If you are planning a trip for your clients, weave some less well-known places beyond the big cities into their itinerary. Whether it’s a trip-of-a-lifetime or a return trip, South Australia will leave you with indelible memories, especially if you are a nature and wildlife enthusiast.

Two less well-known regions can be woven into your itinerary— one is the Fleurieu Peninsula; the other is Kangaroo Island, just nine miles off the coast of the state of South Australia, one of the country’s six states and two territories. If your itinerary includes Sydney in the state of New South Wales and Melbourne in the state of Victoria, you can cover both, and still have time to visit South Australia.

Here, you are removed from the hustle bustle of city exploration. Kangaroos, koalas, dingoes, sea lions, fur seals, dot the landscape. Gigantic rocks carved by wind create a unique topography along the Southern Ocean. The primary reasons to go are the wildlife, rock formations, and a feeling of being at the ends of the earth where time seems infinite.

Fleurieu Peninsula
In the Fleurieu, we zoomed via four-wheel drive vehicle along Goolwa Beach, an 11-mile stretch of sand that faces the Southern Ocean. Feeling free and far away from the urban life of Manhattan, I disembarked the vehicle to shoot photos of the horse and riders that exercise along this stretch of sand. You have to be fast, and able to move ahead of the horses to catch them, but it’s worth the effort. If not, just stay seated, and take in the views. You won’t forget.

Victor Harbor – a town of less than 5,000 inhabitants
Visit Urimbirra Wildlife Park where more than 400 types of animals native to Australia live. Among them are koalas and kangaroos but there’s more: lizards, dingoes, crocodiles, wallabies, and wombats. Watch koalas as they nibble on eucalyptus leaves, their main source of food. They sleep as many as 22 hours a day. Here, you can watch a koala eat or just loll away the hours up in a tree. Either way, it’s an opportunity to photograph this special species. Their dark brown noses and furry ears distinguish these “bears” that are really marsupials with a pouch, home to a baby koala stays for the first six months of life. Typically, one baby is born at a time, sometimes twins. Most koalas have chestnut brown eyes but some have blue.

Victor Harbor is also home to the Clydesdale horse-drawn tram (a streetcar or trolley) across a less than ½-mile causeway that leads to Granite Island, 62 acres where walking trails and panoramic coastal views abound. Granite Island had been a home to a colony of tiny penguins numbering 2,000 but the species has dwindled to fewer than 30. Foxes and environmental factors are among the reasons.

Kangaroo Island
Once part of the mainland, Kangaroo Island has a mystic all its own. It’s accessible in 45 minutes by ferry from Cape Jervis near the western tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Penneshaw on the island. Alternatively, fly in 20-30 minutes from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island’s Kingscote Airport.

The island is approximately 100 miles long and 34 miles from north to south at its widest point. It’s comparable in size to Puerto Rico or Long Island, New York.

Summers – December through February – are typically warm to hot (68 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit) with low humidity while winters – June through August — tend to be cool to mild (52 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. We were there in October, which is the spring shoulder season when crowds are smaller and temperatures range from 63 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. In fall – March through May – the range is also 63 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

The island is home to Seal Bay Conservation Park on the south coast, where a colony of 600 Australian sea lions lives. From Kingscote, drive 45-50 minutes on Sea Bay Road south to the national park.

We watched sea lions who had returned from their search for food in the Southern Ocean. They were resting on the sand after as long as three days at sea. These sea lions are fairly used to human visitors so, if you are inclined, you can get close enough to photograph them. However, it’s best to have a telephoto and zoom lenses to capture the sea lions without getting too close to them.

Continue west on South Coast Road where you’ll spot a cluster of granite boulders perched on the edge of a cliff that plunges 90 feet to the sea. Sculpted by wind and water, they’re aptly named Remarkable Rocks. Continue on South Coast Road to the end where the Cape du Couedic Lighthouse soars into the sky. Follow the wooden walkway down to the Admiral’s Arch, a rock cavern carved by the ocean. We looked down into the swirling water, and caught a glimpse of a New Zealand fur seal.
Here on Kangaroo Island, it’s mostly you and the wildlife! www.exceptionalkangarooisland.com

For more information on Tourism Australia visit: www.australia.com/en-us