Kangaroo Island Camping in Winter??
When the opportunity arose for a Kangaroo Island winter camping trip, we jumped at the chance. With no kids and no commitments, we couldn’t say no. Why in the middle of winter? Well, for one, it beats working. And two, the promise of hardly anyone being there really appealed to me. I’m also partial to some Salmon fishing – and the best time for that is…. Winter!
And so it was set, that we’d book the ferry and spend 4 or 5 nights on the island, hoping to get on to a few fish and see the sights as well. I think given the time, we nailed that pretty well.
American River Campground
We thought it would be a cool idea to get the Ferry which departed around sunset from Cape Jervis. And I have to say, it was! Exiting the marina as the sun set over the horizon, on a calm (albeit cold) night was a great feeling.
We got over to Penneshaw, with a hunger, so stopped at the local pub for a hot dinner, before making our way around to American River Campground. Here’s where the decision to catch the sunset Ferry comes unstuck a little. Kangaroo Island is brimming with wildlife! There were eyes shining back at us constantly as we shone the high beams into the darkness. With kangaroos left and right, it was a fairly slow and careful drive around the corner to the campground.
Finding the campground completely empty, we set up in the dark, and got the much needed campfire going. The campsite itself is a grassy area with a jumble of trees. There didn’t appear to be any ‘sites’ as such, but there are firepits plotted around the place which kind of mark a camping area. It’s right near the water, and boat ramp, so quite a nice spot.
Kingscote Jetty
The following morning, after a slow start, we ventured around to Kingston, to try out for some of the famed Kingscote Jetty’s King George Whiting. Luck wasn’t on our side though, as we left cold and empty handed.
Rain started coming down, and we instead went for a drive to look at D’Estrees Bay, another renowned whiting spot. The dirt roads were wet and slippery from the rain, but in good condition. Arriving at the beach, we surveyed a whole heap of seaweed in the water, rain coming down, and decided the campfire was more appealing.
Sightseeing – Remarkable Rocks & Admirals Arch
The next day we decided to head down south to check out Vivonne Bay and Remarkable Rocks. We liked the look of Vivonne Bay so much, we decided we’d move our camp down here for our last couple of nights.
On to Remarkable Rocks, I stopped at the Flinders Chase visitor centre (since burnt down in bushfires, and rebuilt) and went in with a handful of change to pay our visitor fee. This was my first taste of the KI Tax (expensive ferry aside). Loose coins didn’t cut it here and I had to go back to the car to get my credit card! These days, the South Australian National Parks are all getting a bit pricey, but back in 2009, this one was a shock.
There is a stunning winding road that heads down to the coast. I stopped to get a photo which I was really happy with. Whilst I no doubt wasn’t the first to take this shot, I’ve since seen it pop up so many times!
Seals, Seals, Seals!
We first walked down to Cape Du Couedic, and Admirals Arch for a look. A boardwalk and steps winds down to the bottom where you can view right under Admirals Arch. Pretty cool sight. What is really cool about this spot though, is the abundance of fur seals! They are everywhere lounging around on the rocks and shooting in and out of the water. There is no need to pay the exorbitant price to go to Seal Bay when you can see them up close right here.
Next we drove around to Remarkable Rocks themselves, and basically had the whole place to ourselves for a little while. The rocks are truly remarkable, and a wonder as to how they came to be perched up on the big rock like that. The landscape around them is nothing like it, so it just kind of sits alone, looking so different from it’s surrounds. Given the day was getting late, we had some good light to snap a few photos of the rocks, just prior to a bus load of tourists rocking up!
Now we had another problem. The sun was setting and we had to drive all the way back to American River. I wouldn’t normally say this is lucky on a camping trip, but luckily it started raining pretty hard. All the animals were hiding away keeping dry somewhere as we ventured back to camp in the darkness. Brett had got back earlier, and had a roast lamb cooking in the camp oven when we arrived. Perfect!
Pennington Bay Salmon Hunt
The following morning, we thought we’d give some salmon fishing a go at Pennington Bay. Salmon like cold, rough conditions, and we certainly had that.
A decent little gutter at formed along the middle of the beach, so I set up there and casted some pilchards into the sea, and waited. A few hours of no bites, and my spirits were crushed. The Kangaroo Island fishing wasn’t really living up to the hype so far.
Vivonne Bay Camping
Impressed by Vivonne Bay and surrounds, we packed up camp and move down to Vivonne Bay. This would allow us a bit easier access to nearby beaches without having to drive back to American River.
The campground at Vivonne Bay is basically a large dirt car park, surrounded in trees. There are a handful of small trees scattered throughout. There is a river that flows out to the beach just behind the campsite, the water is very brown due to the tannin seeping in from trees/bark up river. This campground wouldn’t be overly enjoyable if it was crowded, but the bonus of winter camping saw the campsite empty when we arrived. We got a nice spot under some small trees, which helped to setup our tarp for potential rains.
A curry was cooked over the fire, with some cheesy damper for sides. I couldn’t complain about the food this trip! A lot of interested possums were gathering around for a look too. For the warmth of the fire, or the smell of the curry, I’m not sure.
Fishing at Vivonne Bay
Here’s where our fishing luck started to turn around. Vivonne Bay jetty is a ripper. Crystal clear blue waters gave way to complete blackness as thousands of Tommy Ruff’s schooled under the jetty. With some small cockles on small hooks, we were landing fish constantly. Most were small and thrown back, but it was good fun.
Later, as darkness set in, I tried putting a tommy on hooks under a float to see what larger specimens I could tempt. I got excited when the drag started peeling off, to pick up the rod and realise there was no stopping whatever was on the line. Soon enough, a seal jumped out the water and snapped the hook clean off.
Attempt number two saw another hook up and this time something of manageable size. After a little fight, I pulled in a fish that I’d not caught before – a barracouta. No good for eating as far as I know, so back into the water he went.
Sandboarding on Little Sahara
There a huge sand dune area inland of the coast near Vivonne Bay, called Little Sahara. The cool thing about these dunes, if you can hire sand boards from the local general store and go sliding down them. As someone who did a bit of skate boarding in my younger years, I thought this would be pretty easy. I copped a reality check that I am not so young anymore as I tumbled off the board and down the hill. I was sore for days!
My advice here would be to start small, rather than go to the top of the biggest dune for the first attempt.
A Fishing Excursion to Hanson Bay
We got a tip from a local that if we wanted to get into some Salmon, Hanson Bay is a reliable bet. We’d just need to walk over two outcrops, to the ‘third beach’. Sounded easy enough.
There isn’t much in the way of car parking here, so again it was lucky we were in the middle of winter. Though on this day the sun was shining and it was quite a nice day! We walked down to the beach to meet our first obstacle; the South West River meets the ocean here, and was flowing at a fair pace. We carefully waded our way across, the water above our knees. Then started trekking to the end of the beach. We followed a track over the dune at the end of the beach, and got to the next beach… and kept going. By time we got to the third beach, carrying our all our gear, we were pretty exhausted. We were rewarded though, by a nice black circle 50 metres off the shore – a school of salmon!
Over the next hour or two, transpired one of the better salmon fishing sessions I’ve encountered. It was almost a fish per cast, with many drop offs and fish thrown back to swim another day. We did keep a couple to cook up, which made the trek back to the cars even harder than the trek to the beach in the first place!
Stokes Bay Beach
One place I had vaguely recalled visiting as a child was Stokes Bay – recalling a cool little walk through a rock crevice to reach the beach. I wanted to take Sian there to check it out, so we made a point to visit on our last day before catching the ferry back to the mainland.
The path winds along the cliff edge, and massive fallen chunks of rock have years ago tumbled down creating a kind of tunnel to get to the better beach. It’s very cool and the kids would no doubt love it.
The beach itself is very nice, but as I might have mentioned, it was the middle of winter, and there was no chance of us having a dip!
Heading Home
We again caught a late ferry and enjoyed some nice sunset views. This time, getting the late ferry home made a lot of sense, as it gave us plenty of time to pack up and get to Penneshaw at a lazy pace. Also, there aren’t so many kangaroos on the mainland side for the night drive home from there!
Would we go back?
Well, it’s been 15 years at the time of writing, and we haven’t been back yet. Kangaroo Island is a beautiful spot with abundant wildlife and good fishing. It just costs an arm and a leg to get on the ferry. Once there, attractions are not cheap either – though there is enough nature things to do see which can be cheap or free.
I’ve always maintained that the Eyre Peninsula is better, and I’d rather spend the extra fuel driving over there instead. Sheringa is a good base, or further west is the best! There’s not much in the way of proper off grid camping available on KI. There are more options for cheap or free camping close to beaches, and cheaper basically everything on the EP. Still, I hear there is a world class golf course being built on KI, so that might be an extra reason to revisit.
As for the Winter camping – so long as it’s not pouring with rain, get out there and enjoy camping without the crowds. The campfires hit a whole lot better!
