Day 28 – September 28 2012

We packed between intermittent showers & on the road again, with the first stop at Pennington Bay.  We had been reasonably sheltered from the wind at Penneshaw, but here on the exposed southern coast it was blowing reasonably strongly & was a bit cool.  The ruggedness of Pennington Bay was picturesque, with some big waves rolling in & stirring up rough surf.

We drove on to Kingscote, through a pretty farming countryside, with the odd canola crop providing a lovely contrast to the verdant greens of the wheat & barley & lush pastures, with fat sheep enjoying themselves in the good pastures.  The camp ground at Kingscote is fairly basic, tucked in amongst some gum trees, though reasonably close to the beach of Nepean Bay.  The bay is very shallow for about 100 metres from shore.  After setting up we headed out exploring Kingscote & saw a casualty of the strong winds, a fishing boat half full of water resting on the bottom & tied up to a large trailer.  We walked around the town centre, had seafood for lunch, explored the wharf & saw some cute seals, while nearly getting blown off the jetty by the wind, so strong & cold (if there is a jetty Ron has to walk out on it & I am mad enough & follow him no matter how long the jetty is or how terrible the weather).

It was a perfect day to visit the Kingscote Museum which is very interesting & comprehensive, covering all facets of the early lives of the settlers on the island, from domestic items in an early restored stone house, to farm machinery, to tractors & stationary engines, to the old lighthouse from Cape Willoughby.  It is very well put together & is a must see in my opinion.  We next explored Reeves Point, a historic site where South Australia was formally declared & the first formal settlement occurred (there were lots of people living on Kangaroo Island, sealers, whalers, escaped convicts, etc).  The wind here was extremely strong, nearly blowing us off our feet, some of the gusts were 50 knots or more, they were lifting sheets of water off the sea.

Our next port of call was Emu Bay, a poor name as all of the Kangaroo Island emus were killed by around 1830.  It was just as windy here, though another pretty spot with most of the houses in this small settlement looking directly out to sea.  The BBQ & day visitor facilities here are second to none, they are brand new, including covered shelters, tables & seats, plus free gas BBQs & a great children’s play area.  We slowly wended our way back to Kingscote & our Karavan, put the heater on & warmed up slowly with a little light reading before another great dinner.

The weather wasn’t too favourable but we had really a very good day driving around this lovely island enjoying the sights, the seals & seabirds & laughing how the wind was nearly blowing us off our feet.