5 unmissable autumn experiences on Kangaroo Island

5 unmissable autumn experiences on Kangaroo Island



March to May is the per­fect time to explore Kan­ga­roo Island. 

The warm, sun­ny weath­er pro­vides ide­al con­di­tions for bush­walk­ing and the calmer seas are great for fish­ing trips and fam­i­ly days on the beach. The chang­ing colours and native blooms also pro­vide unpar­al­leled back­drops for spot­ting wildlife. 

Here are our five unmiss­able expe­ri­ences this autumn on Kan­ga­roo Island.

1. Flinders Chase Nation­al Park and Ravine Des Casoars Wilder­ness Pro­tec­tion Area 

No vis­it to Kan­ga­roo Island is com­plete with­out a vis­it to this vast wilder­ness, fea­tur­ing Admi­rals Arch and a long-nosed seal colony. Remark­able Rocks, the island’s best-known land­mark, also sit with­in the park. These 500-mil­lion-year-old gran­ite boul­ders have been sculpt­ed over the ages by wind and water, leav­ing behind stun­ning shapes. With the autumn light hit­ting the sprawl­ing coast­line and orange rocks, it’s a view not to miss. 

2. Seal Bay

Step foot onto this unique breed­ing colony of around 800 sea lions. From May, you might see the first of the season’s seal pups. Seal Bay is only place in the world that you can walk on the beach with these endan­gered ani­mals — it’s an expe­ri­ence like no oth­er. For those who’d rather admire from afar, Seal Bay has a wheel­chair-acces­si­ble board­walk lead­ing to a num­ber of well-placed view­ing platforms.

3. Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail

Spend hours or days walk­ing in nature on this 61 kilo­me­tre trail. Expe­ri­ence unin­ter­rupt­ed views of some of the most rugged, remote and spec­tac­u­lar coast­line of the South­ern Ocean, locat­ed pre­dom­i­nant­ly with­in Flinders Chase Nation­al Park. There are four camp­sites to break up your jour­ney or set­tle into to enjoy the most botan­i­cal­ly unique part of South Aus­tralia. There are plen­ty of autumn blooms to admire with colour­ful peapods, banksia, com­mon heath and flame heath begin­ning to blos­som in autumn.

4. Kel­ly Hill Caves

Delve under­ground and learn about the caves’ his­to­ry before embark­ing on an under­ground adven­ture. Formed over mil­lions of years, Kel­ly Hill Caves offer some of the most spec­tac­u­lar lime­stone for­ma­tions in the world. Whether it’s adven­ture cav­ing, or a walk through the show cave, these cham­bers will delight young and old.

5. Wildlife

Home to hun­dreds of native species, Kan­ga­roo Island has been called Australia’s zoo with­out fences and is a wildlife-lover’s par­adise. The calm waters and milder weath­er makes autumn the best time to explore Kan­ga­roo Island from the water. The Sponge Gar­dens Sanc­tu­ary Zone is a fan­tas­tic place to dive, pro­vid­ing habi­tat for icon­ic species such as blue grop­er, har­le­quin fish and south­ern blue dev­il, as well as large sponges. In autumn, Cape Bar­ren Geese pre­pare to nest Flinders Chase and near­by lagoons and Dou­ble-band­ed plovers arrive from New Zealand to set­tle in the tidal flats. The cool­er autumn nights make for per­fect con­di­tions to see the Island’s colony of Lit­tle pen­guins set­tle into nesting.

Don’t for­get to book online before you head to Flinders Chase Nation­al Park, Seal Bay and Kel­ly Hill Caves Con­ser­va­tion Park. Look­ing for the most cost effec­tive way to vis­it the island? Check out the Kan­ga­roo Island Tour Pass.

Whether it’s long days on the beach with the fam­i­ly, enjoy­ing unin­ter­rupt­ed views of the coast­line or tast­ing local pro­duce, autumn in Kan­ga­roo Island offers an expe­ri­ence like no other. 

Where to stay: Where to stay in Kan­ga­roo Island’s nation­al parks (envi​ron​ment​.sa​.gov​.au)


This con­tent was pro­duced in part­ner­ship with  Good Living