Will it rain? Tumultuous weather is no stranger to islanders, although from early October onwards, once winter storms have fizzled out, temperatures rise for an explosion of wildflowers across the pastures. While the mainland labours through hot summers, island temperatures remain several degrees cooler.

Are the natives friendly? Most of the more than 4,000 inhabitants appear to be. Sealers, whalers, and the odd escaped convict have etched their roguish characters into the island's turbulent past. You can rub shoulders with their descendants in the Kingscote Hotel, in sleepy Kingscote port, at weekends.

What's that smell? Seal Bay is a wide sandy arc of coastline where colonies of New Zealand fur seals and Australian sea lions loll and cuddle, and where, under the guidance of park rangers, you can cop a whiff of possibly the worst tuna-breath in the world. Cape Du Couedic lies further south, marking the island's southeastern most point. A red-tipped lighthouse and cottages, built in 1909 after three shipwrecks claimed 79 lives, rise from the saltbush to remind visitors of the perils of paradise and the hardships of early settlers. Take a pair of binoculars and scan Nautilus Rock, one of the island's five seal-breeding grounds visible from the lighthouse. You might witness, as the odd tourist does, the macabre spectacle of sharks pulling hapless seals to their murky deaths.

Nightlife or wildlife? A schooner of Cooper's Ale and a window stool at the hilltop Penneshaw Hotel, in Penneshaw, is as cosy as it gets. Whales sometimes pass offshore. At night, fairy penguins nod their way to rookeries along the coast, as pub customers nod to classic Rolling Stones tracks. There are plenty of smooth stones at Rocky River park headquarters from which campers can star gaze within Flinders Chase National Park, the largest of the island's 18 wildlife reserves. Wake-up calls are raucous bird noises - courtesy of honey-eaters, cockatoos and Cape Barren geese.