Kangaroo Island 1st - 6th May

We had six beautiful days on Kangaroo Island. It had been intended to spend about three days there, but the wind being strong SE for most of the time meant that it was difficult to head SE to Robe, our next destination. It turned out to be a wonderful bonus as there is so much to see on the island. Our introduction came after we had anchored just north of the Kingscote jetty amongst fishing boats and one other yacht. The dinghy was blown up and we were off to town for showers and lunch. On shore we met John, a long time local, who advised us to move to Bay of Shoals to a mooring he organised for us, because the wind was going to make the Kingscote anchorage very rough. John, Peter and I met again at the bakery buying pies for lunch so we sat on the lawn overlooking the bay, ate lunch together and found out that John was a farmer amongst other things.

That afternoon we motored around to Bay of Shoals where we spent five nights. It was very protected from the choppy seas as this anchorage is behind a point with a long spit of sand jutting out. There are steep hills around the bay and from our mooring we could see a picturesque vineyard and an old cottage on the hill top. This turned out to be the residence of Greg and Leisha's friends Ben and Abbi. Ben's father owns the Bay of Shoals winery and we went and made ourselves known to them. We also taste tested some of the wines and bought ourselves several bottles of very nice
shiraz.

Abbi and Ben made us feel very welcome and supplied us with showers, a delightful meal and a tour of the very scenic north coast of the island. Thank you Abbi and Ben. We will always have fond memories of your historic stone cottage on the hill and Kangaroo Island.

On Friday we hired a car for the day and took ourselves for a drive from the eastern end of the island at Penneshaw to the western end and the Flinders Chase National Park. Penneshaw is where the ferry plies its trade to the mainland and back. We also saw Ben and Abbi's yacht there in a small marina at Xmas Cove. After morning tea we felt the need of a bit of exercise and climbed the very steep Prospect Hill for a wonderful view of the American River area. We then drove down the island to the Flinders Chase NP and visited the Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch where there was a huge colony of seals. The rocks were indeed remarkable, great boulders of granite that had been hollowed out into weird shapes over millennia.

Later we caught up with John again at the boat ramp in Bay of Shoals and he invited us to a BBQ on Sunday at American River along with his friend Mike, who had his yacht in the bay. Mike, also a long term resident of KI drove us to the BBQ and gave us a tour of this area.  There we met Greg and Trudie and John's wife Jenny. We had a great time and really felt like we were made very welcome. Thank you John, Jenny, Mike, Greg and Trudie.

A favourable weather forecast for the 7th April saw us anchored off Kingscote ready for a two o'clock start for Robe. This was necessary as the current in the Backstairs Passage is such that going through on a ebb tide with the current was sensible. We said a last goodbye to beautiful Kangaroo Island at 1.40am as Peter read his watch wrong and cheated us of twenty minutes sleep.