Sunday March 22nd 2026

It was an earlier start this morning as we had an excursion to Seal Bay scheduled for 8 am and needed breakfast beforehand. We were the first guests in the dining room for breakfast at 7:15 am. I had an eggs benedict variation with smashed peas and jamon which was yummy, plus an oat latte. We were in time to watch the sunrise over the horizon at 7:36 am.

We finished breakfast and went back to the room to clean teeth and pick up our things. Back at the lounge area we checked out Sunshine the Kangaroo. She survived the bushfire that razed the Lodge in January 2020, one of the few things that withstood the fires. The only other surviving parts were the concrete slab and a section of the sandstone wall. She did need to be cleaned up and have new eyes fashioned. She is made out of old farm machine parts which G recognised immediately, as many of our clients are in agricultural machinery.

Soon the group of guests for our excursion had also arrived and we headed out to the vans to drive to Seal Bay. We had a short stop to admire the view at Vivionne Bay before arriving at the Seal Bay Visitor Centre. The boardwalk area is open to the public but to step onto the beach you need to be on a tour with a licensed guide or the National Park guides. Seal Bay is not a technically accurate name because this is a colony of Australian Sea Lions not seals. The Australian Sea Lions are one of the rarest species in the world with an estimated population of about 12,000. They live in South Australia and Western Australia. The colony at Seal Bay consists of about 800 sea lions and is the only place in the world where to can walk down onto the beach among them, which is why you need to be accompanied by a guide. We headed down and were soon spotting sea lions in the dunes.

We admired the sea lions from the raised boardwalk for a while before heading down to the beach to wander around, keeping our distance from the sea lions of course. Most were sleeping on the beach, but they periodically go to cool off in the ocean. There was a little group of pups who were play fighting at one stage. The guide said the pups are left alone on the beach while the mothers are out fishing and run amok. We spent a while wandering up the beach (in a tight knit group so we didn’t disturb them), taking photos and enjoying their antics.

We arrived back at the lodge just after 11 am and G went to do a run on the treadmill. I enjoyed watching the Willy Wagtail just near our porch. When they rebuilt the lodge they incorporated extra fire safety measures including sealing the areas under the bedrooms so sparks can’t enter the structure from there. The lodge is now surrounded by a series of sprinklers connected to underground tanks. In case of a fire the lodge would be evacuated early. With cameras to monitor the progress of the fire, the sprinkler system can be switched on remotely if the fire gets too close. They have also planted the area directly surrounding the lodge with native succulents and plants that are less flammable.

After about 15 minutes I joined G in the gym for a cycle and short weights session followed by a swim in the pool. Then lunch and a nap.

At 5 pm we were back in the entry to leave for our Koalas and Kangas excursion at the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. This is a privately owned conservancy that provides habitat for native animals. The animals that you see are all wild. The evening we went the kangaroo mob was on the open grassland, we saw some Tammar Wallabies in the bushland and five koalas. The koalas are pretty hard to spot, you’re basically looking for a ball of grey fur, and they can by quite high up in the trees. I was happy I had my proper camera with good zoom lens.

After our walk we had a drink at the Bush Bar before heading back to the lodge and rolling straight into dinner.

We finished the night with a Southern Lights sighting. The colours only visible through the camera, white/grey light by the naked eye and unfortunately there was cloud low on the horizon. Kangaroo Island is further north than Melbourne so you need a pretty strong Aurora to see it, but the sky is much darker so that helps.