Category: Uncategorized

Each morning we have walked into breakfast to be greeted with this misty view of the ocean.  It’s like something out of a movie.

On our last day we had two more excursions, as well as a hike along the local beach adjacent to Southern Ocean Lodge.  First up was a trip to Flinders Chase National Park, about 20 minutes from the lodge.  Here is our super-guide Nick explaining the flora and fauna from this area of the park known as Bunker Hill.

This spot was called Bunker Hill due to the military keeping an outpost here during WWII.  It does have a great vantage point!

Our next stop was along the rugged coast near Cape Du Couedic Lighthouse.  The swells were pretty big!

An extensive boardwalk system leads you closer to the water.  You could have sat here and watched the surf for hours.

There were seals everywhere!

This group of baby seals were all playing together in a tide pool below the boardwalk.  Sorry for the lame video…it was pretty far away from the boardwalk.

When our guide mentioned Admiral’s Arch we weren’t expecting something so impressive!  We had just walked over this archway to get here.  It frames the surf quite well!

Definitely deserving of a selfie!  What look like stalactites are actually petrified roots from trees that are now long gone.

One last look to show how thick the Arch is.  Amazing spot!

We made a brief stop at the lighthouse, built in 1909.  The Southern Ocean off Kangaroo Island has a history of being notoriously dangerous for mariners.  From the lodge alone you can see shoals off the coast that are miles away.

We made another brief stop at Weir’s Point, where all the provisions for the lighthouse crew were brought up the side of the cliff via what the guide called a sky-fox (it sounded like he said something else to be honest).  Here is the path the provisions took from the water.  Part of the dock still exists.

We had to get Nick to stop the van so we could get a photo looking back towards the Admiral’s Arch area.

Our last stop inside Flinders Chase was Remarkable Rocks, and they are definitely aptly named!

These large granite boulders sit 200 feet above sea level.  These rocks were formed over 500 million years ago.  Millions of years of ocean and weather forces created what you see today.

Some of the rocks almost look like modern art!

Some of the paths through the rocks reminded me of spots in Yosemite with equally large granite boulders.

Of course, with Yosemite you don’t have the ocean in the background!

This photo was on an informational panel near the rocks.  This photo was taken in 1910.

Here we are in the same spot, 115 years later!

Kim spotted this rock that looks like it has a face.

Definitely worthy of a selfie!

The orange on the rocks is from lichen.  It really stands out in a few spots!

I got some interesting shots from inside the openings in the rocks.  Looks like another face with a beard.

This is inside the space of that photo from 1910 (and our attempted replica of it).

Some of the rocks have formed really bizarre shapes!

While some have openings you can actually crawl into!

One last look with that gorgeous blue sky behind the rocks.  This is one of those Australian “must visits”!

After another delicious lunch we took a walk along the beach adjacent to the hotel.  I hope we don’t get tired of beautiful beaches on this trip!

Here’s a video of the gorgeous surf on this rugged shoreline.

The swells were just pounding the rocks in this spot!

Back at the hotel, they have constructed this kangaroo out of tractor spare parts.

Before dinner that night we had one last excursion to Hanson Bay Conservation Area, where we got to see our first Wallaby.  They belong to the same family as Kangaroo’s, but are quite a bit smaller.

We also saw another Koala who gave us a great pose!  There were several in the trees but this was the best photo op, with that perfectly blue sky.

Lastly, I filmed this Kangaroo eating the grass and got pretty damned close.  They don’t seem to mind people all that much.

If you visit Australia, make sure you put Kangaroo Island on your list, and if you can afford it Southern Ocean Lodge.  It’s a bit of a splurge, but well worth it in our opinion.  We’ll never forget it!

Coming up next, we fly back to Adelaide, pick up our rental car, and drive east on the wrong side of the road for a full week along portions of the Great Ocean Road.

Our next adventure was on Kangaroo Island, just south of Adelaide.  We took a short 40 minute flight to the island from Adelaide Airport.  The island looks quite parched from the current drought.

Welcome to the island!

Several of the people on our flight were headed to the same place.  There were at least two vans to take us to our destination for the next three days, Southern Ocean Lodge.  Here is our first view of the lobby area.  It’s going to be a rough few days!

The views from the dining area are incredible!

As are the views from our room!  Pretty much every room here mirrors this view, while still maintaining privacy for everybody.  Excellent design!

This is the view up the coast from our private deck.  Like I said, it’s going to be rough living here for a few days!

After a delicious lunch we took a short hike along the cliffs west of the lodge.

These views are going to ruin the rest of the trip for us.

Stunning coastline around every corner!

I just hope that anybody who is lucky enough to stay here realizes how special this place is!

The surf was absolutely pounding this little island.

While it’s hard to see (which is by design) that’s the Southern Ocean Lodge above the small beach.  This place burned to the ground in 2020, right before the Covid shutdowns, and just reopened last year, so everything is brand spanking new.

While this place is expensive, with excellent food, open bar and exclusive views like this, it’s worth every penny!

Sunset during dinner that night!  I love the clouds reflecting off the ocean.

The next morning we had an excursion to see Australian Sea Lions at Seal Bay.  With Southern Ocean Lodge, every excursion is included.  It’s rather like a high end cruise experience!  We loaded up into the van and made our way 40 minutes to the east.

The Australian Sea Lions are a specific species that became endangered due to fur hunters.  The biggest risk posed to them these days is becoming entangled in seine nets and plastic debris.

Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island is home to their third largest breeding colony.  We had a private tour set up by Southern Ocean Lodge and this was the first guy we saw off the trail, quite a ways from the beach.

Closer to the surf you could see these marks that the sea lions make when they move across the sand.

Right in front of the steps to the beach were several sea lions.  They are quite used to people walking around their habitat.

They all seemed quite happy with their surroundings.  They have a cycle where they spend three days hunting for food, then three days resting on the beach.  Their hunting grounds are up to 60 miles from shore, and down to 100 yards deep.

The beach is pretty stunning, but it’s heavily protected to keep people from getting too close to the sea lions.  The beach is only open to guided tours.

As we were heading back from the beach we saw this sea-lion making its way towards the water.

On our way back to Southern Ocean Lodge our guide stopped at a little spot on the side of the road that is known for Koalas!  We had yet to see one of these cuties.  Well now we have!

There were at least 10 of them spread amongst maybe 5 trees.  This was a momma koala and baby, posing for us.

Another momma/baby set was on this tree basically performing a high-wire act.  I was almost sure one or both of them would fall!

After an excellent lunch (even their burgers are great) we had another excursion to Kelly Hill Caves.  Only about 10 minutes from the lodge, the caves here are about to celebrate 100 years of being open to the public, having first opened in 1926.  We hiked down into the cave and the first room was filled with stalactites!  The rock lit up by a flashlight on the left is pure calcium carbonate, the material these stalactites are made of.

Our guide pointed out this stalactite that she referred to as The Ballerina.  Pretty appropriate!

One factor from these old caves being explored extensively before is that so many hands have touched so many features that they are basically ruined forever, so I was surprised to see several perfectly preserved cave features in crystal white.

This little section of stalactites was impressive!  Thousands of years to create this!

The final chamber we visited was just filled with stalactites and stalagmites!  They had a 15 minutes audio-visual interlude here that really wasn’t necessary, but it would be great for the kiddos!

Our guide referred to this little stalagmite as the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  You’ll get it if you are a geek.

Before we exited the caves our guide let us know about this special stalactites.  These are actually calcium carbonate that has formed around plant roots that made their way into the cave from above.

One last look at that little island off the coast getting battered by the waves.  I just thought the sunset light on this one made it blog worthy!

Coming up, we have one more day at Southern Ocean Lodge!