Granite Island is a small island located a few hundred meters from Victor Harbor, in the federal state of South Australia, about eighty miles south of the latter's capital, Adelaide. It takes its name from the huge granite rocks streaked with orange lichens that characterize its extraordinary coastal landscape, along with the low vegetation and vantage points that can be admired along the Kaiki Walking Trail, a 1.5 km trail that runs the entire perimeter of the island.
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| Granite Island Australia |
On the entire island, administered by the National Parks and Wildlife service, no houses are allowed to be built; Only in the northern coastal area there are some buildings (dating from the campaign started in 1994, with a budget of 11 million dollars), such as the Penguin Center buildings, canopies, shelters, souvenir / gift shop, Restaurant, bar and facilities for hikers and hikers.
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| Granite Island Australia |
Its territory constitutes in fact a natural park that has become a very popular tourist attraction (with 700,000 visitors a year it is the most popular natural attraction in the federal state of South Australia), especially for those who wish to observe the colony of about 150 juvenile blue penguins, commonly known as "fairy penguins" or "dwarf penguins" (adult specimens do not exceed 40cm in height), which live and reproduce here.
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| Granite Island Australia |
In addition to the spectacle offered by the behavior of the cubs and the return at night of the adults after a day of hunting at sea, granite also offers the possibility of going fishing from the jetty or jetty and enjoying its natural landscape, much of the land like the sea (including, in the central months of the year, the appearance of whales). Just to preserve the irreplaceable natural heritage, the island can only be reached on foot or by using the special horse-drawn tram that runs the only access road: the path to the raised forest that crosses the short stretch of sea (600 meters) from Encounter Bay, dividing it into two bays of Rosetta Harbor and Victor Harbor.
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| Granite Island Australia |
For the same reason, After sunset, only a limited number of guided tours are allowed on the island. Once connected, of course, to the mainland, Granite Island has withstood the erosive forces of the Indian Ocean and the rains, which have gradually removed the layers of the earth, covering and enveloping exposing and isolating the complex of huge granite rocks that they formed and pushed towards the Earth's surface about 480 million years ago, during the geological era of the Paleozoic Era.