Experience

Five days, the expe­ri­ence of a lifetime

Tow­er­ing cliffs of lime­stone and coag­u­lat­ed mag­ma, storm-blast­ed coastal scrub and mas­sive arcs of bone white beach; this is the wild­ness that awaits you on the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail. Few places in the world remain that pro­vide such a set­ting for inner, deep lis­ten­ing and qui­et, still aware­ness. Look around you and with­in — the oppor­tu­ni­ties for dis­cov­ery are endless.

Day 2: Snake Lagoon to Cape du Couedic

Day two takes you along the Rocky Riv­er towards its mouth at the coast. Not long into the walk you’ll be reward­ed with your first breath­tak­ing view of the mighty South­ern Ocean. Here at the edge of the world there is noth­ing but the deep blue sea between you and Antarc­ti­ca. The trail then heads south along the island’s wild and rugged coast­line where birds of prey may be seen fly­ing over the land and sea, while on the water bot­tle-nosed dol­phins often sur­face as they hunt for fish. If you’re vis­it­ing between June and ear­ly Octo­ber, you may even by treat­ed to the majes­tic sight of South­ern Right Whales on their annu­al migra­tion to the Great Aus­tralian Bight. Upon reach­ing Mau­per­tu­is Bay you’ll head down from the clifftop onto the bone white beach below. Sea­far­ers found this wild coast­line unfor­giv­ing, with the rem­nants of ship­wrecks that cost the lives of many still vis­i­ble today. The trail even­tu­al­ly winds its way back up to the rocky clifftop, bring­ing you ever clos­er to the famous Cape du Couedic Light­house that sits atop the head­land in the dis­tance. Pause for a final look back on your day’s jour­ney along the spec­tac­u­lar­ly beau­ti­ful coast­line of Mau­per­tu­is Bay. When the trail turns inland you’ll be treat­ed to soft­er con­di­tions under­foot for the final stretch to Cape du Couedic. Ven­ture to Admi­rals Arch to fin­ish the day with a spec­tac­u­lar sun­set in the com­pa­ny of play­ful seals and sea-lions.

Day 4: Sander­son Bay to Han­son Bay Road

Day four offers high ener­gy coastal trekking at its best, with mas­sive swells, tow­er­ing cliffs and extend­ed views along the coast all the way from Sander­son Bay to the spec­tac­u­lar Cape Younghus­band. Look­ing back you’ll con­tin­ue to see Remark­able Rocks as it is rarely seen, framed by the sur­round­ing wild land­scape. When the trail heads inland along man­age­ment tracks you’ll be treat­ed to a dra­mat­ic change in veg­e­ta­tion from slow­ly recov­er­ing low coastal heath to tall mallee and tea tree. Keep your eyes peeled for goan­nas sun­ning them­selves on rocky out­crops and echid­na dig­gings near ant hills.

An option­al side trip off the wilder­ness trail to the near­by Han­son Bay head­land and the small set­tle­ment of Han­son Bay offers walk­ers an oppor­tu­ni­ty to dip their toes in the crys­tal clear water.