 3 months was a change but it was so quiet and smooth it felt like luxury! We headed straight out to the other end of the island - Flinders Chase National Park. On the way we saw some HUGE kangaroos just chilling in the field, we can see how the island was named, and we also think we saw an echidna too.

We had 2 stops in the park and the first was Remarkable Rocks. we had a great time climbing and hiding in them and we would say they were pretty remarkable. Second stop was a 3km loop walk from Cape Du Couedic lighthouse down to Admiral Arch. The walk was another quintessential Aussie-walk where in reality there isn’t a path to follow for most of the route, but we enjoyed it! The walk took us all the way to the arch where you could see Australian fur seals and Aussie Long Nosed Fur seals. They were everywhere when you got there: in the rock pools, on the rocks, in the waves, some even pretty close to the path. We knew we would see some, but we saw heaps more than expected.

After a Sammie lunch we headed down the coast to Seal Bay, not to see more seals, but to see Sea Lions this time! There was a lovely boardwalk from the visitor centre which took you to a view point first and then down towards the beach. On the way there was a huge skeleton from a juvenile Humpback whale which got stranded on the beach - crazy how big it was considering it wasn’t fully grown! The sea lions were huge too! It was coming to the end of breeding season so there were some very pregnant mammas lying around but also some little babies chilling out too. They were mostly doing a lot of sleeping but we did see a few males having a little go at each other too.

• insert YT sealion vid

We love the wildlife here so couldn’t not visit Duck Lagoon to go Koala Spotting. The Koalas used to be everywhere, but there was a huge fire in 2020 which wiped put the majority of the Flinders end of the park and killed loads of the wildlife. We didn’t see a single duck, but we saw 4 Koalas, 3 of which were in the same tree. Still feels so special to see them!

We couldn’t finish the day without a feed but we were running slightly late from talking to a couple about the Koalas! But we managed to get a delicious takeaway pizza from Fire and Smoke which was near where the ferry left from. We boarded out 7.30pm ferry and smashed the pizza before driving back to the campground. Safe to say we were glad we left the bed up this morning!

Tuesday 29th: Rapid Bay to Robe

We went for a morning stroll along Rapid Bay to the caves before we checked out. It was a lovely beach and it was made more special by seeing some dolphins in the bay. The cave was super tall but not very deep but looked impressive still.

We read the info board before we left which said that the old jetty was a great place to snorkel. It was way too cold for Chloe but I went in. After making it almost 15mins away from the jetty, the current became too strong for me to sensibly carry on so had to turn around without seeing anything.

We stopped at the Bluff/escarpment bay to lunch with a view and a walk to the top for a 360 view around the peninsula. The walk took you past an old copper/silver/gold mine but there wasn’t much to see apart from some slightly shiny rocks.

Our next stop was only round the corner at Granite Island. We walked across the bridge/jetty, the water was beautiful and clear, and we even managed to see some fish. We had wished we didn’t have the Campground booked so we could stay longer, but with a 4hr drive ahead of us we didn’t have much time to explore the island - guess we will have to come back!

The drive to Robe was long and boring with basically nothing to see or do apart from the Giant Lobster in Kingston. Driving did feel like we were back in the lakes entrance as we had water on both sides, however the big difference were that these were salt water lakes so they looked like they had small icebergs around the edge! We had heard that some were supposedly pink, but the lack of water meant that up close they didn’t look pink. We arrived in Robe just after sunset but the horizon was glowing like a fire for the last 15 or so minutes. Looking forward to some sunsets on the great ocean road!

Wednesday 30th: Robe to Port MacDonnell

After a good night’s sleep we ventured into Robe to explore. We grabbed some drinks at Union Cafe before visiting the Robetown Chocolate Company where we picked up a delicious bar of coffee white chocolate. We then ventured out to see the Robe obelisk - an old daytime signal for ships. We rounded our Robe visit off by picking up some beers from Loophole Brewing.

Our next stop was the Tantanoola cave - an ancient dolomite cave formation complete with an assortment of stalagmites, stalactites, and columns. The cave was originally found by a 16year old in the 1900s when his ferret never came back out of a small entrance hole!

We also journeyed out to the Carpenter rocks and Cape Bank lighthouse for a glimpse of some frolicking sea lions near the rocks. After the lighthouse we journeyed to South Australia’s most Southern point for some stunning views of the eroding coastal rock face, and another playful seal weaving around. We stayed at an overnight camp spot slightly further along the coast and were treated to a lovely sunset over the ocean.

Thursday 1st May: Port MacDonnell to Mt Gambier

After an eerie night of fog and lighthouse flashes, we woke up to a pleasant sea view. Unfortunately we had also discovered a slight leak from the drain under the sink, so once again had to get in touch with the rental company.

After a quick visit to Port Macdonnell we headed into Mt Gambier for the day. We wandered around the Umpherston sinkhole - a giant limestone hole that had been converted into a Victorian garden over a hundred years earlier. We also visited the Valley lakes, a series of old volcanic crater lakes complete with blue water, and walked up to the Centenary tower that overlooked the entire region.

A quick visit to the Jayco dealership for the sink repair ended up a bit longer than originally thought as the waste filter was brittle and cracked and needed a full replace. We made sure to have a snoop around some of the expensive camper vans to stay entertained. Once repaired we visited the Cave Garden in the centre of Mt Gambier - a deeper sinkhole than Umpherston but unfortunately far less looked after.

We ended our day with a sunset trip to the Little Blue pool, a 45m deep pool in another sinkhole, that typically sits around 12’c. It was a chilly swim alongside some friendly locals, and we even made sure to jump in a few times! Just down the road we stayed overnight in the Bellum Hotel back garden, so called in for a drink, some tasty pub grub, and a few embarrassing games of pool!

Guess what? Par-oh wait, next up is Victoria again, so I guess you’ll have to stay tuned for our next post to be written up. Spoiler alert: we still busy having fun!