| Kangaroo Island is just far enough off the beaten track to provide some wonderful surprises. At the end of a rutted dirt road, our guide Craig Wickham unlocked the gates to the old Edwards’ estate, and we drove onto the property. We were on Kangaroo Island and now that it was dusk, the light was incandescent and, all around us, animals were beginning to stir.
We walked across a vast paddock covered with tall grass and there, against a big sky, were dozens of kangaroos, some nearly six feet tall, others hugging the sides of their mothers, and not one of them afraid of us.
A 30-minute flight from Adelaide, Kangaroo Island is full of animal life - koalas, echidnas on the roadside and wallabies everywhere. Craig owns Exceptional Kangaroo Island, a tour company that lives up to its name. You get to walk right onto the sands at Seal Bay and receive lots of other access that make seeing Kangaroo Island with him, well, exceptional. For lunch, it was King George whiting on the Bar B Q. Another day he took us to Andermel Marron Farm where we tasted marron, the world’s largest farmed crayfish, and drank wine from one of Kangaroo Island’s 28 vineyards. He introduced us to honey made by the world’s only pure strain of Ligurian bees, originally brought from Italy to the island in the 1880s. In between sightings and tastings, as we criss-crossed the island from top to bottom, Craig regaled us with tales of growing up on a 2,500-acre sheep station on the island’s north shore that his parents ran for Sir James Holden, owner of Holden cars. Now, two generations later, on the 100 acres of the station that remain, Sir James’ grandchildren, Rachel and Nick Hannaford, run Lifetime Private Retreats. Part luxury hotel, part haute fantasy, Lifetime consists of three architecturally dazzling villas, overlooking Snellings Beach, a perfect white sand crescent stretched lazily along a turquoise sea. When you arrive at Lifetime, you step into another world. Nick, a celebrated event planner, and Rachel, a yoga teacher and chef who has cooked for superstars like Mick Jagger and the Dalai Lama, have pulled out all stops in creating this magical milieu. Dinner could be a Middle Eastern feast, served beneath the bowers of a gigantic fig tree or paella in a shack on the beach with a fire blazing. If five-star hippie chic isn’t your style, Kangaroo Island also offers simpler accommodations. The Kangaroo Island Wilderness Resort, at the entrance to a national park, has a terrific restaurant, wine list and al fresco dining among the wallabies. The rooms are spotless and spacious.
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