087 Kingscote

The main town on Kangaroo Island, Kingscote was the first settlement in SA in 1836.

The main town on Kangaroo Island, Kingscote was the first settlement in SA in 1836. On a boat-studded harbour overlooking the Bay of Shoals down to the beaches of Nepean Bay, the small township is home to great galleries, boutique shopping and delectable eateries. AT reader Debra Wedmaier reckons KI is the best gourmet region in Australia, and that Kingscote is a top place for its pelican feeding. “Living on the Sunshine Coast, I’ve seen Pelicans being fed many times, but never like this,” she says.

Every day visitors share the jetty spacewith the birds while locals carry out the feeding and an informal info session. You’ll need an empty suitcase to carry all the fantastic KI produce, like the delicious sauces, jams and pastes and the Emu Ridge distillery’s famous eucalyptus drops. Try the local lobster oil, drop a line off the jetty and stop in to the Island Pure Dairy to try the Haloumi Cheese. The local wine complements the great food and Debra suggests you pick up her personal favourite, the Island Sting Honey Liqueur.

Flinders Chase National Park is right on your doorstep, as are the dunes of Little Sahara – great for sliding down with the kids, all a stone’s throw from Kingscote in one of Australia’s most prized regions.

Where? // 186km southwest of Adelaide on KI (around 4hrs, including the ferry ride from Cape Jervis into Penneshaw).

Did you know? // Kingscote was first named Angas after the early settler, George Fife Angas (another of our Top 100 towns, Angaston, is named after him). An argument with another of the island’s founders, Henry Kingscote, resulted in the town being renamed Kingscote.