Kangaroo Island: What to see and where to stay when you visit

Over a third of spectacular Kangaroo Island is enshrined for future generations in nature reserves; remote, unspoilt and so breathtaking that even superlatives from nature guru David Attenborough would struggle to suffice.

This special place, 45 minutes by ferry from Cape Jervis (a two-hour drive from Adelaide) to Penneshaw on the island, is a world-renowned natural playground, with wildlife, languid stretches of foreshore and gold-class gastronomy.

Fires ravaged almost half of Australia’s third-largest island. However, recent rains have nourished the bushland and most of the island – especially the eastern part – is open for holidaymakers.

Distance: 904 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, 1552 kilometres south-west of Sydney, 1337 kilometres west of Canberra.

Renowned for: Wildlife and rugged landscapes

Here’s the thing about Kangaroo Island, the little arcadia that broke Australia’s collective heart with images of its bushfire devastation. The western side of the island off the South Australian coast was hit – and hit hard. But the east remains virtually untouched. And when you factor in Kangaroo Island’s impressive size – it covers almost 4500 square kilometres – that means there’s still plenty to do, see and taste.

“You could easily fill a two-night, three-day itinerary,” says Kylie Bamfield from Kangaroo Island Tourism. “More than 2000 square kilometres were unaffected by the fires, and more and more of it is reopening every day. You can still have wildlife encounters in the wild, you can still see pristine beaches and incredible landscape and enjoy our icons as you did in the past.”

One of those icons, Seal Bay, is very much open for business.

It’s here you can take a self-guided tour along boardwalks and sandy dunes to witness the rituals of a sea lion colony in the wild, from bulls fighting for alpha-male supremacy to pups playing on the sand. It’s another must to visit the astounding natural wonder of Admirals Arch, a unique rock bridge near the Cape du Couedic Lighthouse on the island’s south-west coast.

And it’s never too hard to find a deserted, pristine beach to call your own.

False Cape Wines opened its cellar door just four days before the fires hit.

Owner Jamie Helyar took four years to build the rustic-chic venue from limestone and corrugated iron, and it’s here, with beautiful valley views, that you can taste the winery’s minimal-intervention chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and more over an antipasto platter or homemade pie.

Helyar is keeping a positive outlook on the island that’s been his family’s home for three generations.

“It’s worth coming back. We need tourists to support us, but we have a lot to offer them as well,” he says.

“We’ve just had a lot of rain that will regenerate the bushland. It will look magnificent in just a few weeks with the new green.”