Kangaroo Island Outdoor Action: Ron gets the heart rate jumping in the Kangaroo Island region of South Australia

Any business must keep pace with the times and so it is with KI Outdoor Action. It's nearly ten years ago since we first caught up with an adventure company that makes the most of Vivonne Bay's many attractions like the picturesque Harriet River.

Back then Lisa was into horsepower of the traditional kind, as she took "Clyde" for a canter on this spectacular stretch of the south coast of Kangaroo Island 90 minute's drive from the ferry terminal at Pennehsaw.

Now under the management of new owner, Brenton Davis, Kangaroo Island Outdoor Action is into horsepower of the more hi-octane kind - quad bikes. It all starts with the basics and soon you're off on a quad bike with plenty of off-road grunt. The practice track is pretty much like the terrain you'll be travelling through when you start the tour of Brenton's 250-acre property.

And soon enough you're in amongst it travelling through yakka and coastal teatree. And for the most part you're oblivious to the great sweep of KI's coastline, which hugs Brenton's property. But every so often you emerge from the canopy of dense mallee to take in the views.

Previously old Clyde and his equine mates had the run of these old boundary tracks and those old horse riding trails have formed the basis of an extensive quad bike circuit offering the KI visitor plenty to take in.

Brenton Davis, Kangaroo Island Outdoor Action: "On this tour we'll go on about 10 kilometres of trail. But we've got more if we need to."

Soon we break out into open country. The quad bike tour takes you onto the sort of farming property that you many of us only glimpse from the bitumen on our travels around the island. And the story of this property is typical of so many - with mounds of limestone offering ample evidence of land clearance on a monumental scale.

Brenton Davis: "When this area was cleared and the bulldozers were going across it they said they could hear echoes from caves that are underneath this. There's a lot of subterranean caves underneath the land we're hammering through."

Out here you can open her up a bit on land that's never been too productive for farming but is certainly producing a fair crop of tourists who'll long sing the praises of this South coast secret.

By late afternoon… with the rain making things a little slippery - the others take a break under some shelter, while Brenton fires up his favourite, "The Razor" - with me on board. Certainly quick enough for me as we leave this patch of KI to the more laid back locals who always graze on Brenton's property around dusk.

Quad bike tours starts from $79 per person. Brenton also hires out sand-boards and toboggans for nearby Little Sahara - another highlight of the South Coast of Kangaroo Island. But for those with a more leisurely approach to life - the joys of the Harriet River beckon. For all your Kangaroo Island Outdoor Action contact Brenton on 8559 4296.

Kangaroo Island Outdoor Action
Vivonne Bay
Kangaroo Island

Quad bike tours $79 per person
Sandboards and canoe hire
Brenton Davis
Ph 8559 4296