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Emu Bay

Beautiful gardens, beaches, gin, food, and good times driving around Kangaroo Island, South Australia on day two.

Emu Bay Lavender, Kangaroo Island. https://www.emubaylavenderfarm.com.au/about

Our first stop for the day was Emu Bay Lavender Cafe. We sat at table No 13. which is our lucky number. We shared a delicious lavender brownie with our coffee. It was a cold morning and quite busy so we sat outside by the gas heater.

The lavender wasn’t in flower which was a bit disappointing as it would have been nice to see and photograph.

I purchased a bottle of lavender essential oil from the gift shop. I think it’s stronger than any other lavender oil that I’ve ever used before. I keep it next to my bed and pop it on before I go to sleep.

Beautiful Emy Bay, Kangaroo Island. What a stunning beach.

We parked up at the Emu Bay foreshore and went for a walk along the beach. You can drive on this beach and it reminded me of Long Beach at Robe. Beautiful white sand and the most stunning blue waters. Facilities included are public toilets, a big lawn area with BBQ facilities, a play playground, and a picnic area.

The caravan park was closed and up for sale. I imagine it would be packed out with tourists if it was open as it’s such a great spot right on the beach amongst the trees. Make sure you check out Emu Bay if you love beautiful beaches.

Emu Bay ‘Lost Soles’ beach entrance.

We found George’s 52,000 Castle Lights by accident and pulled over to see what it was—never expected to see a castle on a dirt road amongst farming land. George’s property is difficult to miss. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we found it.

It’s lovely that George shares his hobby with the public. You can tell that he loves it. A lot of time and creativity has gone into this place.

It’s a little bit run down and it’s also a lot of work to maintain for one person. I’m pretty sure that George told us he was 80. I think it would be great to see the castle at night with the lights on, but it was still fun to explore by day.

A little quirky and very creative. I think everyone can appreciate the effort that’s gone into creating this place. It’s worth a look.

You can find Georges Castle at 1593 N Coast Rd, Wisanger S.A. 5223 https://www.google.com/maps/search/1593+North+Coast+Road,+Wisanger+South+Australia+5223/@-35.614988,137.456559

Stokes Bay, Kangaroo Island.

We planned to have lunch at the Rockpool Cafe in Stokes Bay, but it was closed as they’d just welcomed a baby. There was a sign at the shop. The Rockpool Cafe was recommended to us by some friends who visited K.I. just before us.

It was cold, windy, and rainy so we didn’t stay long. There was a beautiful beach through the rocks which was pretty cool to discover. You walk through a bit of a rock tunnel to pop out onto the beach.

If the beach sign wasn’t on the rock you wouldn’t even know it was there. We’ll have to go back and try the Cafe next time and hopefully score a beautiful sunny day to relax on the beach.

We ended up stopping for lunch inland in a small country town called Parndana.

https://www.facebook.com/Parndanabakerycafe A one-stop shop that was a cafe, take-away shop, and grocery store. They served up a lovely home-cooked lunch with quite a big menu to choose from. Thanks, Parndarna Bakery and Cafe you saved the day as we were pretty hungry by the time we got to you.

Kangaroo Island Spirits. https://kangarooislandspirits.com.au/

The last stop before going home for the day was Kangaroo Island Spirits. In my opinion, this was one of the loveliest places we visited on the island. A garden lovers paradise this place has the most beautiful garden amongst some big gum trees, full of edible plants like our own garden.

We were greeted by the friendliest staff who were super helpful. I think this is also why I loved this place as it makes all the difference to the experience.

A beautiful place for a gin tasting and I think this space would be a great place to have an event. If you’re driving past drop in and check it out. The mulberry gin was my favourite and I grabbed a bottle to take home and a limited-edition gin as a Christmas gift.

That’s a wrap on day two. Come back to my website soon to find day three.

We had a great day stopping off at these places along the way. My personal favourites were Emu Bay where there are no shops, just nature’s beauty, and the most beautiful beach. And of course Kangaroo Island Spirits with the beautiful garden, gin, and staff.

We headed back to our accommodation in the pine forest at Pelican Lagoon to relax and cook dinner together. There is more about this beautiful accommodation place on the blog.

All photos are by Bec Peters unless otherwise credited. You can find more of my photography on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/becpetersphotography/?hl=en

Perentie Pines, Pelican Lagoon. Kangaroo Island.

Beautiful gardens, beaches, gin, food, and good times driving around Kangaroo Island, South Australia on day two. Read More »

Exploring Kangaroo Island by car. Day One included some really great places.

Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

This beautiful old truck at Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillery.
This beautiful old truck at Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillery

DAY 1. We started our day climbing the Prospect Hill lookout. What a beautiful view when you reach the top. The staircase is impressive and a good leg workout.

The views from Prospect Hill look out.

A quick stop in to see Pennington Bay before heading to d’Estrees. It wasn’t the best weather, but a great day to cruise in the car. We drove into The Cape Gantheaume Conservation Park to check out the beaches. I’d say 99% of our getaways are on the coast. We love being by the ocean. A surfer and a sun seeker will always find their way to saltwater. I really liked the little beach called Browns Beach it had the most beautiful colour water. We also spotted our first gonnas here.

We then went onto Clifford’s Honey Farm where we were warmly greeted by the lady behind the counter. We tasted all the honey, checked out the bees, and tasted a couple of pretty nice refreshing drinks below. The Honey Wheat Ale is from a local business called Drunken Drone Brewery and I’ve popped their link below. Quite a nice spot to sit under the trees here to eat your icecream or have a drink.
The video is not great quality as it’s off my old iphone.
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From here we went on to the Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Distillery where we ended up having the burgers for lunch and they were awesome. I added halloumi to mine and that topped it off perfectly. We sat outside and ate our lunch as there were tour buses booked inside and we’d rather be outdoors anyway.

The staff were super friendly and the kelpie was beautiful. I took home a Eucalyptus oil for myself and a couple of gifts. Emu Ridge Handwash which smelt divine and the chest rub. Definitely one of my favourite spots. Great place to purchase gifts.

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All three images below are also off of my old iphone. I wished I had of taken my camera in here.

Our last stop before heading home to light the fire and cook tea was a quick stroll around Kingscote. It was windy and cold so we didn’t last long. We had a quick walk around the coast. The saltwater pool at the beach would be great in summer. A look down the main street and a good look in the large gift shop or One-stop gift shop which had a really good range of things. The Facebook link is below if you’d like to check out what they offer. https://www.facebook.com/kingscotegiftshop

We started at Pelican Lagoon near the conservation park and visited the places highlighted in blue. I. hope you enjoyed the read and if you have any questions please reach out to me. Day 2 will follow very soon, stay tuned.

Exploring Kangaroo Island by car. Day One included some really great places. Read More »