When I took the featured image it was 4. 03 pm, and we had walked the greater portion of the steep track down from Cobbler Hill to Blowhole Beach.
You can see Blowhole Beach on the right hand side.
Kangaroo Island’s northern edge provided most of the photo’s horizon.
You cannot see a blowhole, because Blowhole Beach has none.
However, over umpteen thousands of years, countless humans have stood on or above this beach and witnessed the “blow” emitted by whales, breathing.
Cobbler Hill stands 273 metres – nearly 900 feet – above sea level.
This location – and the views from it – present radically different “faces”, depending on the time and type of the relevant day/season/year.
I took the above photo on one of 2019’s longest days.
The previous day – 20 December 2019 – lightning strikes had ignited a number of fires on the north and northeastern coasts of Kangaroo Island; the resulting smoke-haze is the reason the northern rim of K.I. is absent from the photo.
Such fires are not out of the ordinary.
We had no idea at the time that we were witnessing the “overture” to what would develop into by far the most extensive and catastrophic fires ever recorded on Kangaroo Island.
Although we had stood atop Cobbler Hill quite a few times, and had sometimes walked circa “halfway down”, our first return walk, “all the way”, was on 20 June 2023.
Twenty minutes into it, we were making good progress and enjoying the local vegetation.
Some parts of Deep Creek Conservation Park are old-growth, quasi-“wilderness” forest or bushland.
Others, including most of the walk down to Blowhole Beach, are formerly-private property that was cleared and grazed – country now in a state of ongoing “recovery”.
Opinions vary enormously as to how “very difficult” or how “very easy” is this walk.
If the day is hot, you should take lots of water; the return journey is hard work.
If the ground is wet, take great care, and be sure to wear proper walking shoes.
In non-slippery conditions, most able-bodied humans of less than 80 years would likely find the walk eminently doable.
Owners/ hirers of 4WDs (with not-low clearance) won’t find it any great challenge to reach Blowhole Beach; they can drive on a dedicated track which is moderately rough, sometimes very steep, but non-treacherous.
Walkers can choose to use the 4WD track; if the sun is within 50 minutes of setting, it would be wise to use it for your walk back up Cobbler Hill.
The next photo was taken ten minutes after the two above.
By 4.10 pm we had almost reached the shoreline.
For a couple of minutes we had been enjoying the sudden transformation from “bleak, midwinter day” to “still decidedly brisk, but now bathed in gorgeous late afternoon light”.
The winter sunshine persisted through the day’s remaining daylight hour…as you will see in this post’s sequel.