Visitor review: Kangaroo Island

Visitor review: Kangaroo Island



Our Kan­ga­roo Island com­pe­ti­tion win­ner shares her trip highlights


When Good Liv­ing launched, we ran a com­pe­ti­tion for one lucky read­er to win a Kan­ga­roo Island get­away. The prize includ­ed accom­mo­da­tion in a her­itage-list­ed light­house keeper’s cot­tage as well as a pass to vis­it major KI attrac­tions includ­ing Seal Bay, Kel­ly Hill Caves and Flinders Chase Nation­al Park.

Our lucky win­ner, Jayne, blew us away with her entry which beau­ti­ful­ly described how the South Aus­tralian envi­ron­ment con­tributes to good liv­ing for her and her family.

Jayne and her fam­i­ly vis­it­ed KI in Sep­tem­ber, and we asked her what she enjoyed about the trip.

Where did you stay and what was it like?

Our fam­i­ly stayed in Sey­more Cot­tage, a refur­bished her­itage-list­ed for­mer light­house keep­er’s res­i­dence, locat­ed in Cape Willough­by Con­ser­va­tion Park. The cot­tage was light and airy with plen­ty of room – mak­ing it a per­fect base for a group. 

Visitor review: Kangaroo Island

It was peace­ful and qui­et with a self-con­tained kitchen if you want to cook your own meals. If you pre­fer to put your feet up and let some­one else do the cook­ing, there’s a great café right next door which is open for break­fast and lunch with friend­ly, local owners.

There wasn’t a tele­vi­sion in sight which was a bonus for us – and the place was stocked with plen­ty of board games. We were also sur­round­ed by amaz­ing pho­to opportunities.

Visitor review: Kangaroo Island

How was the jour­ney to KI?

Very easy – even though KI is very close, the fer­ry jour­ney makes it feel like more of an adven­ture. You real­ly feel like you’re get­ting away. On the day we trav­elled, we had a love­ly smooth cross­ing so spent most of the trip on the deck soak­ing up the sun.

Tell us about your itin­er­ary – what were the highlights?

On arrival we took the Cape Willough­by Light­house Tour which gave us some con­text for our stay. The tour was relaxed and infor­ma­tive, and we were able to step inside the huge lens which lit the way for the ships cross­ing the Back­stairs Pas­sage. We climbed the light­house and enjoyed the impres­sive views of the coastline.

We were real­ly close to the seal colony at Seal Bay, which meant there were plen­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ties to watch them body­surf and play.

We also vis­it­ed the Remark­able Rocks in Flinders Chase Nation­al Park and enjoyed the spec­tac­u­lar view of the rocks against the blue sky.

Visitor review: Kangaroo Island

What was unique about this trip?

We real­ly enjoyed being unplugged’ for a major­i­ty of the trip. Less screen time meant more qual­i­ty fam­i­ly time, as well as plen­ty of time for slow­ing down and relaxing.

The time out in such a peace­ful envi­ron­ment with serene ocean views gave us an oppor­tu­ni­ty to pon­der how life would have been for the first inhab­i­tants who had to wait for pass­ing ships for supplies.

We real­ly enjoyed the local KI pro­duce and sam­pling delights such as hon­ey and wine. We enjoyed them so much we brought some home with us! It’s nice to be remind­ed of our trip every time we have a glass of wine or taste the hon­ey at breakfast.

Being so close to a work­ing light­house at night was amazing.

Do you have any tips for future visitors?

There is a love­ly win­ery with a spec­tac­u­lar cel­lar door on the road from Pen­neshaw to the light­house. They offer meals and also have a golf tee which pro­vid­ed us with loads of fun and entertainment!

When was the last time you vis­it­ed Kan­ga­roo Island? Share your sto­ries and tips for oth­er vis­i­tors in the com­ments below.

Head­er image: Remark­able Rocks


This con­tent was pro­duced in part­ner­ship with  Good Living