Kangaroo island shore excursions

[cruiser3775]

I usually book private shore excursions, but Kangaroo island has me flummoxed.  There seem to be three private companies, and I like some of their offerings, but all of them demand full payment in advance and no refund if you can't get ashore.  Given that this happens a bit, I really don't want to shell out the money in advance. My travel insurance does not cover missed shore excursions because of weather. I thought about hiring a car for the day, but it is very expensive. There are no taxis.

I've been there before , so i have seen many of the natural wonders and the wildlife. This time, I'd like to do one of the island tasting tours. Has anyone who has been there know if the shore excursion companies offer last minute walk ins when you go ashore?

[OzKiwiJJ]

We just did the Princess one that went to an eucalyptus oil farm where we also had a cider tasting, the honey place (yummy honey and ice cream), a lavender farm (the scones were wonderful) and finished with a wine tasting. We also stopped at a couple of scenic spots along the way. It was a great tour and we felt we really got our money's worth.

[MicCanberra]

Cape Willoughby tour has a winery tasting included.

 

 

[Chiliburn]

I’d just catch the tender and walk up to the pub .

[MicCanberra]

They had some markets set up for when we were there.

[mum and son]

Thanks for this thread. I'll be there next week and haven't organised a thing! Great tips.

[OzKiwiJJ]

One of the problems with Kangaroo Island, apart from the uncertainty of whether the ship can anchor and operate the tenders safely, is that it is a small community spread out over a very large island. When a cruise ship is there it probably soaks up most of the resources for tours. 

 

I can't recall if there were many, if any, last minute tours available at the wharf. Since you've been there before you'll be aware of the distances you have to travel between places of interest. The tasting tour stops we did were mostly in the areas around Kingscote, about an hour's drive from the wharf at Penneshaw. Personally Kangaroo Island is one of those place where I'd always book a ship's tour.

[icat2000]

17 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

I’d just catch the tender and walk up to the pub .

That what I did last time.But we going again in October but this time I'm going to book an excurision. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

16 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

That what I did last time.But we going again in October but this time I'm going to book an excurision. 

We just walked around Penneshaw on one of the times we stopped there, and it was fun with good coffee, the market, etc. But Penneshaw is just a very small part of Kangaroo Island so if you want to see more than that on a cruise stop it's best to do an excursion. 

[Chiliburn]

13 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

That what I did last time.But we going again in October but this time I'm going to book an excurision. 

I was pretty unimpressed with Kangaroo island,maybe I didn’t do the right things.

I got the ship bus into the main town which was like any rural town in Australia.

The town of Kingscote was about a hour by a school bus and the town was in decline. Buildings were boarded up with limited service like hundreds of country towns.

People I talked to went to Pennshaw pub and they loved . 

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I was pretty unimpressed with Kangaroo island,maybe I didn’t do the right things.

I got the ship bus into the main town which was like any rural town in Australia.

The town of Kingscote was about a hour by a school bus and the town was in decline. Buildings were boarded up with limited service like hundreds of country towns.

People I talked to went to Pennshaw pub and they loved . 

Yes, Kingscote isn't a great town for tourist day stops but it's a good base if you're staying on the island for a few days, especially if you're going to do the big drive down to Seal Bay, the Flinders Chase National Park and the Admiral's Arch.

[cruiser3775]

15 hours ago, mum and son said:

Thanks for this thread. I'll be there next week and haven't organised a thing! Great tips.

Would you mind looking to see if you can just book a shore excursion once you are on land?

[Chiliburn]

3 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, Kingscote isn't a great town for tourist day stops but it's a good base if you're staying on the island for a few days, especially if you're going to do the big drive down to Seal Bay, the Flinders Chase National Park and the Admiral's Arch.

I think the best way to see it would be with a caravan for a week but you could see the same thing in hundreds of places across Australia .

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, Chiliburn said:

I think the best way to see it would be with a caravan for a week but you could see the same thing in hundreds of places across Australia .

 

Maybe but we enjoyed our three day stay there in 2021. 

[2022cruisey]

We hired a car and drove to Penneshaw, the lavender farm, Emu Bay and Seal Bay.  Great day but lots of driving.

[cruiser3775]

I'd still like to go on a small group tasting excursion, but not if I have to pay in advance and could lose all my money.  As a fall back position, I'm thinking of hiring a small car. They will apparently deliver to the port. It will cost about the same for one person as the excursion. I'll have to find out what their policy is if I don't make it ashore. If I can find a second person to share the hire cost, I'd be well ahead and could go to wherever I want. Unfortunately, no-one is joining in the CC roll call, so that won't work.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

I'd still like to go on a small group tasting excursion, but not if I have to pay in advance and could lose all my money.  As a fall back position, I'm thinking of hiring a small car. They will apparently deliver to the port. It will cost about the same for one person as the excursion. I'll have to find out what their policy is if I don't make it ashore. If I can find a second person to share the hire cost, I'd be well ahead and could go to wherever I want. Unfortunately, no-one is joining in the CC roll call, so that won't work.

When we did the tasting tour they used two smaller buses, rather than one big one, and staggered some of the various stops so it wasn't too bad. I really liked being able to relax and enjoy the scenery instead of having to drive.

[cruiser3775]

Problem is that the tour currently offered only goes to one winery, plus things I'm not interested in, like the distillery.  There is a private tour that goes to four wineries, but that's the one where they want full payment and no refund for cancellation. The ship's excursion is to different destinations.

[OzKiwiJJ]

27 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Problem is that the tour currently offered only goes to one winery, plus things I'm not interested in, like the distillery.  There is a private tour that goes to four wineries, but that's the one where they want full payment and no refund for cancellation. The ship's excursion is to different destinations.

The distillery was actually quite fascinating. The guy had built all the machinery itself. I really enjoyed the stop there. 

 

Our tour didn't actually stop at a winery, we had a wine tasting at one of the Penneshaw restaurants. 

 

The factory behind the honey shop was also very interesting, showing how they extract the honey. 

[cruiser3775]

Yes, I read the description. It's just not what I want.  Back to the drawing board.