Penneshaw is a small town on the north-eastern tip of the Dudley Peninsula, the main port of the Kangaroo Island Ferry. It is here that ferries from mainland Cape Jervis arrive.
In the 1990s, Penneshaw built South Australia's only water treatment plant to meet the town's fresh water needs. The town is also home to the so-called "French Rock": in 1803, an expedition of French explorer Nicolas Baudin anchored in Hog Bay. One of his crew members decided to immortalise the event by carving an inscription on a huge boulder. The memorial boulder was later relocated and is now housed in the local Gateway Information Centre. Other attractions in Penneshaw include Christmas Cave, St Columba's Anglican Church and the United Church, built around 1861, the first church on Kangaroo Island. You can learn about the history of the town at the Maritime and Folk Museum.
Also in Penneshaw you can learn about the life of lesser penguins, the only species of penguin that breeds in Australian waters. They are most often seen on the shore in the evenings, returning from the sea after sunset and strolling back to their nests. These penguin walks can be seen throughout the year, but the best time to see them is from March to November.
The Penguin Centre offers an overnight beach tour that begins with a story about these amazing birds. Tourists then take a boardwalk to a viewing platform above the cliffs where the penguins' nests are located. Depending on the time of year, you can watch the males trying to attract the attention of females during the mating season, or see the newly hatched babies, which, poking out of the nest, desperately screaming in anticipation of the return of their parents with the prey.
The management of the centre asks not to photograph the birds with flash, as the penguins are very sensitive to bright light. The centre is open for visits every day from 18.30 to 21.
