00:00As a travel editor, I visit Australia over and over again because each time is always different and exciting.
00:07For this trip, I'm traveling with an artist for The New Yorker, Gail Kubaker.
00:11We've just experienced a food lover's tour of Tasmania, now on to Kangaroo Island in South Australia.
00:18Australia is full of places with stunning landscapes and conservation efforts.
00:23But today, we're visiting Kangaroo Island.
00:26Kangaroo Island sits off the coast of South Australia.
00:28You get there via a 45-minute ferry ride or a quick flight on Qantas from Adelaide.
00:33We start our journey at Southern Ocean Lodge.
00:36Oh, my God.
00:37This is stunning, isn't it?
00:39A great hotel sets the scene for a great trip.
00:42Cheers.
00:43Cheers.
00:44And Southern Ocean Lodge is not just a beautiful property.
00:47It's a story of the future of sustainable luxury travel.
00:52The colors, I'm actually speechless.
00:55You're speechless.
00:56I'm just taking it all in.
00:58That's a straight shot to Antarctica.
01:01Yeah, we're really at the edge of the world.
01:04The edge of the world.
01:05And this spot, you really feel it.
01:09The simplicity of the design, it's like a blank canvas in a way that just lets the color from the outside be the star.
01:20The sage greens, light blues, beige, that's my favorite palette.
01:26It's classic Gale.
01:29For a true local's guide to the island, I've enlisted Craig Wickham of Exceptional Kangaroo Island Tours.
01:34Where are you taking us today, Craig?
01:36We're going to Stokes Bay and Flinders Chase National Park.
01:39I'm hoping to find kangaroos, koalas, and some beautiful, beautiful landscape.
01:45Kangaroo Island has been isolated for about 20,000 years from the Australian mainland.
01:51And a lot of the animals we get here are different from the adjacent mainland.
01:56Craig, I've heard a little bit about the fires a couple of years ago.
01:59I'm curious, everything looks so lush and green, but how has the environment changed at all since then?
02:05It's coming back unbelievably fast.
02:08I'm just going to stop and turn around.
02:10I just saw a local.
02:11Wait, you just saw a what?
02:13Look up here.
02:15Oh, wow.
02:17We were talking about the fire recovery, so this is sitting in a tree that has burned.
02:21So that's where he's camping during the day, but at night he's going to come down and be feeding on all that new growth that's coming up.
02:27So that's what I was saying about that recovery, it's awesome.
02:29Is that a eucalyptus tree then?
02:31Yes, it is, yep.
02:32This is possibly one of the most magical moments I've ever had.
02:37So it's one of my favorite places, Stokes Bay.
02:40This was declared Australia's best beach.
02:43Oh, my God.
02:45Oh, my God.
02:47See, I said it was a nice beach.
02:49See, there's a little pad.
02:51Oh, my God.
02:52So the wallaby is coming this way.
02:54So bean down maybe around the corner.
02:56Anyone hungry?
02:57Absolutely.
02:58Got a nice little picnic here, come and join me.
03:00Here's cheers.
03:01Welcome to Kangaroo Island, my way.
03:03Thank you so much, Craig.
03:06What's your favorite part about showing everybody, not just Stokes Bay, but all of Kangaroo Island?
03:11What we do is guides, we're storytellers.
03:13So really it's about bringing all those elements of history, culture, people.
03:19People make a place, and you are Kangaroo Island personified to me.
03:24To new friends.
03:27Next up, Remarkable Rocks, a truly sculptural landmark on the island created by 500 million years of rain, wind, and pounding waves from the Southern Ocean.
03:38Gail is going to love this spot.
03:40So welcome to Remarkable Rocks.
03:43Wow.
03:44Obviously didn't spend a lot of time naming them.
03:46They're rocks and they're remarkable.
03:48I love this place.
03:49It's really different depending on who you are.
03:52Artists will see the sculptural forms.
03:55How do you see this?
03:56I am seeing animals.
03:59They look like bison or elephants.
04:03I'm just totally inspired and blown away.
04:08This is just so incredibly unique and out of this world.
04:16Over there, look, over there, look.
04:18Hopping.
04:19This is a really important thing.
04:21As soon as you see them reacting, we stop.
04:23So it's that slow development of trust.
04:25So we end up having that sense of shared space.
04:28We're the visitors here.
04:30I love that we've stopped at the side of the road, Craig, and you've shown us this secret spot.
04:36And we just kind of followed our whimsy.
04:39And I think that's what Australia is all about is those magical moments.
04:44This trip has ignited and inspired me so much as an artist.
04:49Because there's so much to discover about Australia.
04:52The diversity of landscapes and wildlife.
04:54All the wonderful people that we've met on our journeys.
04:57And how do you boil that down into one trip?
05:00And I think the answer is that you keep coming back.
05:03So let's toast an incredibly magical experience of Australia.
05:09Thank you for bringing me here.
05:11Thank you for coming along, Gayle.
05:13I truly can't wait for my next trip to Australia.
05:17Where should I take Gayle to next?
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