Distance: 282km
Dep: 10:00am
Arr: 6:30pm
Temperature: 26°C - 32°C
Total distance to date: 1685km
Route:
- Kingscote
- Seal Bay
- Admirals Arch
- Remarkable Rocks
- Stokes Bay
- Kingscote
There's something a little different about waking up on an island. You feel a bit more at ease, this overwhelming sense of relaxation. You would hear nothing but waves crashing on the shore across the street, then one by one, neighbours awoke to start up their caravans to begin their next journey. We were the last ones to leave the accomodations, opting to carry minimal cargo with us other than a spare set of shoes, our snacks, and drinks.
After a slow putter over to the local bakery for a breakfast pie (a regular pie, but as a first meal) and a lamington, we headed over to Seal Bay which is the third-largest colony of seals in Australia. It's also the most easily accessible, as most seals live off the coast and on islands away from people. I don't blame them either, that would be the dream. You can pay a small admission fee to walk down the boardwalk and watch them live their best seal life.
Caption: Lots of seal tracks and no human ones - an ideal seal habitat
Swapping over to regular shoes and removing a bit of gear in the 32°C heat was somehow more tiring than walking uphill on a wooden boardwalk, so I decided to myself that I'll resume the rest of the day in bike gear.
Upon realising that Kangaroo Island is in fact even bigger than we thought, a pitstop at Vivonne Bay to refuel and cool off made it possible to make it to the famous Flinders Chase National park for lunch.
Caption: Fuel stop in Vivonne Bay
Another small admission fee of $14 allowed us to enter the park and use its meandering road all the way down to Admirals Arch. I had no idea what to expect, but it was in fact a natural arch-shaped rock formation that was carved out by the sea and wind. Limestone dripped out and formed stalactites making it a very cool photo opportunity.
Caption: Admirals Arch in Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island
A teeny backtrack and detour to the Remarkable Rocks which were in fact, also remarkable. Australians have a knack for naming things, don't they? The Remarkables are over 200 million years old, and have existed long before dinosaurs roamed the earth. They started out as molten rock and were carved out by sea and wind as well.
I think people are a lot like rocks, they get more interesting with age.
The sun was on its way down, and we had been walking for hours in motorcycle boots, so it was time to head back toward Kingscote. Stokes Bay came highly recommended to see and was only slightly off our route (or so we thought), so we cut up a short dirt road as a shortcut followed by 15km in a straight line to visit the tiny village. We didn't have enough time to explore the area, but a crowd of families were speedwalking to the rock caves to check them out before the sun disappears.
Caption: Unsealed road from Stokes Bay to Kingscote
Stokes Bay is about 40km away from Kingscote, and it was prime time for the animals to start coming out. We hopped back into the saddle and plugged the GPS in to Kingscote.
Funny thing, Google Maps never warns you if the roads are sealed or not, because they are biased toward vehicles of the 4-wheeled variety.
Leaving Stokes Bay, we were to make a left onto a road that went from a familiar grey asphalt to a bright white colour very abruptly. I knew what that meant in my heart, but didn't want to admit it to myself.
Caption: Nena handled this unsealed road like a champ
Since Steph's MT09 doesn't have the best reputation for fuel efficiency, we had doubts that we'd make it back if we took the sealed route. So, we trekked the 40km of (mostly hard-packed) gravel. A consistent but dusty 90kph speed made the journey doable and even scenic in some spots. Parts of the road were gutted, but it was filled with gravel to make it even. Not the best for bikes, but not the worst I've seen either.
We pulled into a Shell to top up for tomorrow's journey, and a lovely gentleman who manages the servo came out to tell us how cool we are. We spoke at length about his life travelling and working around parts of Australia, and he's originally from Melbourne too. Talk about a nice pick-me-up!
Caption: We made it back to Kingscote!
A takeaway burger and chips were on order this evening, followed by a lengthy battle with the hotel laundry machines. We’ll need to pack as much as possible in prep for tomorrow's early ferry ride back to the mainland.
