“Gin has all these dark implications,” says Grant Collins, owner of Gin Lane, a Sydney bar with over 250 gin types. We've got some hot days coming and summer is not over - so we could potentially see the rest of the island go. The shock will never fully set in', Australia fires: A visual guide to the bushfire crisis. © 2020 BBC. Recommended. Kangaroo Island Spirits announced plans for a new world-class distillery and tasting room. Kangaroo Island Spirits We will offer free freight (within Australia) OR 10% discount on Bottle sales. It's like stepping back in time when you cross to Kangaroo Island. Southern Ocean Lodge was destroyed in the bushfires that spread across the western end of Kangaroo Island in January 2020 and the property is now closed. The fires started on Kangaroo Island on December 20 but they spread rapidly on Fridaywhen the temperature in Parndana topped 39 degrees Celsius and winds reached up to 80 kilometres per hour. “Let’s hope because the Island’s economy certainly needs it,” Lark said. The whole park is running on generators because the fires have destroyed power lines in the area. The animals and the wildlife are what brings people here. Sue and Jon Lark with one of their Kangaroo Island Spirits stills. “Joch is about to go over to pick some samples, and if we get a smoke-taint reading back we won’t even bother netting the vines to keep the crows off,” she said. “It’s going to take years because the trees have to regrow and even then a new tree won’t give you a huge amount of honey. "Sometimes I wake up and I think business is as normal," says Sam. The fire came dangerously close to Kingscote but did not impact the town. The Kangaroo Island fires burnt 211,000 hectares (almost half of the island), mainly at its western end. Kangaroo Island Spirits (KIS) is South Australia's first boutique distillery and was established in 2006. Two men had died in a blaze on 4 January. What is Australia doing to tackle climate change? He estimated about 1,000 of the island's 4,000 hives were damaged in the fire, which burnt most fiercely on Friday. “Other honey farms have lost hives and one beekeeper lost his truck.”. Kangaroo island is Australia’s third largest island. Kangaroo Island, like most of Australia, is regularly impacted by bush fires during summer. Kangaroo Island was one of the places worst hit by last year's wildfires Credit: iStock E xcavating rubble more vigorously than a commercial digger, a … While talking to me, Sam keeps a close eye on his son, who's now back in the park. For Australian gin, it’s the best and the worst. “That will also get us over the line in terms of being able to pay our staff, which is what our goal has been this month. In March, Stagekings was building a custom set piece for the Grand Prix — then large gatherings were banned, and the business had to adapt. The fire came within 4km of Kangaroo Island Spirits (KIS), one of a number of Cygnet River businesses near Kingscote Airport on the Playford Highway. Pre-fire image taken 16th Dec 2019 from Sentinel 2 satellite, 10 metre pixels. Driving through the fire trail in Kangaroo Island, there are rows upon rows of blackened trees, some still burning from inside. Distilleries, Gardens. KIS re-opened its cellar door on January 6, but only today began producing its first gin since December 20. Distilleries, Gardens. It's an ecological disaster so big, the army have been called in. For those who don’t know it, What is Kangaroo Island like? “It was a really terrifying night. “There are lots of people we know who have lost everything so having a downturn in visitors to the island seems pretty minor compared to what other people are going through,” she said. An alcoholic liquor obtained by distilling neutral spirit with juniper berries. We have a good peak at Easter again, and it’s quite possible that we’ll see an even greater surge than we’re used to. “There are staff here whose families have lost everything and our issue has been to try and keep moving forward so we can look after those guys.”. Level 6, 22 William St, Many are too badly injured. “We were in Kingscote that night and people were evacuating their houses and going down to the jetty where the army was because they could see the horizon glowing and they were concerned the town was going to go. Melbourne, 3000 Australia. Now it's feared that half of the island (more than 215,000 hectares) has been scorched. “There’s starting to be a few tourists now, but we’re certainly way down on last year. Ferry companies SeaLink and Kangaroo Island Connect are offering discounted passenger fares from Cape Jervis to Penneshaw to encourage tourists to return. We could go broke pretty quickly.". Some KI businesses are expanding. At least a dozen charred koala and kangaroo carcasses lie on the side of the road. Read about our approach to external linking. Every sector of this island has been hit hard by the fires - including agriculture. But scientists are now worried about many endangered species - including the Kangaroo Island dunnart, a mouse-like marsupial, and the glossy black-cockatoo. The island is also home to a pure strain of Ligurian bees, originally from Italy. Ferry companies SeaLink and Kangaroo Island Connect are offering discounted passenger fares from Cape Jervis to Penneshaw to encourage tourists to return to Australia’s third-largest offshore island. As the flames approached, an evacuation warning was issued. Authorities believe they were overrun by flames as they drove along the highway. There's also concern for the pygmy possums and the southern brown bandicoot on the island. news; south australia; Kangaroo Island bushfire likely to continue for weeks, with flare-ups every afternoon. "They are likely to have perished in the flames and for those who've survived, their habitats are gone," says Prof Dickman. They're likely to be at risk of cat predation.". Kangaroo Island Spirits (KIS) was born in a little shed on our property at Cygnet River on Kangaroo Island, where we now have a small distillery, flourishing gin garden and busy cellar door. At Hanson Bay in the island's west, we watch Australian and New Zealand soldiers fan out across paddocks, collecting the remains of hundreds of koalas, kangaroos, wallabies and birds. Michelle Etheridge Regional Reporter July 17, 2020 - 12:30AM 200ml Gin 3-Packs 1. Just fill out the fields below and we'll send your friend a link to this article along with a message from you. Their cosy, rustic cellar door is the place to visit for a tasting, a gin platter by the fire or to get creative with their weekly gin blending classes. “Fortunately, we had quite a lot of stock but we didn’t plan on being closed this long,” Lark said. Nearly a quarter of the beehives are believed to have been lost in the bushfires. Apiary Alliance SA chairman Danny LeFeuvre said Kangaroo Island was a "bee utopia" because they mostly fed on native flora and were free of most diseases. "It's the third largest island off the coast of Australia, and it was separated from mainland Australia many thousands of years ago," says Prof Dickman. Hemsley-Smith said it was still unclear if their 10 hectares Cygnet River vineyard — planted with Shiraz, Cabernet and Chardonnay — would be affected by smoke taint from the fires that passed within a few kilometres. A section of the outside grounds has been turned into a makeshift clinic. "We're struggling to look for remnants of intact vegetation where some species may still be present," says Caroline, tearfully. Australia fires: Does controlled burning really work? .css-14iz86j-BoldText{font-weight:bold;}Kangaroo Island in South Australia has been likened to a Noah's Ark for its unique ecology. 2 Kangaroo Island Spirits. Which animals fare best and worst in fires? It's a disease which frequently leads to blindness, severe bladder inflammation, infertility and death among the animals. "We decided that if we can't move them we'll see if we can save them. "It's apocalyptic," says Caroline Paterson, a former ranger who was based in Flinders Chase for eight years. About 15km to the south, Clifford’s Honey Farm is also experiencing a quiet start to the year. Australia fires: The thousands of volunteers fighting the flames, Australia fires: The public ire falling on Australia's 'absent' PM, Australia fires: 'I lost my home. The Kangaroo Island fires burnt 211,000ha – almost half of the island – mainly at its western end. "The wind is quite fast, the glowing gets brighter - and then you start to see the flames.". [We want] to get them back to where they want to be - and that's back in the trees.". Somehow, we were spared. Fire, gin and germ warfare on Kangaroo Island As COVID-19 hit South Australia, Kangaroo Island’s KI Spirits became one of many local distilleries unexpectedly pivoting from high … Located off the coast of South Australia state, Kangaroo Island is about 50% larger than Rhode Island and home to 4,500 people and what was a thriving ecotourism industry. The public ire falling on Australia's 'absent' PM. The south-western area is home to the island's national park. Some have helped dig trenches to bury the thousands of sheep and cattle killed. Volunteers race to treat as many animals as possible. Thick smog is seen coming from Kangaroo Island as the Raven Fire continues to burn out-of-control Strong winds are forecast for the area, with fears the Ravine fire … Kangaroo Island Spirits will get be transformed into a “world-class” distillery with a new tasting and education room, under plans for a $3 million development at Cygnet River. In some parts of Vivonne Bay, the fires burned right up to the sea. “At this stage, we’re open and we’re just keeping on and waiting to see what’s going to happen, but the damage so far has been from a falling off of visitor numbers. "You see the glowing in the distance," says Sam Mitchell, remembering the fire that threatened his home, family, and animals last week. Yellow line shows bushfire boundary. The cellar door accounts for about a third of the business, and while numbers have been right down, Lark said there had been a significant response online to an offer of donating $10 a bottle towards local recovery projects such as the Stokes Bay Community Hall, which was destroyed on January 3. Sam runs Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park and lives there with his wife and 19-month-old son, Connor. We had the army helping us. "A lot of the flora and fauna there are distinctive because a lot of the island's habitats remained fairly pristine. 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