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Kangaroo Island, South Australia, Australia

Remarkable RocksRemarkable Rocks, Kangaroo Island
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kangaroo_Island_South_Australia.JPG
Author: Dinkum
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Kangaroo Island is an island off the coast of South Australia. It is 112 km (70 mi) to the southwest of Adelaide, at the entrance of the Gulf of St Vincent. Covering an area of 4,405 sq km (1,700.8 sq mi), it is the third largest island in Australia after Tasmania and Melville Island. It has a population of around 4,300 people (2012 estimate).

Kingscote, Kangaroo IslandDauncey Street in Kingscote, Kangaroo Island
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dauncey_St_Kingscote.jpg
Author: Yeti Hunter
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Kangaroo Island was discovered by Captain Matthew Flinders in 1802. He named it "Kanguroo (sic) Island", misspelling the marsupial. In his wake came French explorer Nicolas Baudin, who surveyed, mapped and named geographic features on the island (resulting in many of its places having French names).

An unofficial settlement, comprising mostly sealers, developed on Kangaroo Island in 1802. As South Australia was only officially settled in 1836, the history of European settlement on Kangaroo Island pre-dates that of mainland South Australia. Its main town, Kingscote, was established on 27 July 1836, and holds the distinction of being the first official European settlement in South Australia.

Today Kangaroo Island is a rural, agricultural region. It produces wine, wool, honey, meat and grain. It also has the only eucalyptus oil distillery in South Australia, distilling from the Kangaloo Island Narrow Leaf Mallee, endemic to the island.

Visiting Kangaroo Island

There are ferry services connecting Cape Jervis on mainland South Australia with Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island. The ferry carries both passengers and cars. From Adelaide, you can take one of the two daily coach services to Cape Jervis at $44 one way.

Remarkable RocksAnother view of Remarkable Rocks
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Remarkable_Rocks,_Kangaroo_Island.jpg
Author: Diceman
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Places of Interest in Kangaroo Island

  1. Flinders Chase National Park
    National park preserving incredible rock formations such as the Remarkable Rocks.

  2. Heritage Lighthouses
    There are a number of lighthouses on Kangaroo Island erected to reduce shipwrecks that often occur. Among them is the Cape Willoughby Lighthouse, built in 1852, the first lighthouse in South Australia, and the Cape du Couedic Lighthouse, built in 1906.

  3. Little Sahara
    An area of sand dunes on the south coast of Kangaroo Island.

  4. Seal Bay
    Site of basking Australian sea lions. Visitors should be accompanied by licensed ranger guide.

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

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