Kangaroo Island
Garden Cottages

Visiting Flinders Chase

Leave Kingscote and drive along the Playford Highway to the West End Highway. Drive down the West End Highway and turn right at the South Coast Road through the entrance to Flinders Chase. Slow driving from now on is essential.

After driving for five minutes through tall gum trees you break through to the clear land around the old Rocky River Homestead. Slow right down and keep your eye out for grazing kangaroos and some of the resident Cape Barren Geese. Park at the Flinders Chase Information Centre car park and walk through the native vegetation to the centre, where you can purchase your entry pass, grab a snack and coffee at The Chase Cafe, learn about the mega fauna that once roamed the region and let your kids dig for fossils in the fossil pit.

From now on the road narrows, still sealed but narrow and winding as you travel south to Cape du Couedic. Prior to arriving at the Cape, a left turn takes you along the cliff tops to Remarkable Rocks. Take note of the fully grown gum trees less than two metres high, and all the other marvellous coastal vegetation. Look for animal tracks in the sand under the boardwalk to the Rocks.

Don't forget to look under the rocks to see how they are perched on just a few points, the spaces under the rocks scoured by erosion.

At Cape du Couedic you can get up close to the light house. Go on down to the Admiral's Arch parking area, then walk the boardwalk and steps to Admiral's Arch. On the way you will see, hear and smell the New Zealand Fur Seals. It is not possible to get close to them, and you would not want to - they bite! See how many different sea birds you can identify.

If time permits, you can also drive up the West Bay Track, take the Snake Lagoon turnoff and walk the Snake Lagoon hike along the banks of the Rocky River to the river's mouth, announced by a small waterfall.

Continue up the track to West Bay, where you can look for the grave of the unknown sailor, buried in the sand dunes after the sailing ship "Loch Vennacher" was wrecked in 1903.

By now it should be late afternoon when you might catch a glimpse of Kangaroo Island's platypus at the Platypus Waterhole, on the way back to the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre and your exit from this famous park.

Return to Kingscote via the South Coast Road or the West End and Playford Highways.