Kangaroo Island - a magical place burnt to the ground

We know that the US has published significant news about the Australian fires.  Since we have navigated the continent counter clockwise, we've not been where the worst fires have been burning.  We have experienced some smokey days from bush fires along the way, but nothing has been dangerous so far.  But our good fortune came to an end as we left Adelaide to explore Kangaroo Island.  As our travel dates neared, fires on the western half of the island flared and quickly consumed more than half of it.  As we debated whether we should visit, our heart strings were tugged by the locales who depend on tourism for their livelihoods.  So, off we went to Kangaroo Island (KI). 

Ferry is the only way on or off this island.  As we prepared to board the ferry, we were met by hundreds of volunteer fire fighters returning from the island.  The vast majority of "fireries" (Aussie for firefighter) are volunteers and are spending large amounts of time away from their livelihoods to help others.  They are not compensated for these heroic efforts.  All looked exhausted coming off the boat.

Kangaroo Island Ferry

Luckily, we had booked our first few nights on the southeastern corner of the island which wasn't impacted by the fires.  We had an amazing view of the bay and watched as the army began to arrive via the ferry over the next couple of days.  

View from our beach house

Kangaroo Island is good sized at 95 miles long and 45 miles wide.  It is known for it's wildlife and beautiful national forests.  We found several new birds including penguins, as well as kangaroos, wallabies, sea lions and dolphins.  

Tammar wallabies are a smaller version of their mainland cousins

We had a once in a lifetime experience snorkeling with wild sea lions and dolphins.  As we slid into the very chilly waters from our boat, a curious female sea lion swam circles around us nearly putting her nose into our faces as she zipped by.  We were able to hear the dolphins clicking as they worked together to herd a group of fish.  We watched them slap the fish with their tails to stun them prior to eating them.  It was an incredible experience!  It was also the first time we've been exposed to a devise that repels shark with electronic signals.  It's like having an electric fence in the water with you.  We were told that these signals don't impact sea lions or dolphins but do give sharks a sting.  

Off to find  sea lions

Rugged rocky shores

Rolling hills draped in tall grass

On the third day of our stay, smoke and ash from out west began to arrive.  High winds had whipped up the fire overnight. Unable to stop the blaze, the new fire line had moved another 30 miles to the east and was now endangering the northeast side of the island.  By mid morning, it began to rain lightly so we were hopeful for some relief. We set off to explore the coast line to the north.  Along the way, we found dozens of kangaroos lapping up water from the rivulets formed on the highway.  They would bound off when a car drove past but quickly return to drinking.  You could see that they were enjoying the cool rainwater.  On our drive that morning, we saw hundreds of kangaroos scattered in the fields.

And our drive was very short as we soon encountered a police vehicle stopping all non-resident traffic from heading to the north.  The fires were now endangering the NE communities and residents were on high alert to potentially vacate if necessary.  

It was time for us to leave the island.  We donated our room in the NE of the island to be used by a family who had been dislocated due to the fires out west.  Many of the residents of this island have lost everything.  It is heart breaking to hear the stories about how many animals both wild and domesticated have died.  It will take years for this island to recover from the loss of tourism it has thrived on.  We hope tourists will return quickly to support these families.

Stay Curious!

Cheryl & Dan