“Up n Out”, the Towns moto that we’ve yet to achieve and doesn’t run strong in our bloodline. Nevertheless there’s nothing like the deadline of a Kangaroo Island ferry departure to focus the most lackadaisical minds! So we were up as the sun slowly crawled above the horizon, the kids jumped in the ute with Lester to give one last feed to the sheep, then with a BIG thank you with bid farewell to Lester and Kay and pointed Tinfish towards Cape Jarvis. We arrived at the very back of the vehicle queue with a whopping 30min to spare. In contrast at the very front we could see our friends James & Tammy with their two kids Henry & baby Charlotte (who became permanently attached to Lexi’s hip for the duration in a pro-mum stance!) With our degree of incommunicado in the run up, James thankfully took the liberty of planning our itinerary for the 10 days on KI. Phew! But first I had to REVERSE Minty down the ramp to load onto the ferry with everyone watching… no pressure then! Like a master truckie I manoeuvred Minty into the space reserved for a Mazda 2. We were on our way.

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First camp, Stokes Bay. The beauty of this spot was sneaking through the passage in the rocks to Hidden Beach and what a gem of a place it is! A perfect spot to chill out and relax. Golden sands, turquoise sea and a large sheltered pool of crystal clear water full of little fish, ideal for the kids to hone their snorkelling skills. To top this in the trees surrounding camp were a couple of Koalas and overly tame wallabies scavenging for food.! This was an inaugural big trip in their smart Bushtracker & new 200 series cruiser for James & Co, so with no real plan other than relax and get into a rhythm we spent a lazy few days bumbling between camp and the beach with the occasional glass of wine.

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James had also bought along his dive kit with the promise of crayfish for dinner, we quickly agreed a trip along the coast to Western River Cove was on the cards. Only 30min down the coast, we decided to stay camped at Stokes Bay and just do a day trip, given the exposed nature of the campsite there… so with cruisers loaded we headed off for the day. What another beautiful spot… golden sands, turquoise waters, you get the idea. Alas on arrival, James realised between pram and other baby paraphernalia he’d left a vital piece of cray equipment back at base… so off he sped as expectations were running high! The kids were soon splashing, swimming and snorkelling whilst Daddy rigged up his fish feeding equipment aka rod and reel. True to form the fishing was fruitless and once James returned we sent him into the water but appears my bad luck must have rubbed off as even after 2hrs he unfortunately returned empty handed. Between you and me I secretly wonder if the two hours was spent just enjoying the peace n quiet away from the circus of camp!

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Leaving Stoke Bay we relocated towards the National Park & with a scorcher of a day forecast, decided a trip underground would be just the ticket to stay cool. What’s not to love about exploring caves with their stalactites and stalagmites & Kelly Hill Caves is a fine example. The kids loved being cave explorers and trying to remember which go up & which come down. When the lights were turned out to show how pitch black it truly is underground you literally couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

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On the way back to camp we took a detour to Hanson Bay (sand=golden, water=turquoise) but with the kids hot & ratty it took some cajoling to extract them from the comfort of the air-conditioned car. Nevertheless as soon as their feet hit the sand the lure of the sparkling water was too much a temptation and in a heartbeat they were stripped down to their undies and frolicking in the cool water.

No trip to KI is complete without a visit to Flinders Chase National Park but with Reo’s recent dislike for anything that involves using his legs to position one foot in front of the other and repeat the procedure, we had to negotiate the situation carefully. The ironic thing is each and every time he actually does the walk he has a great time! Here we could easily tempt him with the promise of seals… his most favourite of animals (as well as dogs & horses). In no time at all we were down at Admiral’s Arch enjoying the antics of the colony of NZ fur seals lazing on the rocks or frolicking in the surf. The temptation for Remarkable Rocks went something along the lines of alien space ships that had mysteriously landed and what young boy can resist the temptation to explore those! We even found a rock which was obviously the pod where the aliens slept! Bingo!

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One of the highlights from our last visit was the rapture show & we were all pretty keen to see this amazing display again. We had seats at the very front and the show was an entertaining look into the lives of some of these magnificent creatures and Lexi was keen to volunteer to hold various owls, falcons and so on. The finale of the show was the magnificent wedge tailed eagle. This fine specimen was a rescue eagle as all too often they fall foul of collisions with cars as they scavenge for road kill but have a slow take-off…. So if you see one toot toot toot your horn as you approach and slow down.

Hands up who enjoys getting sand in every crack n crevice? Well we’ve found a great way to achieve this goal whilst having the utmost fun… SAND BOARDING..! Lexi is a demon, Reo just wanted to know where the ski lifts were..?!? Certainly keeps you fit trudging up the impressive dunes, but when you get to the top… ready steady go… wheeee, hang on, crash! Sand, adrenalin & smiles. More more. Perhaps we should have known better to only take one bottle of water with us and after an hour we were all parched, so back at the hire shop, kids were treated with a rare fizzy drink… ahhh heaven.

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With another move of camp, we found ourselves at Vivonne Bay (golden sand, turquoise water) where it was a fish off in the river estuary… Henry took an early lead, but Reo gained. We half wondered if it was the same small bream being caught each time! James rigged up some float rig which quickly separated from the rest of his line to our amusement. Not to lose his $2 float, which was drifting about 5m off the bank, he dragged one of the nearby kayaks in to the water lay along it and gingerly paddled towards the float… what followed was a comedy performance… a slight off balance got him splashed, he recovered, just, another splash, then a full on topple into the water… man, my laff could be heard back at camp. To top this, the float had pretty much drifted within an arms reach of the bank by now.

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Koalas are a pretty common occurrence on KI and where ever you see a gaggle of Asian tourist, Nikons & Cannons held aloft and pointing skyward, you are sure to spot a Koala. In the two trees in the middle of camp were two resident Koalas, but I wasn’t sure what to photograph, the bear or the tourists that seemed to come by just to see the Koalas. What I didn’t realise is the awful noise they make at night when feeling jiggy for it. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder & I’m guessing the same applies for your species mating call! Sweet serenades they are not… more like the sound track to a horror movie.

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No visit to KI is complete without a trip to Seal Bay to see… you guessed it seals..! I do however feel that the experience is getting more restrictive in the interaction with these creatures. Our guide led us to the beach like a troop of boy scouts, reprimanding us for being out of line or hurrying along any stragglers (ie me) who had stopped longer than the allotted time to take a photo. I’m glad I took my zoom lens, but even then they were just images in the distance. Luckily we came across one relaxing under the board walk and the only way forward was to walk over the seal who seemed blissfully unaware nor bothered about our presence.

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To complete our circumnavigation of KI we spent the last few nights camped at American River. The kids all enjoyed fishing off the jetty catching a variety of small reef fish and then we decided to try our luck at squid jigging. Time passed with no action, then just as we were about to call it a day, Lexi pointed and asked are they squid? Sure enough a couple were loitering on the other side of the jetty, so jigs in & bingo!
The camp was right on the shore front with cracking views. James had asked the council guy on arrival if we could have the fire we’d been longing for all KI trip. The answer was yes but a full fire ban was in force from midnight. However, previously whilst on the jetty I had some conflicting advice from the local fire marshal who informed us even weber Q’s were banned. Perplexed we decided to get the fire pit out. Maz hadn’t yet seen this eBay gem squirreled away in Minty and complemented James on his fire pit – oops! I updated all on my conversation and educated everyone to remove their weber Q’s.

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The moment we put match to kinder, we could hear a small tender fire up on the river. “That’ll be the Marshal” I warned. “Nah!” Oh yes, within in minutes the Marshal was on scene providing the same lesson I’d shared. Whilst I hid in the shadows, James pointed out that it was only 9pm and we’d be long in bed by midnight with the fire safely out. I think the Marshal himself was also impressed with my fire pit as it seemed to calm him somewhat that we weren’t doing the normal trick of an open fire. We all promised the fire would be put out with water before bed, bid him goodnight & continued sipping our wine gathered around the magic of fire.!

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In preparation for the trip I was insistent on getting us all bikes so we could occasionally take to the road on two wheels. In the pre-trip mayhem we’d managed only 3 bikes between us & we’d bought Reo’s next size up as he was soon to outgrow his performing monkey wheels. Needless to say the bikes had so far remained securely in their bike racks…. But NO more. Along the foreshore was a trail and I was keen to get Reo more familiar with his new wheels (found at the side of the road courtesy of council clear up). Incredibly the boys set off and made it all the way to Independence Point AND back… 7.1km! Reo did amazing. Only one incident of note, when he fell off, yeah, but on top of a massive ANTS NEST. & these things were vicious! Within seconds they were swarming. I picked Reo up and ran him to a safe spot… but now to retrieve his bike. Every bit of bike touching the ground was covered in biting ants attacking… incredible. Ok so daddy got bitten a number of times as he heroically saved the bike… but isn’t that what daddies do! The next day Reo took the girls down the same track (avoiding the ants) whilst daddy packed up camp. Three red faced riders returned agreeing he midday sun was probably the wrong time of day to go riding. Nevertheless we agreed it was heaps of fun and we must get the bikes down more often… & order a 4th… council clear up isn’t as fruitful as the Lower North Shore pickings!

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As we approached the end of another enjoyable KI adventure, we stopped off enroute to the ferry for a glass of wine and a spread of antipasti with an amazing view across the bay. Again like a pro I backed Minty onto the ferry and we all waved goodbye to KI… next stop Adelaide and a few nights crashing at James & Tammy’s to catch up on a heap of errands… crash repairs to Tinfish, Stone Stomper for Minty, repairs to Lexi’s camera, tinker with bits n bobs on Tinfish, warranty replacement of Lexi’s Garmin, clean Minty top to bottom, Tinfish detailed in an attempt to clean the red dust, washing clothes bedding & more clothes (these guys have two massive front loader washing machines – genius, just add kids!) tinker with more bits n bobs on Tinfish, all whilst the kids sat in front of the TV watching pretty much anything with a moving picture.

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A massive thanks to James, Tammy, Henry & Charlotte for sharing in our adventure and their hospitality whilst in Adelaide, we’ll hopefully see you again on the road sometime somewhere!