Places to Visit
Kangaroo Island is one of South Australia's most popular locations noted for it's beatiful fresh air, food, produce and lifestyle. No matter your taste for food or adventure, Kangaroo Island offers an experience to suit everyone's desire. Here are some ideas for local trips to places often with a 30 minute drive of Sunrise on Falie at American River.
Nature
Kangaroo Island is one of the most pristine panoramas of nature on our planet. From one end to the other, you can marvel at gorgeous beaches, lookouts, rock formations, bushland, wildlife, birdlife and so much more.
The selection below are just a few of the many things to explore. Many of our natural wonders are FREE to visit, allowing your trip to Kangaroo Island to be both relaxing and affordable.
The Flinders Chase Visitor Centre will open in 2024 with immersive displays of the Island's unique stories, a national park visitor information, cafe and retail space.
Flinders Chase National Park
(08) 8553 4444
Allow 2 Hours from Sunrise on Falie to drive to the entrance of Flinders Chase National Park on the far Western end of the Island. Stop in at the Tourist Info Centre open daily. Park entrance fees do apply.
Flinders Chase National Park attracts visitors from all around the world. One of South Australia's pristine parks, it has a wide variety of natural wonders; walking trails; camp areas; wildlife and more.
Don't be mistaken, there is no such thing as a quick trip to this park. For a start, it is at the opposite end of Kangaroo Island, 2 hours drive each way from the most populated areas of the island. So you use half of a full day just traveling there. And when you arrive, you can easily fill the rest of the day with the various attractions.
We highly recommend you click on the Web Link to the left to explore the National Parks website in detail. Plan your trip to ensure you get the most out of your experience.
Some of the most popular attractions are Remarkable Rocks; Admirals Arch; the Fur Seal Colony. Bushfires have played an integral part in shaping the ecology of the Park's landscape for millions of years. Many native plant species are adapted to survive, regenerate and thrive after fire and much of the park is regaining its green cloak of coastal health, mallee woodland and eucalypt forest. Goannas, koalas, eagles, kangaroos and echidnas are regularly spotted in the park.
Fur Seals at Admirals Arch.
Echidna's in the native bushland.
Remarkable Rocks - Flinders Chase National Park
Located at the far South Western tip of Kangaroo Island, inside Flinders Chase National Park.
It will take a solid 2 Hours taking the South Coast Road, to drive from Sunrise on Falie to Remarkable Rocks. This is a full day trip.
Remarkable Rocks are located in the Flinders Chase National Park. They are a stunning work of nature that has been shaped by the erosive forces of wind, sea spray and rain over 500 million years.
They were formed centuries ago when molten rock bubbled up to the earth's surface. When the rock began to cool, it solidified into granite. Boulders were gradually formed when rain percolated through the granite and decomposed it into blocks.
The golden orange lichen covering some of the rocks provides stunning photo opportunities at different times of the day.
Walking the circuit around the rocks is an easy hike ... great for the whole family and the less mobile, taking approx 30 minutes to complete. The short, wheelchair accessible walk along a boardwalk takes in the stunning geological feature of Remarkable Rocks. The granite boulders appear as seemingly artistic sculptures scattered across a larger granite dome. Interpretive signs explain the formation of the granite boulders.
Admirals Arch
Located at the far South Western tip of Kangaroo Island, inside Flinders Chase National Park.
It will take a solid 2 Hours taking the South Coast Road, to drive from Sunrise on Falie to Admirals Arch. This is a full day trip.
Admirals Arch is a natural rock arch created by amazing forces of nature. It's situated within Flinders Chase National Park, just 10 minutes down the road from Remarkable Rocks.
These stunning formations took 500 million years of natural erosion to form and are the perfect place to watch a sunset or sunrise. As you walk down, watch out for long nosed fur seals basking in the sun on the rocks.
Its an easy walk on a boardwalk around the cliff face. The boardwalk then descends stairs down into a bay before emerging in Admirals Arch, where viewing platforms allow you to watch the seals up close.
The arch is sculpted by weathering and erosion from the sea over thousands of years.
The Boardwalk is Grade 1, and is about a 20 minute return walk from the car park, making it easy for kids and the less mobile. The walk begins in the lower carpark, below the lighthouse. The first three quarters of the walk is wheelchair accessible along the wide boardwalk, before the path descends down stairs into the arch.
Prospect Hill
Located on the way from Sunrise on Falie to Penneshaw, Prospect Hill is found ON the main road at Pelican Lagoon.
After parking, a fit person should allow about 15 minutes to climb to the top. Perhaps double that if you're not use to steps.
Well worth visiting, Prospect Hill is the highest point on Kangaroo Island. Matthew Flinders climbed this sandhill on 4 April 1802 and named it Prospect Hill.
Two hundred years later this name was officially restored to replace the locally used name of Mount Thisby.
A FREE and highly worthwhile attraction, visitors can climb this steep sand hill via 500 steps to the highest point on Kangaroo Island. Views from the top include panoramic views of Pelican Lagoon, Pennington Bay and the surrounding natural bushland / coast.
