Review of the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail (KIWT)

It's been 3 years since I last updated this blog. I injured myself in mid 2013 and it took about 2 years to recover. I've been doing plenty of hiking and rogaining since, just not adding it to this blog :(

The Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail is a five day hiking trail along the spectacular coastline of the south-west corner of Kangaroo Island. The trail opened in October 2016. There are campgrounds along the way. The first day in the Rocky River Section (as the Rocky River Hike), and the 5th day in the Kelly Hill Section (as the Hanson Bay Hike) can be hiked by anyone, but the middle 3 days are only accessible to people who have paid the $161 trail fee. In the Suggested Itineraries section we review shorter ways to walk the trail, including how to hike the sections as day walks. We walked the trail in December 2016, offering the following review.

Although earlier National Parks SA was issuing complimentary trips to blogger influencers, I was not a guest of National Parks SA on this hike trip.

This review has been republished with permission on the Walking SA website.

Details about each day's walk appears in Walking SA's Find a Place to Walk directory listing for the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail.

The trail is referred to using the acronym of KIWT on some trail signage, and when using hashtags on social media (#KIWT).

Contents of this Review

Our review covers the following topics, which you can jump to directly or read the whole article below:

1. Trail Comparison
2. Choose this trail if you like
3. Starting the Hike
4. Trail Conditions Underfoot
5. Trail Signage
6. Campgrounds
   
   • Large communal kitchen and dining shelter
   • The Bathroom Block
   • Campsites
   • Campground Signage
   • Extra Campground Facilities
   • Food in Campgrounds
7. Maps
8. Audio Tour App
9. When to Walk
10. Suggested Itineraries
    
    • 5 Day hike plan
    • 4 Day hike plan #1
    • 4 Day hike plan #2
11. Packing List
12. Wildlife
13. Beaches & Swimming
14. Bushfires
15. Drinking Water
16. Mobile Reception
17. Details of each Trail Section

Trail Comparison

The Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail is compared in marketing to Tasmania’s Overland Track, but this is maybe a bit of a stretch. Economically it certainly aspires to that, but in practice it’s like the Overland Track mixed with Victoria’s Great South West Walk, or perhaps mixed with Western Australia’s Cape-to-Cape Track. It has the quality of campground facilities like the Overland Track, but it’s landscape is not as diverse. The landscape is more like the coastal cliff section of Victoria’s Great South West Walk, but the highlights are more dramatic, and without any long beach walks.  It could be compared more to Western Australia’s Cape-to-Cape Track in that is has a mix of inland forest, long cliff walks and beautiful beaches, but without any long beach walks.

The facilities are exceptional, easily superior to all other trail campsite facilities within South Australia. The State has really stepped it up. Much of the Heysen Trail has only basic facilities, no doubt in no small part to the lower numbers of hikers. The facilities in national parks have been headed in this direction for a while, with bespoke architecture for bathroom buildings and picnic shelters.

Some may criticize that the trail isn't wilderness, but by being a trail it inherently has lots of people. You also visit some of Flinders Chase National Park's most visited sites, but the campsites are generally isolated and the walking reasonably remote.

Choose this trail if you like

If you had walked Tasmania’s Overland Track but no other Australian trails, we're not sure you'd be so happy with the comparison of the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail to the Overland Track. However, you'd probably enjoy the wildlife, and there are other people walking the trail.

Choose to walk this trail if you like a combination of:

• coastal walking, particularly cliffs
• encountering wildlife, both on land and sea
• a variety of landscapes including rivers, coastal cliffs, tea tree and mallee scrub, forest (small sections)
• some of the trails listed in the Trail Comparison section above
• walking in the Flinders Ranges
• trails with well set up campgrounds
• walking with some people around, and seeing similar people each night (it's limited to per day 12 independent plus 12 people in tour groups)
• not really needing to read the map (it's easy to follow and well marked)

Starting the Hike

Like the Overland Track, numbers of walkers is tightly controlled, perhaps even more so. Each day up to 12 independent hikers and a tour group of up to 12 hikers can begin at the trailhead at Flinders Chase Visitor Centre. All hikers walk in the same direction. Booking online is easy, and the price of $160 for independent hikers is comparable to the Overland Track. A detailed 1:35 000 map and guidebook is provided, both need to be collected from the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre when you commence the hike. No doubt this ensures everyone gets a map, but one suspects it also keeps trail information less readily accessible to those who might seek to avoid the booking fee. It also ensures everyone views the safety information, which is presented via a five minute iPad video. You can watch the video in the reception area or café, and it covers the basics of keeping to the trail, warnings of trail conditions, wildlife, cliff edges and the risks of swimming in the ocean.

The Flinders Chase Visitor Centre is 1.5 hours drive from Penneshaw. Park in the normal carpark and head into the main reception to check-in. You’ll watch the video and have the opportunity to ask any final questions. They’ll provide directions to where to park your vehicle – it’s not a secure carpark by any means, but it’s a short walk back to the Visitor Centre to begin the hike.

The trail starts with all the other walking trails at the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre. The first day’s hike (as with the last day’s hike) takes in existing walking trails, including the Platypus Waterholes Walk and the Rocky River Hike. As such anyone can hike these trails and the first (and last) day of the KIWT. This is also true of the final section of the trek from Hanson Bay to Kelly Hill Caves (the end of Day 4, all of Day 5.)

Your booking fee includes your vehicle’s entry fee/permit to the national park (Flinders Chase National Park.) If on the trek you skip the 9.8km return sidetrip to Admirals Arch, on the day you finish you can still drive down to Cape du Couedic and walk the 800m return hike from the carpark to Admirals Arch. They’ll also let you know that after you complete your trek you are welcome to have a shower at the nearby Rocky River Campground. Actually anyone can have a shower there, for people not camping there it is $4 per person, but as a KIWT guest the shower is complimentary.

Using a bus to get to the trailhead at Flinders Chase Visitor Centre can be tricky, as there are not many options and they may be expensive.

The cafe at the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre is open from 9am to 5pm (the kitchen closes at 3:30pm) and serves coffee, alcohol, sandwiches and hot food.

Trail Conditions Underfoot

The trail pavement is classed as Grade 4 in the Australian Standard. Such trails are defined as being suitable to experienced bushwalkers, include rough track with limited signage (we think there is adequate signage), contain steep sections (the trail is generally flat), and consists of one to many days long.

It consists mostly of dirt trails inland, and sandy trails through dunes, or predominately rocky paths along the coastal cliffs. The rock isn’t loose, but are eroded rock base covered in some sand. This can make for some sore feet at the end of the day.

The trail includes walking 1.5 km along a single beach. You need to check the tide times, which you will receive when you check in at Flinders Chase Visitor Centre. During high tide there is an alternative trail through the dunes, but it is quite sandy and close to the dune edge. Also hooded plovers nest on the beach between the high tide mark and the sand dunes, so you will need to walk on the wet sand, or at high tide use the alternative route. These are protected species which are listed as vulnerable (there are less than 800 in South Australia) and their nests are very vulnerable to being walked on.

The coastal sections are predominately exposed to both wind and sun, with little or no shade. The inland sections are softer underfoot and often shady.

On Day 4, the trail crosses the South West River. A boat has been tethered here to allow walkers to cross the 15 metre expanse of water. The boat is simple enough to operate. It is about the size of a small dinghy and rated to 225kg, which is defined as 1 person and 1 pack, but you can do the math. To operate the boat you pull one of the two ropes (although it’s actually one rope with a pulley at each end.) Your hands will get wet from the rope as the rope is slack enough to fall into the river surface. A taut steel cable from one side of the river to the other ensures the boat doesn’t deviate from the a straight path across the river. When your party is safely across, you could politely return the boat to the other side ready for the next party, which is easy to do, but does mean the next party doesn’t benefit from a practical understanding of how the boat and rope system works by first moving the boat without people in it. If the boat is out of service or you’re not keen on the set up, you can return to the Hanson Bay road you crossed and walk along that road to Hanson Bay and cross the river where it comes out at the ocean. The mouth of the river is often closed by the beach. This would add an extra 1.5 km to get to the other side, and less if you’d have walked to Hanson Bay on the spur trail sidetrip.

Many hikers like to use walking poles, and this trail is well suited to them. There are no duckboards as in Tasmania, and the trail is rarely narrow. The trail is never a wide fire track or road, but is a consistent 600mm to 1 metre wide path. There are a couple of grid surface bridges or boardwalks, especially on the Platypus Waterholes Walk, where poles are too tricky to use, but these distances are minimal.

Trail Signage

Trail signage is generally excellent, being both clearly and consistently signposted, and with frequent posts. The trails along the coastal cliffs, particularly on Day 2, are lacking in the same frequency of sign placement, however it isn’t difficult to follow the path, even though at times it seems indistinct. The entry and exit points along the beach walk are clear, and the red-topped posts visible from some distance.

All trail signs are colour coded, and when you are on shared paths the other trails are similarly colour coded. The KIWT signs are green. When the trail leaves the shared trail there is usually a warning to other trail users that the KIWT is a long distance trail for registered guests only.

Campgrounds

As stated in the introduction, the campground facilities are probably superior to most other trails in Australia, and certainly South Australia. No doubt this is no small part to the age of the trail and its aspiration to be a world class trail.

However, unlike the Overland Track, there are no closed buildings or dormitory buildings. The communal kitchen and dining shelter has walls on two sides, and is generally open and airy. This is ok as it well suited to the South Australian climate and low rainfall. The shelters are comparable to Western Australia’s Bibbulmun Track, but on a larger scale, modern and without sleeping platforms. A better comparison might be some of the newer, larger shelters on Northern Territory’s Larapinta Trail, except larger and again without sleeping platforms.

The lack of sleeping platforms means carrying a tent is a must, but this approach would make managing numbers and communal spaces easier. Rainfall is low and all the campgrounds are carefully positioned away from coastal winds, so are well suited to tents.

Each of the four campgrounds consist of the same elements:

1. Large communal kitchen and dining shelter
   
   
   The shelter is architecturally designed and 10 metres long by 5 metres wide with a concrete floor and solar lighting.

   Each has four picnic tables – two positioned inside and two outside. Each picnic table would sit six comfortably or eight people.

   There is additional bench seating for 7-8 people beside the cooking and sink area. A large cooking preparation and sink bench sits at one end. Cooking is by gas canister or liquid fuel only. The sink here has two taps – one with filtered water which has to be hand pumped (about 15-20 pumps per litre) and one normal tap. The water flows slows, no doubt as a control measure to reduce water wastage. If filling water bottles, the single tap on one of the three large water tanks beside the shelter flows much quicker. None of the water is treated, and they encourage you to treat it yourself. However the structures are new and well designed to reduce tank water contamination. For instance, each roof is fitted with a First Flush Diverter. This device works by allowing the first lot of water from rain to clean the roof of debris and to capture that debris in an overflow device. Subsequent water, which is uncontaminated, then flows into the tank. This ensures water flows into the tank only when there is a good volume of rainfall, rather than during passing showers.

   There is a fire extinguisher in each kitchen and dining shelter.

   This communal kitchen and dining shelter serves as the focus area of the campground, and as such contains a whiteboard where hikers can share messages and warnings. Park rangers usually visit daily and update the weather forecast.

   The communal kitchen and dining shelter is normally the first structure you will see on entering the campground.

2. The Bathroom Block
   
   
   The bathroom block is often nearby to the kitchen and dining shelter. It too is architecturally designed. It consists of two toilets. Each toilet is an eco toilet which is sustainable and generally odourless. Each is equipped with toilet paper, so you can skip or reduce your toilet paper quantity on your packing list. As rangers generally visit daily we wouldn’t expect supplies to run low. Each toilet is designated as unisex, and comes with a biochem disposal container for sharps and needles. It’s open at the top so not suitable for menstrual pads or tampons. The toilets being eco toilets are sensitive to foreign objects, so don’t use them as rubbish bins. As with most campgrounds in Australia in natural environments, whatever you bring in you should carry out (carry rubbish out.)

   There are also two sinks set in wide vanity units, one is in the larger of the two toilets, the other is outside but somewhat shielded from public view. The sinks have plugs in them, but these might go missing. As with the kitchen taps, the water flow here is slow, so trying to fill the sink for a personal wash is slow, encouraging you to minimise water usage. The drains aren’t magic (durgh), the water drains into soakage pits nearby, so consider what you put down them.

   If there were 24 people in the campground you might well expect to wait to use these facilities during busier times of day.

3. Campsites
   
   
   The campsites are separated into two areas, one for independent hikers and the other for tour groups. This is the only separation between independent hikers and tour groups. So unlike the Overland Track where you only see the other group on the trail, and not sharing camp facilities at night time, you will be eating dinner and sharing facilities at night time.

   The campsites are well laid out, separate from nearby sites or clustered together in sets of two or three. So if you’re hiking with friends you can place your tents close together, but if you’re hiking alone it’s easy enough to set up your tent away from others. All the campgrounds have some shady campsites for those that arrive early in camp and want to take a nap in their tent. There are nine campsites for the individual hikers and a similar number for the group tours. Unlike the Overland Track, the group tour campsites are not large platforms for many people but rather collections of single tent sites, which we agree is more suitable for tours. There are some timber camping platforms, but only on Night 1 (Cup Gum Campground) and in the tour group area of Night 2 (Hakea Campground.) It’s not clear why these tent platforms exist, their use on other trails is either to minimise people’s impact on the immediate environment or to simply create mud-free campsites. Regardless, they are a nice feature. Some have benches built into them which is a really nice touch. One good feature with tent platforms of course if that you can remove your shoes and walk around on it without getting your feet particularly dirty. Cooking isn’t actually permitted on the tent platforms or the gravel camp sites, they ask people to cook only in the kitchen and dining shelter.

   
   As in Tasmania, when using the tent platforms you can’t use pegs. There is an almost continuous bar around the sides of the platform for securing rope or string to – unlike Tasmania there are no wires already present to hook in to, so be sure to bring some string or light rope. However the tent platforms do come with pop-up anchor points scattered across the platform – maybe 6-9 per platform, which can make it easier to secure your tent down.

   Regardless of whether you use a timber tent platform or a gravel tent site, you won’t need a protector matt underneath your tent. Some hikers prefer to use these to add further protection to their tent’s floor from the protrusion of sticks and sharp rocks, but there won’t be either here.

4. Campground Signage
   
   
   Signage around campgrounds is excellent, even pointing to the exit back to the trail, which is useful as the large campground with many trails can be disorientating. Do wander down some of the many paths as you might be delighted to discover a small dead-end alcove consisting of a park bench or two. They are well designed in non-uniform shapes, so will fit many body sizes and no doubt many body aches. My favourite was the chaise lounge. These park benches are scattered throughout the campground, and this really helps to decentralize communal areas by creating numerous hang-out spots.

5. Extra Campground Facilities
   
   
   Each campground is more or less identical, just varying the layout of elements to suit the local environment. However there are two of the campgrounds with extra elements:
   • Butterfly Campground has a raised viewing platform or patio coming off the Kitchen and Dining Shelter
   • Grassdale Campground has a fire pit, it’s small, and as firewood collection is prohibited in national parks, firewood is supplied. It can only be used outside of the Fire Danger Season, so generally only from May to October. The firepit is adjacent the kitchen and dining shelter. Grassdale Campground is also unique in that a river bisects the campground, with the kitchen and dining shelter and bathroom on one side, and a bridge linking to the campsites on the other.
   
   
6. Food in Campgrounds
   

   There are no food lockers in the campgrounds, so be sure to stow all your food inside your pack inside your tent. There is so much wildlife on Kangaroo Island you’d be tempting fate to leave food outside, even if in your pack. Birds are a problematic at Hakea Campground (Night 2), not so much because people have been feeding them but simply because they have learnt so quickly where food is kept (inside zippers in packs.) The same birds can be amusing to watch as they admire their reflection in the stainless steel benches in the kitchen shelters. On food lockers, there are shelf units on the vehicle access point, used by tour operators. These tracks can often be found by following the path beyond toilets. The shelving units are just that, they aren’t lockable or otherwise secure, and are for use solely by tour operators. As there are no food lockers, there are also no food drop locations or food swap areas as can be seen on trails elsewhere in Australia. Being only a five day trail, food drops aren’t really necessary anyway.

Maps

A detailed 1:35 000 map and guidebook is provided, both need to be collected from the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre when you commence the hike. No doubt this ensures everyone gets a map, but one suspects it also keeps trail information less readily accessible to those who might seek to avoid the booking fee. It also ensures everyone views the safety information, which is presented via a five minute iPad video.

The 1:35 000 map is very detailed (most maps in South Australia have less detail at 1:50 000 scale), and includes an overall map on one side, with detailed inset maps of sections like Flinders Chase Visitor Centre, Cape de Couedic and Kelly Hills Caves. There is also an elevation profile (although really the trail is generally flat) which is nicely detailed showing the vegetation types found along the way.

The 1:35 000 folds to DL size (9.9cm wide by 21cm high), unfolds to A1 size (84cm wide by 59cm high). It weighs 60g.

The guidebook includes useful information about ancient and modern history, and detailed info about birds and wildlife, as well as descriptions of each day’s walk and each night’s campground. View the contents page of the guidebook. If you are travelling in a group we’d recommend carrying one book between the whole group.

The guidebook is A5, 130 pages and weighs 250g.

Audio Tour App

There are thirty guided audio tours to enjoy while you walk using the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail Audio Tours app.

Regretabbly we didn't use this app along the way. We'd expect the maps are based on Avenza PDF Maps app which is excellent for use in national parks in South Australia. The official website describes it as:

Each tour is rich in immersive soundscapes and narration making the stories of the trail come to life. For each day, there is a geo-enabled map which offers walkers the ability to track your location even without an internet connection.

Mobile reception on the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail is limited, so be sure to download the app and each of the five tours before starting your walk. If you forget, we have outlined where to find some mobile reception on the trail.

When to Walk

The official advice is anytime. From October there are few or no tour groups operating. Summer is often too warm, or at least too unpredictable, although temperatures on Kangaroo Island are generally cooler than the mainland. Generally anything over high 20s is considered uncomfortable for hiking. Walking in summer increases the risk of a Catastrophic Fire Danger being declared, and walkers will be evacuated off the trail if this occurs.

The official website has a section titled Trip preparation › Seasons which outlines the benefits of walking in each season.

Suggested Itineraries

The trail is a five day trail, and we've outlined those five days with suggested times in the table below. Below that we have also outlined some short itineraries for those with less time.

There are also pack transfer services being offered (where a tour operator such as Western KI Caravan Park transfers your pack to the next campsite each day), and also options where tour operators or accommodation providers will drop you off each morning and pick you up each afternoon, so you don't have to camp out at the campgrounds.

5 Day hike plan of Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail

Day	Section Name	From	To	Distance	Sidetrips	Walk Times
						Slow	Average	Fast
Day 1	Rocky River Section	Flinders Chase Visitor Centre	Cup Gum Campground	12.4km	None	5 hours	4 hours	3 hours
Day 2	Maupertuis Section	Cup Gum Campground	Hakea Campground	14.1km	Optional to Admirals Arch (9.8km return, 3-4 hours) - do in the afternoon of Day 2 or morning of Day 3	8 hours	7 hours	4.5 hours
Day 3	Sanderson Section	Hakea Campground	Banksia Campground	13.0km	2.3km (to Remarkable Rocks, and to Sanderson Beach)	8 hours	6.5 hours	4.5 hours
Day 4	Grassdale Section	Banksia Campground	Tea Tree Campground	13.3km	Optional sidetrip to Hanson Bay Beach (700m return)	8 hours	6.5 hours	4.5 hours
Day 5	Kelly Hill Section	Tea Tree Campground	Kelly Hill Caves picnic area	7.6km	None	3 hours	2.5 hours	2 hours

4 Day hike plan of Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail

Invariably people may want to walk the trail over 4 days, or if walking fast find some of the days too short.

4-Day Plan #1

This plan combines two days (Days 3 and 4) and is only recommended for faster walkers:

Day	Section Name	From	To	Distance	Sidetrips	Walk Times
						Average	Fast
Day 1	Rocky River Section	Flinders Chase Visitor Centre	Cup Gum Campground	12.4km	None	4 hours	3 hours
Day 2	Maupertuis Section	Cup Gum Campground	Hakea Campground	14.1km	Optional to Admirals Arch (9.8km return, 3-4 hours) – do in the afternoon of Day 2 or morning of Day 3	7 hours	4.5 hours
Day 3	Sanderson Section + Grassdale Section	Hakea Campground	Tea Tree Campground (lunch at Banksia Campground)	26.3km	3.0km (to Remarkable Rocks, to Sanderson Beach, and to Hanson Bay Beach)	13 hours	8 hours
Day 4	Kelly Hill Section	Tea Tree Campground	Kelly Hill Caves picnic area	7.6km	None	2.5 hours	2 hours

4-Day Plan #2

This plan uses the average times, but drops the fifth day, and makes the fourth day shorter (end at Hanson Bay) to enable time to drive the 1.5 hours to the ferry. It would be reasonable that people might want to walk over Easter, or add one day to a three day weekend. We highly recommend that if coming over on the ferry the evening prior to walking, that you not try and drive to Flinders Chase near dusk, the wildlife on the road is numerous and very hazardous, especially after passing Vivonne Bay.

Another option is to drop Day 1 from the 5-day plan, and begin your hike at Snake Lagoon Campsite (the car camping area), and begin walking the Snake Lagoon Hike until it meets up with the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail. It would add negligible distance, but we'd suggest you start walking early in the morning as the Day 2 Maupertuis Section is long.

Day	Section Name	From	To	Distance	Sidetrips	Walk Times
						Slow	Average	Fast
Day 1	Rocky River Section	Flinders Chase Visitor Centre	Cup Gum Campground	12.4km	None	5 hours	4 hours	3 hours
Day 2	Maupertuis Section	Cup Gum Campground	Hakea Campground	14.1km	Optional to Admirals Arch (9.8km return, 3-4 hours) - do in the afternoon of Day 2 or morning of Day 3	8 hours	7 hours	4.5 hours
Day 3	Sanderson Section	Hakea Campground	Banksia Campground	13.0km	2.3km (to Remarkable Rocks, and to Sanderson Beach)	8 hours	6.5 hours	4.5 hours
Day 4	Grassdale Section	Banksia Campground	Hanson Bay	10.7km to Hanson Bay Road, optional 600m down road to beach	None	6 hours	5.5 hours	3.5 hours

Packing List

The packing list supplied on the KIWT website is generally quite good. We’d suggest skipping the toilet paper or not bringing much of it (as it is supplied in toilets.) We’d also suggest you don’t need gaitors on this trail. The trail is wide and well formed, so they aren’t necessary. Do use gaitors if your primary concern is to offer some protection from snake bites to the lower legs.

If you're considering whether to wear trainers or runners instead of hiking boots, there are no river crossings to get your feet wet on, and the trail is generally not a muddy one. The river crossings that do exist use bridges or boats.

Wildlife

What wildlife you see will vary depending on the seasons. Kangaroo Island has abundant wildlife, and the Wilderness Trail is no different. You might expect to see:

• echidnas (but less so in summer)
• platypus (shy)
• tammar wallabies
• kangaroos
• koalas (less so near the coast)
• southern brown bandicoots (shy)
• rosenbergs goannas (a monitor lizard)
• white bellied sea eagles
• hooded plovers
• pied oysterchatchers
• dolphins
• long nosed fur seals
• australian fur seals
• australian sea lions
• tiger snake (hopefully just one slithering away eh. There are two varieties of snake on Kangaroo Island, both have the same anti venom treatment)

Beaches & Swimming

There are only three beaches on the trail. Day 1 and Day 5 are inland, but Days 2, 3 and 4 are coastal. However the coast is mostly cliff, and whilst there are some small beaches they are generally inaccessible by foot.

Officially they advise against swimming, but we can offer the following advice about the three beaches:

1. Maupertuis Beach

   You will walk 1.5 km along this beach on Day 2. Watch out for Hooded Plovers which make their nests in the sand above the high tide mark and the dunes. The beach is remote and can only be accessed by hikers. The best place to swim on this beach is towards the end of the beach, around the sandy headland. Here there is a large lagoon, formed by a shallow reef further out to sea.

2. 
   Sanderson Beach

   The beach here is on a spur trail near the finish campground on Day 3. The beach can make good swimming, but as always be very wary of waves and rips (stay close to shore.) The beach is remote and can only be accessed by hikers.

3. 
   Hanson Bay Beach

   This beach is a public beach accessible by road, and is on a short spur trail on Day 4. It’s a beautiful calm beach, suitable for swimming for most swimmers.

Bushfires

Bushfires are a real concern in south-east Australia, including Kangaroo Island. The Fire Danger Season begins in October or November, and continues through to March. During this time campfires are not permitted in any national parks.

Each day during the Fire Danger Season a Fire Danger Warning is issued. There are six ratings:

• Low-moderate
• High
• Very high
• Severe
• Extreme
• Catastrophic

If a Catastrophic warning is declared for the Kangaroo Island Fire Ban District for the following day, the national park will be closed and the trail evacuated. Rangers or tour operators will make arrangements to get people out of campgrounds and out of the park. This would be unfortunate but with the very real danger to life, largely unavoidable. Besides, it would make very hot walking anyway.

Fire warnings and weather forecasts are posted by a ranger daily on the noticeboard in each campground.

Marked on the map are Last Resort Refuges (marked by red triangles) and Assembly Areas (marked by yellow triangles). The Last Resort Refuges are just as the name suggests, usually an open area offering minimal protection, and there are just two on the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail.

Assembly Areas are located at:

1. each of the four campgrounds on the trail
2. Admirals Arch carpark (Day 2 or 3)
3. Remarkable Rocks carpark (Day 2 or 3)
4. Kelly Hills Caves picnic area (Day 5)

Last Resort Refuges are located at:

1. At Admirals Arch, on the platform under the arch (Day 2 or 3)
2. At Grassdale, in the middle of the open grassed area near Edwards Cottage (Day 4 or 5)

Other logical places are the three beaches on the trail, at:

1. Maupertuis Beach (Day 2)
2. Sanderson Beach (Day 3)
3. Hanson Bay Beach (day 4)

Never seek refuge in a rainwater tank or pond. Avoid seeking refuge in a pool or river.

Drinking Water

The supply of drinking water on this trail is considered very reliable, unlike some other areas of South Australia. The campgrounds have been well designed to capture a lot of rainfall, with 3 water tanks off the main kitchen and dining shelter, 2 off of the bathroom shelter, and extra storage tanks near the road access point. We would anticipate that should water run low, that water tankers would refill water (hence the connected water tank at the road access point.)

You can obtain water in the kitchen and dining shelter.  The sink here has two taps – one with filtered water which has to be hand pumped (about 15-20 pumps per litre) and one normal tap. The water flows slows, no doubt as a control measure to reduce water wastage. If filling water bottles, the single tap on one of the three large water tanks beside the shelter flows much quicker. None of the water is treated, and they encourage you to treat it yourself. However the structures are new and well designed to reduce tank water contamination. For instance, each roof is fitted with a First Flush Diverter. This device works by allowing the first lot of water from rain to clean the roof of debris and to capture that debris in an overflow device. Subsequent water, which is uncontaminated, then flows into the tank. This ensures water flowing into the tank only does so when there is a good volume of rainfall, rather than during passing showers.

Mobile Reception

Mobile phone reception is generally limited to Telstra. We didn’t check for reception thoroughly along the trail, but we can provide information about each campground:

• Flinders Chase Visitor Centre: excellent reception, but only nearby to the building
• Night 1 (Cup Gum Campground): some limited reception, maybe no data service though
• Night 2 (Hakea Campground), none
• Night 3 (Banksia Campground): not sure
• Night 4 (Tea Tree Campground): 1 or 2 bars with data
• Kelly Hill Caves (end of the trail): good reception

Ending the Hike

The Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail ends at the visitor centre and picnic area at Kelly Hill Caves.

Trail Transfers

When booking the trail through the website, you can also purchase a shuttle service for an additional $25. The bus will be at Kelly Hill Caves at your day of arrival at 2:45pm.

Alternatives to provide you with more timing flexibility include:

• using multiple cars between friends (a car shuffle: leave one car at Kelly Hill Caves and one at Flinders Chase Visitor Centre).
• Exploring options with other tour operators, for instance the Western KI Caravan Park offers guests who book cabins or camp at their caravan park transfers to and from the start and end of the trail. The caravan park is situated midway between the start and end points, so is ideally placed for this.
• One person from your group could ride a bicycle which you have stored at Kelly Hill Caves. The ride is 17km, and there are several hills (you are after all starting in Kelly Hills).

In the Suggested Itineraries section we review shorter ways to walk the trail.

Showers and Laundry

After you complete your trek you are welcome to have a shower at the Rocky River Campground near the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre. Actually anyone can have a shower there, for people not camping there it is $4 per person, but as a KIWT guest the shower is complimentary.

The Western KI Caravan Park also offers complimentary showers to hikers finishing the trail. The caravan park is 10km west of Kelly Hill Caves, just 7km before reaching the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre.

Groceries are available nearby from the Western KI Caravan Park and Vivonne Bay General Store (closed at Dec 2016 due to fire but expected to reopen early 2017).

Details of each Trail Section

Details about each day's walk appears in Walking SA's Find a Place to Walk directory listing for the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail.

We've listed each of the 5 sections on a separate entry, or read the summary page.

• Day 1, Rocky River Section
• Day 2, Maupertuis Section
• Day 2 or 3, optional sidetrip to Admirals Arch
• Day 3, Sanderson Section
• Day 4, Grassdale Section
• Day 5, Kelly Hill Section