Lonely Planet has named South Australia’s Kangaroo Island the No 2 must-visit region for 2024 – pipped only by the western Balkans’ Trans Dinarica cycle route.
Kangaroo Island/Karta Pintingga, which is still recovering from bushfires that burned through 38% of the island in 2020, was picked for its food, wine, wildlife and beaches.
“It’s blessed with amazing beaches, offers delicious food, wine, and spirits experiences, and delivers on the drama when it comes to outdoor adventures,” said Lonely Planet’s Chris Zeiher, who wrote the Kangaroo Island entry. “And then there’s the wildlife!”
KI is Australia’s third biggest island, accessible by a 45-minute ferry ride across Backstairs Passage, which lies between Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide on the Australian mainland, and Dudley Peninsula.
Last year Lonely Planet picked KI as one of Australia’s top 20 travel experiences and this year Tourism Australia named Stokes Bay the nation’s best beach.
The state Labor MP Leon Bignell’s kelpie, Dusty, was just five weeks old when he rescued him from the 2020 fires.
The former tourism minister said his favourite spot on Kangaroo Island was Stokes Bay.
“There are these signs saying ‘to the beach’ … it doesn’t look that promising but then you emerge through these little gaps in the rocks,” he said. “You come out the other side and there’s the most amazing beach.”
Bignell said the agricultural sector had picked up since the fires and the island’s economy had also been helped by a surge of domestic and intrastate visitors during the pandemic.
“Five hundred kilometres of coastline, and even at the height of summer you can find a spot where you are totally on your own or have hardly any people around you,” he said.
The endangered Kangaroo Island dunnarts appear to be making a comeback despite their habitat being ravaged by the bushfires, while the Ligurian honeybee is still struggling.
There is a plan to eradicate feral cats on the island by 2030, to help the dunnarts along with native birds, the Kangaroo Island echidna, and the southern brown bandicoot.
There are, of course, plenty of kangaroos, along with wallabies, sea lions and platypuses.
Scientists are in the process of luring the endangered glossy black cockatoo over to the South Australian mainland, where it has been extinct for decades.
Koalas are plentiful – too plentiful for the available vegetation, meaning the state government is considering sterilisation, contraception and relocation.
The local federal MP, Centre Alliance’s Rebekha Sharkie, holidayed on KI as a child. “I think people really appreciate the untouched beauty that KI has,” she says. “It’s the same size as the mainland part of my electorate but it’s only 4,500 people (although a lot more with tourists).
“You can just be walking down the road and an echidna crosses in front of you. And the pristine beaches … I can’t pick a favourite spot. It’s just a glorious place.
“There’s something that happens when you cross water, you feel like you’re getting away from it all.”
Zeiher said the reopening of the luxe Southern Ocean Lodge and the opening of a new visitor centre for Flinders Chase national park meant 2024 was KI’s year.
Mongolia was chosen as the best country to visit in 2024; Nairobi in Kenya as the best city; Spain as the most sustainable destination, and the US midwest as the best value.
New Zealand’s Southern Lakes and Central Otago came in at No 9 on the best value list.
The 2,000km Trans Dinarica cycle route opens next year and will link Slovenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Albania and Kosovo.
