We had an early start this morning, with a quick breakfast before departing the lodge at 8:30 am for a visit to the Seal Bay Conservation Park, a drive of about 60km.

The seals seemed quite oblivious to our presence, but we had to remain alert to the possibility of being charged by any of them if we got too close. We had a very knowledgeable guide from the lodge with us wo, with one of the local rangers, shared plenty of interesting information about the seal colony on the island.

Seals in the scrub near the beach.
Seals in the scrub near the beach.
Seals relaxing on the beach.
Seals relaxing on the beach.
Seals relaxing.
Seals relaxing.

From the Seal Bay Conservation Park, we got back on the road to the lodge, with a stop along the way for some morning tea in a small clearing off the main road. While we were there, we say a koala cross the creek and climb one the trees just next to us.

A (slightly wet) koala.
A (slightly wet) koala.

After enjoying our morning tea, we drove back to the lodge. With a bit of time on our hands, we had time to take in some of the lodge’s stunning artwork, all done by local artists.

The late, Kangaroo Island-based sculptor Indiana James was known for breathing life into found metal objects. For the opening of the original Southern Ocean Lodge, he created a kangaroo called “Sunshine”, so named because he was made fom the reclaimed metal of a Sunshine brand combine harvester. Incredibly, Sunshine survived the 2019-2020 bushfire that destroyed the lodge, albeit with some damage. Indiana returned to restore Sunshine for the opening of the new lodge in December 2023.

Sunshine, by Indiana James.
Sunshine, by Indiana James.

Another of Indiana James’s sculptures in the lodge is “Lyre Lyre Pans on Fire”, a magnificent lyrebird sculpture created with kitchen remnants recovered from the site after the fire.

Lyre Lyre Pans on Fire, by Indiana James.
Lyre Lyre Pans on Fire, by Indiana James.

At around 12:30 pm, we headed to the restaurant to enjoy a wonderful lunch.

Lunch.
Lunch.

We relaxed for a while after lunch, before reconvening for a short trip down the road to the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a privately-owned 2,000-hectare conservancy focused on providing habitat for native animals to live in the wild. We had a wonderful walk around the sanctuary, looking at the kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, and koalas, all of whose populations were decimated during the bushfires.

A mother echidna with a baby puggle in her pouch.
A mother echidna with a baby puggle in her pouch.
A curious koala.
A curious koala.

We enjoyed a drink and a chat around a roaring campfire, before heading back to the lodge for dinner.

Dinner.
Dinner.

After a beautiful dinner, we headed off to bed. We can sleep in a little tomorrow, since we have nothing planned other than breakfast before we check out and drive back to the airport for the flight home.