Recently this article about the “40 Best Beaches in Europe” was published in The Guardian. I had just returned from Kangaroo Island which has some pretty nice beaches of its own (and probably many fewer tourists). So in a break from tradition in this blog, the focus will be about the scenery and more general wildlife — though I did squeeze a little bit of birding in and I’ll stick that at the end. If you’re a birder, skip to the end now! 😉
We spent a few days in a lovely cottage near Emu Bay, visited Stokes Bay (my favourite), Bales Beach, d’Estrees Bay, Vivonne Bay, Bales Beach and Penneshaw. Here’s a few pics from the recent trip (and some from trips in 2021 and 2019) to size up against the grauniad article.
Emu Bay
We stayed at Emu Bay over Easter in 2022, and had Tammar Wallabies and Grey Kangaroos in the garden, Stone-curlew wailing at night, and Little Penguins coming to shore a few hundred metres down the road from our lovely stayz cottage.
Stokes Bay
My personal favourite of all the KI beaches and maybe even my favourite in the world. You arrive at a rocky “beach” with a small carpark and walk along a small trail to a sign “Beach ->” that points through the rocks. A narrow channel, almost cave-like at times, wends its way between the massive boulders for 50m or so and eventually emerges onto a never-crowded, white-sandy cove with a natural rock-pool.
Vivonne Bay
d’Estrees Bay
Rarely visited for swimming, or even by tourists just taking photos, this wild Southern Ocean beach (actually several beaches are strung our long the length of the bay) is one of the best places to hear/see White-bellied Whipbird (see here) which are in good numbers in the coastal heath. I visited twice, a couple of days apart, in April, and you can see the mood change between the foggy first and the sunny second.
Hanson Bay
We visited Hanson Bay in 2019. It is a beautiful cove sheltered from the battering Southern Ocean, and we paddle-boarded with rays (probably Southern Eagle-rays) swimming underneath us. The cold water was a welcome relief from the 45 degree heat (we were there on the hottest ever day!). The cottages pictured below, where we stayed (and all of the surrounding heath as well as the exclusive Southern Ocean Lodge 2km away) were all sadly obliterated in the devastating Jan 2020 fires.
The wildlife bits
The highlights for me on the most recent trip were some excellent encounters two nights in a row with the Little Penguin population at Emu Bay. Most of the family came down to enjoy the show. Here’s a gallery from Emu Bay and the garden of our cottage.
And here’s also some gratuitous pics of Kangaroos at sunset from above Stokes Bay where we stayed in 2019 and a few other wildlife shots from 2019 and 2020.
