Dec 16, 2024
Unique Island Visit - Stunning scenery on a unique island. The day trip is long but well worth it. Relaxed ferry trip over and back started and finished the day.
Review provided by Viator
Dec 10, 2024
It was great to see the... - It was great to see the whole island and hear the history and stories. Lunch was lovely and loved the wildlife park visit.
Review provided by Viator
Dec 9, 2024
A day to remember ! - This day trip was fantastic.
Got to see so much and our driver gave us so much information.
It was brilliant.
Our lunch was delicious.
A very long day but so worth it ⭐️
Review provided by Viator
Dec 7, 2024
Best 1 day tour ever! - The whole island is just amazing. Best 1 day trip ever! Remarkable Rocks and Admiral's Arch were highlights. Loved the whole trip - everything. Well organised and a great driver/tour guide on the island, also great drivers from and to Adelaide. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nov 29, 2024
Good experience - It was good experiencee. Beautiful island. Meet kangoroo and koala there in the wild. Good tour guide and very helpful.
Review provided by Viator
Nov 27, 2024
All day Kangaroo Island Tour - Although it’s a lot packed in a day it’s the best way to see Kangaroo Island. Bus picks you up, 1.5 hours to the ferry terminal then takes you to kangaroo island where another tour bus is waiting to show you all the sights. Price includes a delicious lunch, ferry tickets and drop off and pick ups from Adelaide. Really worth it. Travelled with my elderly Mum who thoroughly enjoyed it.
Just one pet peeve- please reduce the air conditioning on the bus! Apart from that all tour guides were fantastic!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nov 26, 2024
Kangaroo Island - remarkable day and gets a seal of approval - A long day but very worthwhile. The seals were amazing but Remarkable Rocks and lunch at Vivionne Bay were are real hightlight of the day. The tour guide shared lots of knowlegde about Kangaroo Island and the history of the area. Highly recommend this trip.
Review provided by Viator
Nov 25, 2024
Kangaroo Island - Lovely day but very long although lovely not to have to drive very good well worth money.The driver was very informative and well organised so we had time to stop and enjoy the views and the island
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 10, 2024
Long day but worthwhile. - As with previous comments, have to say it was a very long day. We left the hotel at 06h05 but didn’t catch the ferry until 09h00. The time on the island involved a great deal of driving ( the island is over 100km long!) but the stops were interesting. Lunch was mediocre. Caught the 19h30 ferry back and arrived back to the hotel at 22h00. Worth doing, if only to stroke a kangaroo and koala.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nov 30, 2024
Long Day with many delays and a reduced schedule - Due to weather, our original tour was cancelled the day of – that’s fine, these things happen and we were aware of the possibility. However, there were no texts/calls/emails – we were informed by the driver on pick up. This is similar to other reviewers. This is the equivalent of a carrier pigeon – it’s 2024, certainly this could have been handled better.
We had one more day in Adelaide and decided to try again. The next day, we were picked up on time at our hotel. After a few more hotel and bus station pickups we were off on a scenic drive to Cape Jervis. Shortly before arriving, the driver told us the ferry was running late – it turns out that one of the ferries was out of service due to a mechanical issue. We arrived at the ferry terminal at 8:30am for a scheduled ferry at 9am – the next ferry did not arrive until after 10am. There were no display boards in the terminal with arrival/departure status – and the staff there had no idea either. It was like being in a bus station in 1992. Overcrowded and zero information. It ended up being a 2+ hour wait before even boarding the ferry. The unloading and loading was not fast, and this ferry did not leave until nearly 11am, which means we arrived on Kangaroo after 12pm – cutting more than 2 hours off the day. After arriving at Kangaroo Island, all Sealink bus tour passengers had to approach a driver for instructions as to which bus to board – adding more time (surely this could be handled better). Once the very full tour bus finally loaded, we were off.
We were informed due to the late arrival that Sealink would have to adjust the itinerary on the island (again, this was noted in the terms and conditions – fine). What I take issue with is how that schedule was adjusted. We ended up going to Seal Bay conservation park first. There were two options – a guided tour on the beach for those who were physically able, and a self-guided boardwalk tour which was less physical. We opted for the beach tour, which was no problem for us. However, a number of people were not suited to this opted to join (i.e. physically unable due to age, etc. , or those with small children and strollers) which just slowed down the entire stop.
Then it was off to lunch, which was nice but again quite slow due to a number of people who did not inform the tour (despite many, many, many opportunities to do so) regarding dietary restrictions – again this slowed things down.
Due to time, the stop at Kangaroo Island Wildlife park was removed from the schedule. We then travelled to Flinders Chase National Park to see the Admirals Arch and Remarkable rocks. Admirals Arch was loaded with seals again. So despite visiting Kangaroo Island, the only Kangaroos we were able to see were either off in the distance while driving 100km/h on the bus or dead along the side of the road. My preference would have been to scrap the Seal Bay visit in favour of the wildlife park – and at least would been more varied. Sealink certainly would have factored the price of the wildlife park admission into the tour ticket – this represents value not given to the tour purchaser. I say this because at the Seal Bay stop, they had to count the number of passengers to charge accordingly. It’s Kangaroo Island, not Seal Island, this was a poor choice in itinerary change, especially given there are ample opportunities to see seals at the other stops.
Shout out to the driver, Dave, who did an amazing job on a tight schedule. He kept us well informed about the island all through the day. He was a highlight of the tour for sure.
We arrived back to Penneshaw for the 7:30pm return ferry at 7pm. It was also delayed as the ferry that runs at 7:30pm was the one that was out of service (same as the 9am one). Again, stuck waiting for 2.5 hours in the ferry terminal with zero information and not nearly enough seats. Shout out to the lady running the snack bar, she worked her butt off serving a huge crowd for hours and did a great job despite being new.
Once the ferry finally arrived and was ready to leave again it was 10pm – so we didn’t get back to Cape Jervis until 11pm – this meant a 1am drop off at the hotel. It ended up being a 19 hour day, with only 5 hours of that being active on KI. Given that Sealink controls all aspects of this tour, I would have expected better adjusted logistics. Booking with a full service tour was part of the calculus – we could have rented car, taken the ferry, etc. – this was supposed to make my day easier – it was absolutely not. They could have done a later pick up (the ferry mechanical issues were known the day before according to their website) and avoided the long wait in the morning at Cape Jervis. They could adjusted the day better on KI or provided a better dinner option given they knew the ferry would be late to return. Given the high cost of this tour ($373 AUD per person) – I’m not sure this was worth it. Bad weather happens, mechanical issues happen and we understand that – however, the logistics of the adjustments could have been handled much better. Investing in some technology for display screens, text messaging, or even ferry status on the website would be useful. I’m sure this type of thing has happened before, this can’t have been a one off event – there should be a better playbook to handle these types of situations. They also could have informed us ahead of the day that there were be significant delays and a reduced schedule on KI and allowed for cancellations, or frankly they should have just cancelled the tour again. We absolutely regret going and it was a brutally long day for our last day in Adelaide. If I had to do it over again, I would have flown to KI, rented a car myself and stayed overnight.
Full disclosure to others looking to book this tour – you’re likely stuck with many of the same people that board the bus with you at 6am –on the ferry to/from and on the bus tour for the entire day. If some of them are completely intolerable (like some were on our tour), it makes for an extremely long day.
Review provided by Tripadvisor