How South Australia’s Kangaroo Island bounced back from the devastating fires of 2020

The baby critter has been following us for a while, peeping at us from under the elevated boardwalk that we are on. One of us spotted its glistening black nose from under the planks, whiskers twitching from the moment we stepped on the boardwalk.

Finally, the baby sea lion decides to say hi. It wobbles on the sand on its flippers to emerge from under the planks, flips to its side and shows us a rotund belly covered with a short dun-coloured down. 

Surely this is an invitation to play? Will it be ok for us to indulge this friendly pup, we ask our guide. Sadly, the answer is no. We are not to approach any of the animals we see as inviting as their antics may seem. 

About 100m from us on the 2km stretch of sandy coastline, a large sea lion (the males can weigh up to 400kg) barks at a smaller male, which backs down, while the rest of the pinnipeds — at least 30 draped on sand, or rocks further inland, slumber on.  

As we stroll along the beach, we keep a safe and respectful distance from the Seal Bay Conservation Park residents on Kangaroo Island. It is home to the third-largest Australian sea lion colony in the world. 

Kangaroo Island, 110km southwest of Adelaide and 13km from the nearest coastland, is a refuge for nature and wildlife. More than a third of the island is conservation areas and national parks.

Known as the Galápagos of Australia, it is also home to fur seals, fairy penguins (the world’s smallest penguins), prehistoric echidnas and the Kangaroo Island dunnarts (a mouse-sized marsupial found only on the island), 50,000 koalas (which are not endemic to the island), and less than 5,000 humans. 

It is a privilege for us to be here. While the sea lions were relatively unscathed during the devastating fires of 2019 to 2020 that engulfed vast stretches of land in five Australian states (including South Australia), the other wildlife residents were not so lucky. 

Razed to the ground 

During what is now known as the Black Summer, the bushfires that spread through half of Kangaroo Island, 110km southwest of Adelaide, South Australia’s capital, did not discriminate. Bush or farmland, stock or endemic — everything burned.

Forty per cent of the island’s namesake marsupial, an estimated 40,000 koalas and many more perished. An estimated 60,000 lives (including two humans) were lost. 

Southern Ocean Lodge, a Luxury Lodges of Australia member, which had opened in 2008 to be considered the island’s first truly luxury hotel, was also destroyed. Guests were swiftly evacuated while six staff hid in an underground bunker.

When the embers died, nothing remained except for Sunshine, a kangaroo sculpted out of salvaged steel, his living counterpart, Sol, who was raised by the property when he was an orphaned joey, and a suspended fireplace. 

Bouncing back better, stronger

The reminder of this bonfire stretches on for over a hundred hectares, greeting guests as they drive up to the property as we did last May. Charred eucalyptus trees with twisted branches that look like they are clawing the air in agony — a bleak reminder of the devastation caused by the fire — surround the property like a moat. 

As soon as the ash had cooled, the original owners hunkered down to rebuild the property, enlisting Max Pritchard, the same architect who had built the lodge. By December 2023, Southern Ocean Lodge (SOL) had been resurrected, or rather, recreated to the tune of AUD$55 million ($46.3 million). 

A peerless panorama of the tempestuous teal-coloured Southern Ocean (which the property got its name from) is still afforded by the wraparound floor-to-ceiling windows in the Great Room (the hotel lobby). Still, this view is also now available from each of the 25 suites because Pritchard had them rebuilt at a tilt. 

The delectable meals cooked with local produce and the help-yourself cellar, well-stocked with South Aussie wines, remain. But there is also now a spa with a gym, sauna, and, in keeping with current times, cold and hot plunge pools.

There is also a new Baillie Pavillion, a four-bedroom lodge on a private hilltop.

Harnessing cutting-edge technology, SOL now uses 25 per cent less energy and half the diesel fuel. Rainwater is harvested, while landscaping is designed to ensure minimum physical footprint (and therefore disturbance to plant life). A 60cm-wide concrete barrier has been erected around the hotel.

Another 20m buffer is made by planting 45,000 fire-retardant succulents such as juniper. Previously, the natural vegetation around the hotel was eucalyptus and melaleuca, which are oily and flammable. 

While the sea of scorched trees remains, signs of regeneration are evident. Upon closer look, we see green shoots crawling up blackened branches and a verdant carpet sprouting under them. 

Green shoots of life

Paradoxical as it may seem, bushfires regenerate the Australian bush. With the fires, a massive seed drop resulted in a denser bush, benefitting the entire food chain, explains our guide from Southern Ocean Lodge. 

Bunker Hill Lookout shows a sea of yaccas (grass trees) characterised by their striking flower spikes. Endemic to Kangaroo Island, the yaccas were the first to regenerate and thrive, making them a valuable food source for insects and birds.  

At Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, we spot sleepy koalas hugging trees, a happy sight compared to photographs of lost koalas with burnt paws or koalas burnt to a crisp that we remember seeing during the Black Summer. Wildlife is everywhere we look. 

At dawn, we see kangaroos peering at us through the windows of our suites. We hear from the guide that even the elusive Kangaroo Island dunnart, an endemic rodent-like marsupial listed as critically endangered, is scurrying back in more significant numbers than before. 

On our last day, we visit Remarkable Rocks in Flinders Chase National Park. As I walk through the orange granite boulders perched on a headland, I am fascinated by the might of Mother Nature. 

For over 500 million years, these boulders have been whittled by wind into different hulking and twisted shapes and sculptures. Some hollowed boulders resemble elephants, while others remind me of a falcon’s beak or a lion’s head. 

As surely as these formations will remain for another millennium, the Australian bush will always bounce back, even if it may go through cycles of devastation and resurgence, as long as its inhabitants — wildlife and people — have the will and tenacity to survive and bounce back.