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Kingscote
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It's a 45-minute drive on a sealed road from Penneshaw to
KINGSCOTE
(60km), Kangaroo Island's main town with banks, shops, public internet access, a hospital, library and the only high school. The coast here has been the scene of several
shipwrecks
- interpretive boards on the foreshore provide details. For more history, you can walk north along the Esplanade to the
Reeves Point Historic Site
, where more interpretive boards provide the only clue to the South Australia Company's first landing of settlers in July 1836, before they headed off to establish nearby Adelaide; with three hundred at its peak, the settlement failed and was folded by 1839. Less than a kilometre up the hill above, on Seaview Road, is
Hope Cottage Folk Museum
(daily 2-4pm, closed July & Aug), the restored 1859 home of a pioneering family. Kingscote has a small colony of
penguins
that were transported from Penneshaw during the building of the boardwalk there; not as impressive as Penneshaw's, they're best seen on the
guided ranger talks
that leave from the Marine Centre underneath the
Ozone Hotel
(April-Sept 7.30pm & 8.30pm; Oct-March 9pm & 9.40pm; $7). There's also
pelican feeding
around the Fisherman's Jetty with a small talk about their habits and habitat (daily 5pm; $2).
Established in 1907, the waterfront
Ozone Hotel
(tel 08/8553 2011 or free call 1800 083 133, fax 8553 2249,
www.ozonehotel.com
; $90-150) is a local institution and the best place in town to eat, with a bistro and
restaurant
. Back from the beach on Dauncy Street is the
Queenscliffe Family Hotel
(tel 08/8553 2254, fax 8553 2291; $50-70), another old pub offering
rooms
and meals; and next door is the
Blue Gum Cafe
, which has a varied city-style menu, with vegetarian dishes and real coffee (closed Sun). Upmarket motel accommodation, with sea views, is found at
Wisteria Lodge
, Cygnet Road (tel 08/8553 2707, fax 8553 2200,
www.kigateway.kin.on.net/wisteria
; $115-150). For the budget-conscious there's the
Kangaroo Island Central Backpackers Hostel
, at 21 Murray St (tel 08/8553 2787, fax 8553 2694; rooms $35-50, dorms under $20); it has large, clean dorms, a kitchen and common room.
Nepean Bay Caravan Park
(tel & fax 08/8553 2394; on-site vans $35-50, cabins $50-70, cottages $50-70) at Brownlow Beach, 3km away, is the only place for
campers
. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Australia,
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