Le Géographe Estate, an investment and development opportunity in Australia - Kangaroo Island - American River

This is a rare opportunity for investors and developers, including non-Australians. The present owners are busy commuting between Switzerland and Kangaroo Island, they have more than enough on their hands and are thus happy to sell part of their property for a price that is appealing to an investor.

IN THE COUNTRY, BY THE SEA

Kangaroo Island : more than 4'300 km2, one km2 per inhabitant (for comparison, the mainland, despite the deserts, provides less than 0.5 km2 per inhabitant).

This is a place for those who love space and nature, the sea and open skies. What statistics cannot express is the amazing diversity of landscapes and biotopes that the island offers, away from crowds but all easily accessible.

When English and French scientists explored the Island in 1802-1803, it was no more inhabited by Aborigenes, for some reason unknown. Despite clearing for farming in the 1950s, the island is still the best place in Australia for watching pinnipeds (seals and sealions), marsupials (kangaroos, wallabies, possums, koalas), as well as the echidna) and the platypus, two extraordinary egg-laying mammals.

At 155 km in length and 50 km at its widest, Kangaroo Island is diversified and large enough to keep tourists busy, small enough to be explored in a casual manner.

Nestled on a hillside in native bushland, facing sea and lagoon, there's a little Australian town, called American River. While exploring the area in January 1803, French explorer Nicolas Baudin, whose scientific crew on Le Géographe had been the first to circumnavigate Kangaroo Island, originally named the place Port des Pélicans ("Pelican Harbour").

This peaceful village faces the south-east and offers stunning views on the white sand beaches of the large bay ('Eastern Cove') separating the main, western part of the Island, from the smaller, eastern part. The mainland ('the other island') can also be seen from here. A narrow tidal channel, known locally as 'The River', connects to the Eastern Cove the beautiful reserve of Pelican Lagoon (thus named in 1802 by English explorer Matthew Flinders, who was the first European to describe the island, calling it "Kanguroo Island" - no typo, the 'u' in 'kanguroo' became an 'a' later in the 19th century). This channel forms the island's most protected harbour and is teeming with fish and birds. The whole place is a paradise for lovers of landscapes and nature, who look for quietness, gentle nature and mild climate.

The town provides facilities and services such as: Post Office, bus shuttle, general store with fuel, small hardware and grocery, restaurants, a community centre, tennis courts, boat launching facilities, a fire-station (the Country Fire Service), a medical clinic and the SA Ambulance service. The village and its surroundings are protected from heavy traffic, there are many walking trails, and of course quiet sea-shores with their teeming birdlife, including graceful black swans and majestic black-and-white pelicans.

A true advantage of residing in American River, which is on the isthmus at the narrowest part of the island, is that one can decide to go to either the beaches on the north coast of the island or those on the south coast, depending on the wind direction, all within a ten minutes drive. In summer, the gentle south-easterly breeze makes the place quite pleasant, and in winter it is protected from the north-westerlies (reminder: of course, in the southern hemisphere, summer is from mid-end December to mid-end March, winter from mid-end June to mid-end September).

For those living in the northern hemisphere, it is a clever strategy to have a holiday cottage available down-under, for a sunny and oceanic break when it's dark and cold up-yonder. From an investment point of view, it's also a clever long-term strategy to buy in an area which has steadily increased in value since 2001, and is inevitably destined to continue to increase, the real estate prices still being very good value on this most beautiful part of the island.

Commuting to Kangaroo Island is easy with multiple daily departures from Adelaide (airplane, a 30 minutes flight) and the Fleurieu Peninsula (ferry, a 45 minutes crossing). The driving distances from American River to the local airport and to the ferry terminal are both around half an hour.