On our second day, we were collected from the YHA early in the morning by a minivan for our tour of the island. Already on board were two or three other couples, and we set off to fill up with backpackers staying at farmstays or other smaller motels nearby before moving on to Seal Bay, our first destination. Kangaroo Island was certainly turning out to be larger than I had imagined. When people talk to me about visiting a small island to see the wildlife, my head is usually filled with visions of a tiny picturesque place with a couple of cliffs and a path which allows me to make my way comfortably from one end to the other on foot in about ten minutes. This soon turned out to be nowhere near the truth where Kangaroo Island was concerned - not only did we drive past a fully functioning airport (albeit a small local one) on the way to Seal Bay, but it took us over an hour on mainly paved roads to get there. But what was waiting for us at the other end made the long drive more than worth it.

The Seal Bay Conservation Park was far more than I think either Eloise or I could've hoped for. Parking the van in the car park next to the visitors centre, we went in briefly while our guide paid our entrance fee before being led across a sand dune and down to a wide stretch of beach by the ocean on which I would not be exaggerating to say that it was hard to find a patch of sand not occupied by a group of Sea Lions. I could hear the sound of jaws dropping all around. Australian Sea Lions are now protected by law, having been almost hunted to extinction during the nineteenth century for their blubber, and the beach at Seal Bay seems to have become their main breeding colony. Out at sea, these magnificent creatures play and feed among the waves for several days at a time, so it perhaps isn't surprising to find so many of them lounging apparently lazily all over the beach, huddled together, occasionally making the effort to lift their heads to look at a passing tourist. A park ranger led us along the beach, weaving in and out of the Sea Lions, pointing out the oldest members of the group and inviting us to get within a couple of metres of them. The Sea Lions themselves didn't seem to be remotely bothered by our presence, although we were told to be careful as we wouldn't want to be in their way if one of the larger members of the colony suddenly made up its mind to charge into the sea.

The Sea Lion pups seemed to be particularly interested in us - while the parents just lazed around, occasionally lifting a flipper to scratch an itch, and the very young pups hid behind their mothers, the older pups would come lolloping up to have a good look before skipping happily up and down the beach. Looking at the difference in energy levels between the parents and pups, it seemed obvious that they use it all up at an early age! Cute just isn't a sufficient adjective to describe the sight of so many blubbery baby-faced creatures flopped all over the beach - the barks of the Sea Lions was constantly punctuated by members of the party crying out "awww" and pointing to another dopey looking pup peering out cautiously from behind its mother.

Leaving the beach at Seal Bay, a few minutes on the road took us to a place known locally as "Little Sahara". This is another example of Australia taking you totally by surprise - just when you think you've got used to the fact that you're in a country filled with bizarre looking creatures, flat deserts as far as the eye can see, hot rain, reefs, towns of two people, unlikely rock formations and aboriginal legends about the rainbow serpent and the dreamtime, you turn a corner and find yourself in the middle of the Sahara. It's like you've stepped through the wardrobe into Narnia - you want to go back around the corner and check that you haven't been teleported onto a different continent entirely. Our minivan drew up in a small dusty car park outside, as it turned out, a very well placed cafeteria, and we all piled out to stock up on water. The guide then led us between two patches of overgrown vegetation to an area which really did look exactly like every depiction of the Sahara desert I've ever seen on television. Sand dunes stretched off in all directions, and the sand was so fine that bending down to scoop up a handful resulted in it just trickling through my fingers before I could close my fist. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be in the area if there had been even the slightest wind - I wouldn't think it would take much to create a sandstorm at Little Sahara.

Eloise set off for the top of the highest peak, water bottle in hand. Myself, I was feeling quite hot and bothered and elected to stay at the bottom with the camera and take artistic photographs of her making her way up the sand, a neat row of footprints showing where she had been. Unfortunately, the sand was covered in such footprints which sort of ruined the illusion of being stuck in the desert miles from anywhere - but lets face it, this was the closest that either of us was ever likely to get to a sand dune in the real Sahara. In hindsight, I wish I'd walked to the top as well rather than chickening out, especially as I'm told that the view from the top really is just like the view you would expect to get from the top of a real Saharan dune - more dunes stretching out in front of you in all directions. Eloise chose to rub it in even more, turning to look down at me from the top and jumping up and down with her arms in the air as though she was Sir Edmund Hillary or Sherpa Tenzing arriving at the summit of Everest, but I suppose I had that coming. Ironically, I'm updating this entry on the 29th of May which is the anniversary of the date Hillary conquered Everest, so it seems that someone up there feels the need to carry on rubbing in the fact that everybody else has climbed things except me! Still, at least I've got an excuse to return to Kangaroo Island at a later date - as if I didn't have several already.

After leaving Little Sahara, we drove into the Flinders Chase National Park, stopping at the entrance while our guide parted with more money. Australia is good at declaring large areas of outstanding natural beauty to be national parks in order to be able to wave its fist at anyone who looks likely to want to spoil their country, but this high regard for nature does come at a price. Visitors from other parts of the world may find it hard to believe that they are expected to pay just to go for a walk along a cliff top or look at an unusual rock, but this seems to be the norm in Oz. Flinders Chase National Park, however, does at least have a lot to offer for your money. It's also a good indication of just how large Kangaroo Island actually is - taking up only one corner of the island, the park still manages to cover an area of some 328 square kilometres. This is not the sort of park where you can just drive into a parking space and get out for a light stroll around it in half an hour.

Our first stop beyond the toll gate was at Admirals Arch, a spectacular natural rock bridge carved out by the sea and home to a remarkable number of New Zealand Fur Seals who use it as a combination shelter and playground and obviously can't be bothered to work out which country they're supposed to live in. Admirals Arch, which was actually once a deep cave until one end of it collapsed, is reached via a long boardwalk which winds its way from the car park, along the edge of the cliff to the top of a steep flight of wooden steps which lead down to a viewing platform within the arch itself. On the rocks below, we could see seals lazing around on the slippery rocks, occasionally slipping involuntarily backwards into the water when a wave hit unexpectedly. Rock pools were dotted around the cave, full of more seals splashing around happily or rolling around in the water, and out at sea we could make out the forms of even more sitting around on rocks. Admirals Arch was an amazing place to visit both for the wildlife and to see nature at work, and I think it was quite hard to get some of us back up the long steep steps to the van when it was time to leave. Personally, I could've stayed all day - but we were promised that Remarkable Rocks, our main destination for the day, was somewhere we would want o have lots of time to explore.

On the way to Remarkable Rocks, we stopped off at a farm for lunch. Walking among the trees to the canvas covered picnic area, we were surprised to find the branches full of Koalas in various stages of slumber. Lets face it, Koalas aren't exactly the liveliest of animals at the best of times, spending just about all day fast asleep due to the lack of energy giving nutrients in their diet - but none of the animals at the farm seemed to think it was even worth opening an eye to look in our direction, despite the fact that some of the group somehow thought it appropriate to shout at them in an attempt to wake them up. Still, seeing a bunch of Koalas that have wedged themselves at strange angles between the branches of trees, apparently in the brace position in case they should fall out unexpectedly while asleep, is something most visitors use as an excuse to fill a couple of rolls of film - if there's something absolutely guaranteed to make all your relatives go weak at the knees with delight upon your return home, it's showing them photographs of Koalas in the wild. In a similar vain, camera shutters could be heard clicking away when we finally arrived at the picnic spot and found that it was already occupied by a goanna who spent the entire meal weaving his way around our feet looking for scraps.

And so, we finally came to Remarkable Rocks at the very end of Kangaroo Island. Now, anybody who hasn't already done an extensive tour of Australia may well respond to the idea of visiting this famous tourist destination with a certain amount of indifference - as, in fact, Eloise had done when I first suggested we should visit Uluru. After all, you might say, isn't one rock very much like another? What's the point of going so far just to see a collection of rocks? Well, if Uluru wins the prize for unbelievably enormous great chunk of rock stuck in the middle of nowhere, then Remarkable Rocks comes a well deserved first in the "How the crap did that happen?" category. I challenge anyone to stand at a reasonable distance from the rocks so that you can take it all in, and not find yourself wondering how on earth nature has managed to carve out such an obvious piece of modern art. If the Remarkable Rocks were exhibited in the Tate Modern art gallery in London, they would be worth a fortune - and they'd certainly be much more interesting to look at than an upside down urinal or half a cow, that's for sure!

It really is hard to know where to start describing Remarkable Rocks, and very tempting to simply fall back on the old cop out of "just look at the photographs". The rocks are positioned on top of a dome of granite which, in itself, is over seventy metres high - it's quite difficult to imagine how nothing but a combination of tidal forces and the weather battering the south western corner of Kangaroo Island could have carved out such a perfectly geometrical shape, and this is just the base for the main exhibit. Looking at the natural sculpture as a whole, it seems as though nothing but man could've designed such a thing - the collection of oddly carved rocks placed precariously in the very centre of the dome makes the place seem like a giant work of art which has been dropped carefully into place, complete with decorative base, by some giant hand reaching down from the sky.

Many of the bizarrely shaped rocks have been hollowed out to form areas which Eloise was able to squeeze into, poking her head out through a hole while I took a photograph. The scenery surrounding the area isn't any less spectacular, either, especially to one side where a gigantic wave-shaped granite cliff towers above the dense vegetation. Adding to the mystery, a mist had started to descend as we arrived, and although it had gone by the time we left there was a moment when parts of the sea and surrounding scenery were shrouded in a light mist which only gave the whole place an added dimension. Even the walk to the rocks was a wonderful experience. As seems to be the norm on Kangaroo Island, a sturdy wooden boardwalk has been laid across the otherwise rough rocks and bush from the car park, but in this case this allowed us to catch a glimpse of the odd rock wallaby peering out from underneath or bouncing across our path. We hadn't actually seen a lot of Kangaroos on the island, which you may find strange considering it's name - the island is actually home to the Kangaroo Island Kangaroo, which doesn't exist elsewhere. Alas, there didn't seem to be many wishing to show themselves to us on this trip.

About Simon and Burfords Travels:

Simon Burford is a UK based travel writer. He will be re-publishing his travel blogs, chapters from his books and other miscellaneous rantings on these pages over the coming weeks and months, and the entry on this page may not necessarily reflect todays date.