Jetsettersblog

South Australia’s (www.southaustralia.com)  Kangaroo Island is home to specialist operator Exceptional Kangaroo Island (www.exceptionalkangarooisland.com ) who offers not only an impressively varied selection of guided themed tours, they can also tailor-make special interest experiences – bird watching, mammal spotting, photography, historic sites, nocturnal wildlife watching, wildflower watching and geological expeditions are all options which can be arranged on request.

Renowned as Australia’s Galapagos, Kangaroo Island’s diverse landscape is a year round natural playground brimming with life.

It provides natural habitats for the widest range of free-roaming native animals anywhere in Australia, among them sea lions, fur seals, kangaroos, penguins, wallabies, koalas, echidnas, platypus, goannas, possums, bandicoots and whales, not to mention 255 bird species.

This is the perfect holiday destination for nature lovers and a wonderful environment in which to enjoy a small group or private luxury four-wheel-drive tour with one of Australia’s leading tour operators.

For the 2009/2010 season, Exceptional Kangaroo Island has introduced three new itineraries all of which are available daily on demand on a private charter basis:

- Epicurean Adventure
- Art of Nature
- KI for Kids

- The Epicurean Adventure food safari incorporates a seasonal menu of ‘meet the maker’ experiences. Depending on the time of year, this might include visiting Two Wheeler Creek to learn how Australian freshwater crayfish (marron) are farmed, harvested and graded and, of course, sample them in the restaurant accompanied by wines and sauces featuring native spices grown on the farm.

Tasting honey from Ligurian bees, the only remaining population introduced from Italy in 1886, as well as olive oils, wines, oysters, free-range eggs, artisan cheeses and yoghurts, are all possibilities.

- The Art of Nature tour takes in galleries and studios to meet artists whose work has been inspired by local wildlife and landscapes.

For example, ceramic artist Mark Capon works on elegant vases, sculptural pieces and whimsical designs and creates his own pigments in his airy studio overlooking the Bay of Shoals. Bronzes, drawn glass, acrylic and oil paintings, photography, sculpture, jewellery and turned wood are among the artworks that may be enjoyed on this tour.

- The KI for Kids tour was designed by local children whose top priority with fun. Their selected options include:

• snorkelling in the rock pools at Stokes Bay
• swimming with wild dolphins
• playing with lambs
• watching milking at a sheep farm
• adventure caving
• learning about bee keeping and making honey
• racing down the dunes at Little Sahara
• quad bike touring
• meeting Dr Peggy Rismiller, the world expert on echidnas

Other touring options include Island Life, their signature island tour which features a number of wildlife experiences such as getting up close to Australian sea lions on the beautiful sandy beach at Seal Bay Conservation Park, not to mention an elegant barbecue at a private site in the bush.

Tours also visit Cape du Couedic whose attractions include dramatic sand dunes, a fur seal colony numbering in excess of 50,000, the spectacular coastal grotto known as Admiral’s Arch and the unusual imposing granite Remarkable Rocks.