Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park

On our recent two-week jaunt through Australia and New Zealand we saw and experienced some amazing things, but I think the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park was one of my favorite stops. I actually initially found Kangaroo Island because I was googling where I can hold a koala. I know, I know, cliche, but I've always wanted to hold one! I should add in a note here that I am quite passionate about ethical eco/animal tourism. I didn't want to give my business to a place that would mistreat animals in any way. Fortunately, I found Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park!

You can't book your koala holding ahead of time, so we headed to the park bright and early! It's a first-come, first-served system and is completely dependent on the koala's health and happiness. That means if a koala is sick or it's too hot out for the koala, they would cancel your holding and refund your money. I LOVE that mentality. At no point did I want to force a poor, tired koala to be held when it was far too hot out for them. Fortunately, we booked the first koala holding which meant the heat of the day had not yet hit! More on that later.

When we pulled up to the park there were very few cars in the parking lot - likely because of the early hour. We made our way into the park and were greeted with a cheerful g'day! As we were buying our tickets, the clerk gave us a little bag and said "Here's some food for the kangaroos and wallabees. You can just let yourselves on it when your ready." I knew there was a chance to feed koalas and wallabees, but I just assumed that was a paid experience. NOPE. It was included in our ticket! This was seriously awesome! You literally could just open the gate and let yourself in to pet, feed and hang out with these amazing animals. No supervision or anything! It was a crazy experience and so so so so fun!!

They also had periodic talks featuring different animals - koalas, dingoes, birds etc.  These talks were awesome, informative and sometimes interactive. The koala talk let you come into their pen and pet them while they relaxed on their trees. There were rules on how to pet them and certain ones that didn't enjoy being touched. I liked that they respected the animals while engaging the tourists.

Alright, back to the big event - Alfie!! AKA my new koala best friend. The caretaker gave me a few tips, handed me some tasty leaves and then it was time. I held Alfie like you would a baby and it was the best few minutes ever! He was so snuggly and chill and just adorable. As long as he had some tasty leaves to munch on, he really didn't seem to mind hanging out with me.

All in all, my experience at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park was incredible. 10/10 would recommend and visit again. If you'd like some unique and exciting adventures in your life, check out my website at MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com.

Kangaroo Island

Our next stop took a bit of effort to get to, but it was well worth the trip! Kangaroo Island (often called KI) is off the southern tip of Australia, near Adelaide. To get to the island you can either book a flight (though there are very few flights and they are quite expensive) or you can fly to Adelaide, drive an hour and half then take a 45 minute ferry. We took the ferry. It did eat up almost a whole day of our trip, but this island was absolutely gorgeous. Let's review some of the highlights, shall we?

Beautiful KI Coastline

First, if you want to relax on a beach, this is the place! Man were the beaches absolutely gorgeous. Everywhere you looked there was spectacular shoreline views. Just be careful when driving (and you will need a car to get around this island!) as there were indeed wild kangaroos roaming about - we even saw wild koalas, echidnas, and GIANT lizards too.

My absolute FAVORITE stop of the entire trip was Kangaroo Island Wild Life park!! So much so that that will get it's own post. Here's a hint - I held a koala! More on that later.

While our "Villa" was right near the ferry port, we decided to venture out on a mini road trip to the far side of the island. We stopped at some wineries (I'm not a wine drinker so no details here - sorry!) and even a honey farm! But our main stop was Seal Bay (a literal bay where there are hundreds of seals) and the Remarkable Rocks. Yes, that's actually what they are called. And true to their name, they really were remarkable!

A Remarkable Rock

Relatively near by is the Admiral's Arch. This looked like something out of a movie. You had to walk down a long path and take some stairs down to see this beauty, but it was worth it! It's an incredible, naturally-occuring arch way - there were even some sea lions playing in the water down below!

Admiral's Arch

We really enjoyed our time on the island - the landscape was absolutely gorgeous! It was a little nerve-wracking driving on the wrong side of the road, but the boys got us around safely (I had NO interest in attempting to drive in Australia/New Zealand. Portugal was enough for me thankyouverymuch.) While this is not a "typical" stop for many Americans visiting Australia (We only saw the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel and back again in Sydney!), it was absolutely worth it for us.

If you'd like some help planning your next great adventure to a unique destination, check out my website at MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com.