Admiral’s Arch, The Seals: In the Kangaroo Island region of South Australia
Cape de Couedic is one of the destinations on Kangaroo Island’s long list of tourist attractions. The first class road roams through the Flinders Chase mallee wilderness and delivers visitors to a spectacular cluster of visual hits, with tall cliffs cut by crashing southern swells, a heritage lighthouse overlooking the Casuarina Islets offshore and the truly Remarkable Rocks granite formation on the next headland. The map also reads “Admiral’s Arch”, and as they stroll down the boardwalk to admire the natural creation, many of them are surprised by the time-consuming bonus below. Sleeping, cavorting, swimming and generally delighting all who come upon them, a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals steal the show.
Soon after Napoleonic explorer Captain Nicholas Baudin named the promontory after French naval hero, le Chevalier de Couedic, hundreds of sealers lived unofficially round the coast in the early 1900’s and sent tens of thousands of seal skins to America and Europe. The colony here is still rebuilding, back from the brink, and Latrobe University researchers are working with National Parks staff to find more about them. Using the latest satellite tracking, depth measuring devices and microchips, they are coming up with some astounding results.
A female seal was recently traced in a dive down to 315 metres, but they were soon to be more astonished, as ranger Dan Grieve explained.
“Three weeks later, that was topped by a male fur seal going down to 550 metres! That’s unheard of.”
The seals who base themselves on the rock shelves that slip into the ocean here are more active than the Australian sea lions at Seal Bay further along the southern coast because of a key difference.
“These stay dry at sea because their coats are thicker. And they can get some sleep too, as they form big rafts, with alert “guards” round the edge.”
How far do they travel? The research is showing the usual pattern is up to 400 kilometres out into the Southern Ocean, but one male left Kangaroo Island last year and made his way almost a thousand kilometres all the way to Matsyker Island off the southern coast of Tasmania.
“He spent two days there,” Dan marvelled. “He couldn’t have liked what he saw there at the start of the breeding season, because he did a U turn and swam straight back to the Cape Gantheaume colony to make a very timely arrival.”
The young bulls test their strength, chesting each other on the ancient bedrock beneath Admiral’s Arch. It is composed of cemented sand and shell grit from sandy stretches to the south when sea levels were much lower. Once a solid limestone headland, it has been hollowed out, by the relentless pounding of breakers. Only the tougher top remains for us to walk over on our way down the boardwalk that now descends to give a classic “photo opportunity” as the sun sets through the arch.
Until recent years, Admiral’s Arch itself was the main attraction, because the seals kept their distance, even though their colony extends for kilometres in both directions. Scrambling, rock hopping visitors and shy seals don’t mix, but the boardwalks changed all that.
“It’s a balance,” noted our ranger guide. “By taking a step back, we’ve seen the seals come right up onto the rocks where we can appreciate them.”
It works so well, that the seals now put on a constant natural show that entrances busloads of internationals and South Australian holiday makers alike. Leave plenty of time when you drop in yourself, as the explanatory signs make your romance with these attractive creatures all the more enjoyable.
Flinders Chase National Park
Flinders Chase Visitor Information Centre has all the information on park permit fees, campsites,
Cape de Couedic lighthouse cottage accommodation etc.
Phone (08) 8559 7235
