Visitor information
The Gateway Visitor Information Centre is located in Penneshaw. The centre can provide maps, brochures, tour times, costs and can help to make bookings.
Towns
There are four significant settlements on Kangaroo Island:
Kingscote is biggest town on the island, around 60km or just under an hours drive from Penneshaw. It has a small shopping strip downtown, which in addition to a supermarket has a choice of cafes, a bookshop, choice of restaurants, pubs, and a couple of other stores to browse. You can get fuel here. There is a harbour, and and some history to be discovered particularly at Reeves Point a few hundred metres north of the main town. The sole airport on the island is also at Kingscote.
Penneshaw is at the east of the island. This is the place where the ferries arrive. Again, there is a supermarket, pub with food and a view, a pizza place, and a couple of other food choices. It has a more attractive cliff-side setting than Kingscote. Fuel is available and banking can be done at the Post Office.
Parndana in the centre of the island and serving the farming community. There is a small supermarket here too as well as a hotel and fuel outlet.
American River (http://www.americanriver....). is a small community between Kingscote and Penneshaw. There is a general store which sells most everyday items including fuel not LPG and liquor as well as a Post Office and some restaurants.
Some of the accommodation is on the bays on the south coast of the island.
Geography
The island is 160km wide east to west and around 50km from top to bottom at its widest. The north of the island has more protected seas, with the south generally having larger waves, higher cliffs and stronger currents. There are still some white sandy beaches and inlets on the south, though, such as Pennington Bay, d'Estrees Bay, Bales Bay and Hanson Bay.
The main settlements are within an hour of each other on the east, with more remote areas in the west.
The cliffs and bays can be spectacular, and there are interesting geological formations along the south, the most popular to visit being Admirals Arch and the Remarkable Rocks.
Flora and fauna
KI has abundant wildlife and large sections of untouched forest. Many species for which Australia is famous for can be found here like kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, and penguins. There are plenty of opportunities to see these animals close up in their natural habitat.