Day 32 – October 2 2012

West Bay was our destination this morning, about 28km of fair dirt road.  This is the westernmost bay on Kangaroo Island & was the site of the shipwreck of the Loch Vennachar, a 3 masted ship, in 1905.  Today was glorious, not a cloud in the sky & a pleasant 22C with a slight breeze.  We had the beach to ourselves & walked to the end & back, barefoot.  We did contemplate a swim, but the water is freezing cold.  A bower anchor from the ship has been recovered & preserved & is on display at the car park in memory of all the crew who perished at West Bay.  All hands on board lost their lives when the ship crashed into the cliffs.  As we were leaving West Bay a few fishermen arrived to try their luck.

We drove back past Breakneck River & Sandy Creek before turning off & stopping at Snake Lagoon for the Snake Lagoon Hike.  Well, there is no water in the lagoon & thankfully we didn’t see any snakes.  The walk took us down to the Rocky River & followed along it to the mouth.  It was a fairly rough walk, lots of up & down, stepping over rocks & uneven ground, so not ideal. We stopped & had our lunch at the small wooden footbridge that crosses the river. The river lives up to its name, it is very rocky, though picturesque, with a surprising amount of water flowing down it.  The river meets the sea in a very small bay, with some huge waves greeting the river as it flows out.  Some people even swam there, personally, I think they are crazy, it just looks too dangerous, there is a huge volume of water pushing into the bay & there must be a huge rip taking it back out again.  It just didn’t look safe.  We took it just as easy going back to the Snake Lagoon car park & we were a little tired & thirsty by the time we got there, so we sat at the picnic table in Snake Lagoon & had a rest, drink & snack watching the swallows & blue wrens flittering around.

Back to camp, dinner, then another Koala Walk.  This time we only saw 1 koala (sleeping) 2 possums & an owl.  The night is quite mild & very pleasant walking, the sky is cloudless & the stars are very bright, another great day.