Day 27 – September 27 2012

We decided to camp in Penneshaw one more night to give is more time to explore the eastern end of Kangaroo Island.  First up this morning was the Cape Willoughby Lighthouse on the easternmost point of the island, this was a very pleasant drive through very green fields full of fat sheep, oats & wheat.  The trees on the island are more a mallee shape & along some of the roads they form an intersecting canopy & look very good.  The lighthouse is guarded by 3 old white lighthouse keeper cottages & looks significantly imposing.  We had a look through the small museum, mostly cataloguing the history of shipwrecks in the immediate vicinity of Cape Willoughby, before walking out into the blustery wind around the lighthouse.   It is certainly an imposing view standing so far above the water, we could see clearly the mainland off in the distance for a long way, the sun, dappling off the water & a light mist hanging around the Australian coast.

We went on the self-guided walk, exploring the cape & the locations of the old landing place, old lighthouse keeper’s cottages & the old soak that was their only water supply.  The old lighthouse keepers certainly did it tough, having to supplement their provisions as there was no guarantee when the next supply ship would arrive. The sun managed to keep us warm on the walk, despite the attempts of the blustery wind.  We finished looking around & decided to head back to camp for lunch.  On the way we stopped in at Antechamber Bay & the mouth of the Chapman River, this is a beautiful spot with lovely paperbark & gum trees lining the riverbank.

After lunch at camp it was off to American River for a look around.  This is a very pretty spot, though it is not American or a river, just a tidal inlet (some American sealers landed there & that’s why it got its name).  We stopped at the boat launching ramp to see how the fishermen (& women) were faring, plus a look at the pelicans as they were searching for a feed at the fish cleaning station.  There is also a very small campground there that was full of caravans, I guess because of the South Australian school holidays.  We drove a little more around the township of American River, some of the houses have spectacular views over the inlet & out to sea, it nearly makes you want to move here (if only it wouldn’t be so far from Canberra).

Back to Penneshaw, a bit more exploring, then some cheese & bikkies, a bit of a chat to the new campers, then Tereza whipped up a delicious dinner.