I am definitely not a “I must stay at a 5-star hotel” kind of traveller. When it comes to picking the right accommodation, I always ask these questions:
- How much time do I expect to spend in the room?
- How far is it from the main attractions?
- What are the room rates per night per person?
- Does the bathroom and bed look clean?
Accommodation
Cape Jervis Holiday Units
Our flight landed on Thursday night at Adelaide. We decided to drive down to Cape Jervis that night so it would be easier for us to catch the 9am ferry the next morning. We booked a room at Cape Jervis Holiday Units and we were quite happy with it. The unit had all the essential amenities, the location was fantastic and the shower was hot.
I don’t really like the style of the quilt covers, but the inner sheets were quite clean.
Even though the interior felt a bit dated and I’m not a big fan of their furniture and flooring, it was nonetheless very clean and tidy. I would recommend staying here if you are catching a morning ferry to Kangaroo Island like us. It’s only a 2-minute drive from the ferry terminal!
{Cape Jervis Holiday Units} Address: 12 Flinders Drive, Cape Jervis SA Website: http://www.capejervisunits.com/
Getting to Kangaroo Island
You can either fly to Kangaroo Island or catch the Sealink ferry from Cape Jervis. We chose to take the ferry because it is cheaper than flying. Having said that, the costs of the ferry were still very dear…It’s $98 return per adult, and $194 return for a car.
Make sure you book the ferry in advance online if you are bringing your car over to the Island. They wouldn’t be able to load you on if the lower deck is full. Also, you save $2 if you book online! Click [here] for the price list.
You can also hire a car from Kangaroo Island. However, we didn’t do that because we needed the car between Adelaide airport and Cape Jervis.
I love the tag line – “Too good to spoil”. Indeed, I am sure everyone that has ever visited Kangaroo Island would agree with this statement.
I don’t think most normal travellers would have foxes or rabbits or declared weeds on them….but you gotta be careful not to bring potatoes, honey and bee products onto Kangaroo Island! Why? These are prohibited so that the ecosystem on the island could be maintained.
We took the 9am Friday ferry. Whilst the lower deck carpark was packed, there were plenty of seats on the passenger level.
Front of the ferry with big windows looking out the ocean.
Do you get seasick? The night before, we were chatting about how Jen and Alan get seasick but Mike and I don’t. Alan said people with better equilibrioception tend to get seasick, whereas people with bad sense of balance wouldn’t feel a thing. Eh-hm, excuse me? So we looked it up and were quite amused – long research short: it’s your brain getting confused by what your eyes see and the motion your body feels. And because it’s not sure why you’re feeling things that your eyes don’t see, it draws the conclusion that you are poisoned so it starts sending out signals in your body….and you start puking. HAHA.
Anyway, if you get seasick easily, be prepared! The ride was incredibly rough, we came up to the top deck and we literally couldn’t walk in a straight line because the ferry was rocking like a pirate ship amusement ride. Take a seasick pill (only if you don’t have to drive as most of the pills make you drowsy! Alan and Jen almost slept the whole day in the car on the first day). Luckily, Mike and I didn’t get seasick at all even though we didn’t take the pill. Maybe our brains just don’t get tricked easily. Hehe.
Accommodation
Admirals Inn (Kangaroo Island)
Since there’s not much nothing to do after dark on Kangaroo Island, finding the right accommodation was important. We were all very pleased with this house that we found on Airbnb. It fit all the criteria that I had for the perfect accommodation: comfy, clean, right in the middle of town, affordable. We only paid $200 per night (including Airbnb fees) for this gorgeous 3-bedroom house!
The master bedroom.
The second bedroom.
The sun room/laundry/third bedroom.
The bathroom. The only flaw of the house was that there was only one bathroom.
This was the most extensive range of pantry items that I had ever seen while travelling! It literally had everything that we needed. This, together with the beautiful fully equipped kitchen made this place feel a lot like home away from home.
{Admirals Inn} Location: Kingscote. Airbnb link: https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/513747 Parking: On-site and road parking. Parking really isn't a problem on Kangaroo Island.
Food on Kangaroo Island
We did most of our grocery shopping in Adelaide because we thought that things would be much more expensive and limited on Kangaroo Island. However, the Foodland in Kingscote was reasonably big and the prices seemed the same (for most of the things that we bought anyway).
{Foodland} Address: Dauncey Street , Kingscote SA 5223 Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 8am-7pm. Thursday 8am-8pm. Saturday 8am-5pm. Sunday 10am-4pm.
Driving on Kangaroo Island
Hire a four-wheel drive and thank me later. Kangaroo Island is big and you will be spending a lot of time in your car. Whilst most of the main attractions are on the main sealed road, there would be times that you have to drive on unsealed roads and you would feel much more comfortable in a four-wheel drive.
Even though I didn’t get to drive during our trip (because the two lovely gentlemen shared the driving), I would say that the roads on Kangaroo Island were easy to drive on with lots of long straight roads. The speed limit on most part of Kangaroo Island were 110km.
Caution: Watch out for the wildlife. We saw too many roadkill on our trip and some of them were sizable kangaroos. Do avoid driving at dawn and dusk as the kangaroos are most active during those times. Everyone that we met urged us to go home before it got dark, it almost felt like we were in the TV series Walking Dead and we needed to take shelter before the zombies came out to feed at night!
More on Kangaroo Island:
Click for [Day 1] – Prospect Hill, Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch, Cape du Couedic, Vivonne Bay, Oyster Shop.
Click for [Day 2] – Dolphin swim, Marron Cafe, Seal Bay guided tour.