Kangaroo Island Full-Day Tour by Ferry with Lunch from Adelaide

Fleurieu Peninsula and the ferry from Cape Jervis

The day begins with a coach drive of about two hours south from Adelaide through the Fleurieu Peninsula, a region of rolling green hills, dairy farms and coastal towns that ends at Cape Jervis, the southern tip of the mainland. The driver-guide provides commentary on the landscape and the history of South Australia as the city gives way to countryside, and there is a comfort stop on the way. Cape Jervis is a small harbour facing Backstairs Passage, the strait that separates the mainland from Kangaroo Island.

The ferry crossing takes about 45 minutes and lands at Penneshaw, a village on the island's north-east coast. The ferry has indoor seating and open decks, and dolphins are sometimes seen in the passage. Travellers wondering how to get to Kangaroo Island from Adelaide will find this coach-and-ferry combination the simplest, because the connections, the island coach and the return crossing are all arranged for you.

Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island lies about 13 kilometres off the South Australian coast and stretches roughly 155 kilometres from east to west, with a population of a few thousand people spread across farms, small towns and vast areas of bush. Because it was separated from the mainland thousands of years ago and never had foxes or rabbits, native wildlife thrives here: kangaroos, tammar wallabies, koalas, echidnas, goannas and more than 250 bird species. Around a third of the island is protected in national and conservation parks.

After the ferry, our island coach drives west along the spine of the island with the driver-guide pointing out wildlife in the paddocks and bush. The distances are long, which is why a Kangaroo Island tour from Adelaide is a full day, but the road itself is part of the experience, with views over farmland to the coast and frequent kangaroo sightings, especially in the cooler months.

Seal Bay Conservation Park

Seal Bay Conservation Park, on the island's south coast, protects a breeding colony of Australian sea lions, an endangered species found only in southern Australia. The animals rest on the beach between fishing trips of several days at sea, and the colony here is the only place where visitors can walk on the sand among them, always with a park guide and at a respectful distance. The dunes behind the beach hold the bones of sea lions going back thousands of years.

The tour includes the guided beach walk, which lasts about 45 minutes and follows the boardwalk down to the sand, where the guide explains the animals' life cycle while sea lions sleep, play and surf in the shallows a few metres away. Pups are often present. Seal Bay is the stop most visitors remember from a Kangaroo Island wildlife tour, and it is followed by the two-course lunch.

Flinders Chase National Park

Flinders Chase National Park covers the western end of Kangaroo Island, a wilderness of mallee scrub, eucalyptus forest and rugged coastline declared a reserve in 1919 and famous as a sanctuary for native animals. Kangaroos graze around the visitor centre, koalas sleep in the gum trees, and echidnas and goannas cross the roads. The park was badly burnt in the bushfires of early 2020, and the regrowth since then is itself remarkable, with young green vegetation spreading across the blackened trunks.

The afternoon is spent here, driving through the park to its two famous coastal sites, Admirals Arch and Remarkable Rocks, with the driver-guide explaining the recovery of the landscape and spotting wildlife along the way. National park entry fees are included in the tour. Is Flinders Chase worth visiting? With its coast, its animals and its sense of space, it is the highlight of the island for most travellers.

Admirals Arch

Admirals Arch is a natural rock arch at Cape du Couedic on the south-western tip of the island, where the ocean has carved a tunnel through the limestone cliff and left stalactites hanging from its roof. A boardwalk descends the cliff face to a viewing platform framed by the arch, with the Southern Ocean crashing beyond and a colony of long-nosed fur seals lazing and playing on the rock shelves below. The historic Cape du Couedic lighthouse, built in 1909, stands on the headland above.

The walk down the boardwalk takes about 20 minutes each way and is steep in places, with steps and handrails. The wind on this coast can be strong, so a jacket is useful even in summer. Admirals Arch is best in the afternoon, when the light comes through the arch from the west and the seals are most active, which is exactly when this tour arrives.

Remarkable Rocks

Remarkable Rocks are a cluster of giant granite boulders perched on a dome of rock about 75 metres above the sea, sculpted over around 500 million years by wind, rain and salt spray into hollows, overhangs and shapes that resemble animals and abstract sculptures. Orange lichen covers much of their surface, glowing in the late-afternoon sun against the blue of the Southern Ocean behind. Visitors can walk among the boulders freely, following the boardwalk from the car park and then exploring the rock dome itself.

The tour allows around 30 to 40 minutes here for photos and exploring; keep away from the seaward edge, which is slippery and exposed to waves. Remarkable Rocks are the final stop of the day and the image most associated with Kangaroo Island. From here the coach returns east across the island to Penneshaw for the evening ferry and the drive back to Adelaide, arriving at about 22:40.