The Island
A third of it
has never been touched.
Kangaroo Island sits thirteen kilometres off the South Australian coast and roughly a hundred years behind it. Immerse sits on its wildest edge, where the Cape Gantheaume Wilderness Protection Area begins.
Where you are
D'Estrees Bay, on the south coast.
The south coast is the side of the island that faces Antarctica. It is quieter, wilder and considerably more beautiful than the ferry side, and almost nobody builds here.
From the house it is a short walk to the water and a fifty-minute drive back to the Penneshaw ferry. In between there is a conservation park, a shipwreck trail, and a coastline you will often have entirely to yourself.
The wildlife
Sea lions that do not care you are there.
Seal Bay holds one of the last colonies of Australian sea lions, and you can walk the beach among them with a guide. Add koalas at Hanson Bay, echidnas on the roadside, goannas in the heat and a resident population of kangaroos who treat dusk as theirs.
Please drive slowly between dusk and dawn. It matters more here than almost anywhere.
The beaches
Empty is the default, not the exception.
Vivonne Bay was once named Australia’s best beach. Stokes Bay hides behind a rock tunnel. Hanson, Pennington, D’Estrees — most days you will not share them with anyone.
When to come
There is no wrong season. Only different ones.
Summer · Dec–Feb
Long, dry, bright. Beaches to yourself at 7am, swimming at Vivonne Bay, dinner outside at nine. The island's busiest season is still emptier than anywhere on the mainland.
Autumn · Mar–May
Our quiet favourite. Warm water, still mornings, the light going gold by four. Fishing is at its best and the roads are almost yours.
Winter · Jun–Aug
Fires in every room, whales moving east, wild swells at Weirs Cove. The season for long lunches and doing nothing well.
Spring · Sep–Nov
Wildflowers through the heath, joeys everywhere, sea lions pupping at Seal Bay. The island at its most alive.
Getting here
Ninety minutes, and a century away.
Most guests drive down from Adelaide and take the ferry. If time matters more than the road trip, fly.
- By sea
- SeaLink sails Cape Jervis to Penneshaw, around forty-five minutes across the Backstairs Passage. Cape Jervis is a ninety-minute drive from Adelaide. Vehicles travel with you — book the crossing early in summer.
- By air
- Qantas flies Adelaide to Kingscote in about thirty minutes. From Kingscote it is roughly an hour's drive to the house.
- From Penneshaw
- Fifty minutes to the door, most of it sealed, with the last stretch on Osmanli Road. A four-wheel drive is not required. Please drive slowly between dusk and dawn when wildlife is active.
- Hire cars
- Essential. Arrange at Kingscote airport or bring a vehicle across on the ferry. There is no ride-share on the island.
- Provisions and fuel
- Kingscote and Penneshaw both have good supermarkets, bottle shops and fuel. Stop on the way in — the south coast has neither close by.
Arrival
What happens when you get here.
- Check in
- From 3pm. Entry is by key safe; the code arrives by email or SMS before you travel.
- Check out
- By 11am.
- On arrival
- Fires laid or windows open depending on the season, sparkling on ice, sourdough and provisions waiting.
- Phone signal
- Patchy on the south coast. There is complimentary wifi at the house, which you are welcome to ignore.
Book your escape
Take the whole house.
Stay a little longer.
Book three nights directly with us and the fourth is on us. Guests tell us the fourth day is the one they remember — the day nothing was planned.
Rates include up to 4 guests. Additional guests are $100 per person, per night. Three-night minimum stay, year-round.