Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 01:18
DP,
Just come back from a 4 day visit a few days ago.
Not sure what you mean by 4WD tracks. They are plenty of dirt roads and tracks on the Island to give you the experience of driving on unsealed roads.
The whole of the area north of the Playford Highway, (Bitumen) including the North Road that runs between
Kingscote and
Stokes Bay is unsealed track. During December/January there would unlikely be any rain so the condition of the tracks would be good, although some may be corrugated if travelled heavily.
We experienced a variety of driving conditions with some "boggy" sections. Really good fun.
Virtually all of the minor roads and a few of the more major ones running north-south and connecting the two east-west bitumen roads (Playford Highway and the South Coast Road) are also unsealed.
In
Flinders Chase National Park, the
West Bay road connecting the most western point of the Island to the bitumen would be a good one to do. I intended this "trek" but a few days of rainy periods had caused the closure of the track when I was there. The map shows a 4WD track from just out of
West Bay running through the
Ravine Des Casoars Wilderness Area up to the bitumen road at
Scott Cove, near
Cape Borda, which could be worth a try.
If you asked at the Rangers Station or Tourist Center within the Park, they should be able to advise you if its do-able at the time.
All in all mate, you should enjoy your trip. Plenty to see and do.
One really pleasant surprise we experienced.
We did the "tourist" bit and visited Admiral's Arch at the bottom of Flinders Chase, although the bride and I had been there before, many years ago.
We walked down to
the Arch along the access path and was amazed to see literally hundreds of NZ Fur Seals and Australian Sea Lions in their colony, sunning themselves on every available
rock and
open space and swimming around in the water. At this time of the year the breading season was
well under way and there were plenty of pups of various sizes mooching around and playing with each other and generally annoying the grownups, while waiting for mum & dad to return with a feed of fish.
We could have spent much longer than the hour or so we stayed there witnessing a truly close encounter with nature at its very best. At times we were only a few metres away from some of them.
We didn't bother with a trip to Seal Bay after this as one can only go on a guided (escorted) tour at Seal Bay in a Group and that was not for us.
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130344
Follow Up By: PandJ - Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 10:33
Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 10:33
Hi Sand man,
Thanks for the info, We are going over shortly for a couple of days. Went there for our honeymoon 30+ years ago so will notice some changes.
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384833
Follow Up By: DP - Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 20:33
Friday, Sep 16, 2005 at 20:33
Thanks SandMan, good to hear from fellow Crow-eaters.
I was thinking more of tracks requiring 4wd rather than the dirt roads on the island. The
West Bay to
Scott Cove track will definitely be on my 'to-do' list. I can see another track that runs parralel E/W to
West Bay Rd from the West End Hwy just south of Baxter Rd so will try to do a couple down that way.
Failing that; Shackle Rd looks as if it might be a nice drive through the wilderness area.
I'll have to do my homework and get a map that's got more detail than just the
Kangaroo Island Secrets booklet!
Re Admirals' Arch seal colony - I visited this area playing tour guide for some back-packer friends at this time of year a few years back, and had a similar experience, watching the seals and pups high up on
the rock ledges and in the clear
pool below.
Cheers, Dan
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384914