Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island occupies a particular position in the Australian consciousness — close enough to Adelaide to feel accessible, remote enough to maintain its own stubborn rhythms. The third-largest island off the Australian coast sits 13 kilometres south of the Fleurieu Peninsula, separated by the sometimes turbulent Backstairs Passage. This gap has preserved something increasingly rare: an ecosystem largely untouched by European agriculture's homogenising influence, and a community small enough that everyone still knows the local publican's name. The island's 4,400 square kilometres contain multitudes — mallee scrubland giving way to ancient river red gums, limestone cliffs dropping into the Southern Ocean, and paddocks where fifth-generation farmers tend sheep beside echidna trails. What strikes visitors isn't the wildlife alone, though platypus still inhabit the Rocky River and glossy black cockatoos nest in the drooping sheoak. It's the absence of traffic lights, the fact that Kingscote's main street still supports a proper butcher, and the way conversations at the Penneshaw pub drift from abalone quotas to vintage conditions at False Cape Wines. The island's 4,800 residents have crafted something between working landscape and sanctuary — a place where The Islander Estate can produce serious shiraz while kangaroos graze between the vines. The accommodation here reflects this balance between isolation and sophistication. Properties like Kangaroo Island Clifftop and the Eco Lodge at Western River don't merely provide rooms; they offer immersion in landscapes where sunrise over Nepean Bay or the sound of waves at Stokes Bay becomes part of the experience.

Collections from Kangaroo Island