"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." – Mary Oliver

Kangaroo Island – Day 4

23 March 2026

Today was the day we had to leave this gorgeous place. Our breakfast view was a bit gloomy compared to our other days here and we were wondering whether the day was going to be spent hanging out inside the lodge. After breakfast we headed back to our room to pack ready for check out. While doing this I made sure I snapped some pictures of the reading material provided in the toilet. Whoever did the fit out has a sense of humour.

Soon it was time to say goodbye to room 19—The Stormy Petrel. All the rooms are named after ships that have been wrecked in the waters off Kangaroo Island.

By the time we checked out the weather was looking gorgeous so we headed down towards the beach. On the way we saw a beautiful Scarlet Robin.

For the last couple of years South Australia has been experiencing a toxic algal bloom. It’s been devastating for marine life. When we first arrived there wasn’t any evidence of it on the water but over the course of our stay we saw the foam lines out on the water and on this last walk on the beach the yellow colour of the algae was obvious in the waves and on the beach. It was caused by flood waters that flushed extra nutrients into the coastal waters that were followed by the marine heatwave that began in 2024 which has elevated water temperatures by 2.5C. It’s so sad.

After my walk it was time for our last lunch at the Lodge. Then we just hung out admiring the views until it was time to board the shuttle for the airport. We were back home tucked up in our own beds by 10:30 pm.


Comments

6 responses to “Kangaroo Island – Day 4”

  1. Haha, I bought my parents a “toilet reader” a few years ago. It was quite interesting, full of trivia and short stories that you could read in a few minutes. It was popular!

    Your description of the algal bloom sounds awful. We saw something similar in Florida a few years ago, where it was called “red tide”. It’s caused by a specific algae that produces toxins, leading to fish dying. It even affected our breathing, too. It was terrible seeing TONS of dead fish – even dolphins piled up on the beach.
    I think the impact will go far beyond what we can see in the moment. I sometimes wonder (and worry!) what this will look like a few years down the line, and how future generations are going to deal with it.

    1. Some good reading material in the toilet never goes astray, LOL> The one in South Australia can cause skin irritation for people.

  2. Oh, that is so sad about the algae.
    I think it was the early 2000s when there was a pine beetle outbreak in the Rockies here – and because there weren’t the usual -30 winters for a few years, the pine beetles didn’t die. Instead the trees did. And of course standing dry dead pine trees are not great in terms of forest fires! It was so upsetting.

    1. Yes, everyone is hoping the algae will be killed off this winter, but we have already had two winters without any joy. How much will be left when we finally deal with climate change, I wonder.

  3. Those views are gorgeous! I am glad you had a great away.

    The Algal bloom is such a bummer. The Cancun area of Mexico is dealing with something similar that is referred to as “sargasm”. There is just gobs of it. Hotels/resorts rake up gobs of it every morning but it seems like an endless battle. I think it is related to climate change/changes in ocean temps. The beaches in that area used to be so pristine and beautiful but now the water is so murky due to the sargasm.

    1. The South Australian one is a different organism, but probably similar to the warmer waters being an issue. Although we tested the water and it did not feel warm to us.

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