30 park adventures

30 must do adven­tures in South Australia’s nation­al parks

1. Dive with great white sharks

An expe­ri­ence like no oth­er. Get up close and per­son­al with an apex preda­tor – the great white shark – from the safe­ty of a pro­tec­tive cage in the Nep­tune Islands Con­ser­va­tion Park. Watch them tran­quil­ly glide past in what is a pre­mier eth­i­cal wildlife experience.

2. Spend a night on the edge of the world

Perched high on the cliffs on the east­ern­most point of Kan­ga­roo Island, Cape Willough­by Light­house stands guard watch­ing over Back­stairs Pas­sage and the vast South­ern Ocean. For a tru­ly unique expe­ri­ence, stay in one of the cot­tages that were once home to the light­house keep­ers that oper­at­ed SA’s old­est light­house. The ren­o­vat­ed cot­tages offer very com­fort­able accom­mo­da­tion, sleep­ing up to nine peo­ple. You’ll also get to enjoy the stun­ning views of Back­stairs Pas­sage and the South­ern Ocean and in win­ter you might be lucky to see south­ern right whales as they pass by.

3. Get close up with a koala

See why this reg­u­lar­ly tops the must do expe­ri­ences for our inter­na­tion­al vis­i­tors. Cle­land Wildlife Park is one of the few places in Aus­tralia where you can hold a koala. There is also plen­ty of oth­er Aus­tralian wildlife favourites at the park mak­ing it a great day out for the whole family.

4. Drop in on an under­wa­ter disco

Every win­ter in the waters north of Whyal­la in the Upper Spencer Gulf Marine Park, thou­sands of giant Aus­tralian cut­tle­fish gath­er to mate. Watch as male cut­tle­fish put on incred­i­ble colour shows pul­sat­ing through all the colours of the rain­bow at the blink of an eye.

5. Explore Wilpe­na Pound

Wilpe­na Pound in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park is one of South Australia’s icon­ic des­ti­na­tions. This ancient and rugged land­scape can be explored from the ground with numer­ous walk­ing trails, but for a tru­ly breath­tak­ing expe­ri­ence, book a scenic flight and see it from the air.

6. Walk amongst Aus­tralian sea lions

Step onto the beach at Seal Bay which is home to Australia’s third largest colony of Aus­tralian sea lions. An expe­ri­enced guide will teach you all about these ani­mals dur­ing a 45 minute tour. This is a tru­ly excep­tion­al wildlife expe­ri­ence not to be missed if you are vis­it­ing Kan­ga­roo Island.

7. Have a whale of a time

Every year from mid-May to late-Octo­ber, south­ern right whales migrate to the Aus­tralian coast to mate and give birth. The rugged and spec­tac­u­lar Bun­da Cliffs in Nullar­bor Nation­al Park offer per­fect van­tage points to see these gen­tle giants and at the height of the sea­son in July and August over 100 whales can be in the area at the same time.

8. Go under­ground and explore World Her­itage List­ed Caves

Vis­it South Australia’s only World Her­itage site. The Nara­coorte Caves for­mer­ly act­ed as a pit­fall, trap­ping and col­lect­ing ani­mals for at least 500,000 years. The caves pre­serve the most com­plete fos­sil record of this time peri­od includ­ing Australia’s icon­ic megafau­na species.

9. Take a dip in nature’s swim­ming pool

The rugged coast of Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park offers plen­ty of white sandy coves nes­tled amongst the cliffs. Slip into the tran­quil waters of The Blue Pool, a stun­ning nat­ur­al rock pool can be found near Shell Beach. Also check out Dol­phin Beach near­by which is a favourite amongst vis­i­tors. Plan your vis­it in spring or sum­mer to get the most out of your beach experience.

10. Unwind and camp on the riv­er banks of the mighty Murray

Noth­ing com­pares to camp­ing on the banks of the mighty Riv­er Mur­ray. Chow­illa Game Reserve, Loch Luna and Moorook Game Reserves, Mor­gan Con­ser­va­tion Park and Mur­ray Riv­er Nation­al Park all offer oppor­tu­ni­ties for bush camp­ing by the water’s edge with ample oppor­tu­ni­ties for activ­i­ties such as walk­ing, canoe­ing, bird watch­ing and fish­ing. In the cool­er months (out­side of fire dan­ger sea­son), noth­ing beats sit­ting around a camp­fire on a star­ry night toast­ing marsh­mal­lows. Just remem­ber to bring your own fire­wood and book your camp­site in advance.

11. Tack­le the Bor­der Track

Ngarkat Con­ser­va­tion Park boasts more than 270,000ha of veg­e­tat­ed sand dunes and mallee bush­land. The leg­endary Bor­der Track tra­vers­es the South Aus­tralian and Vic­to­ri­an bor­der and offers a true wilder­ness 4WD adven­ture. The chal­leng­ing track cuts its way through dense veg­e­ta­tion and sand dunes. You will need to be well pre­pared and tim­ing is key as a sec­tion of the Bor­der Track is only open from April 1^st to Octo­ber 31^st. 

12. Snorkel through an ​‘under­wa­ter garden’

Explore the spec­tac­u­lar under­wa­ter world of Pic­canin­nie Ponds Con­ser­va­tion Park which is recog­nised as a wet­land of inter­na­tion­al impor­tance. The crys­tal clear water is nat­u­ral­ly fil­tered through the lime­stone pro­vid­ing incred­i­ble clar­i­ty. Snorkel through the under­wa­ter gar­dens of the First Pond before star­ing into the blue abyss of The Chasm, a sink­hole that is over 100 metres deep. Just make sure you bring a full length wet­suit as the water tem­per­a­ture is a con­stant and chilly 15 degrees. You’ll also need to book your snorkel.

13. Go on the ulti­mate out­back adventure

Test your four-wheel dri­ving skills by ​‘Cross­ing the Simp­son’. The Simp­son Desert extends across an area of up to 500 kilo­me­tres and includes Munga-Thirri –Simp­son Desert Nation­al Park and Witji­ra Nation­al Park. The strik­ing red dunes and blue desert skies make this a stun­ning land­scape to explore. The best time to vis­it is from May to August when the tem­per­a­tures are milder.

14. See Lake Eyre in flood

When there’s water in the lake, water­birds descend in their thou­sands to Kati Than­da-Lake Eyre Nation­al Park to feed and breed in this desert oasis. You will how­ev­er need to per­fect­ly time your vis­it as the flood waters only cov­er the lake once every eight years on aver­age and the lake has only filled to capac­i­ty three times in the last 160 years!

15. Walk part (or all if you dare!) of the Hey­sen Trail

The world-renowned Hey­sen Trail stretch­es 1,200 kilo­me­tres from Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Penin­su­la to Parachilna Gorge in the Flinders Ranges. While not every­one has the time to walk the entire trail, why not hit the trail for a few hours or a few days? The Hey­sen Trail pass­es through numer­ous SA nation­al parks and is in easy reach for most South Australians.

16. Encounter a world of unique sculptures

As if the view of the giant gran­ite boul­ders against an ocean back­drop was­n’t artis­tic enough, there are now sculp­tures dot­ted around Gran­ite Island Recre­ation Park for you to enjoy. There are 10 sculp­tures dot­ted around the island, such as the pic­tured ​‘Ocean Lace’ by artist Britt Mikkelsen. As some of the sculp­tures are tem­po­rary and new ones added every six months, this is the sort of exhi­bi­tion that you can vis­it reg­u­lar­ly and keep find­ing some­thing new to enjoy.

17. Immerse your­self in Abo­rig­i­nal culture

Ngaut Ngaut Con­ser­va­tion Park on the Riv­er Mur­ray is cul­tur­al­ly and his­tor­i­cal­ly sig­nif­i­cant to its Tra­di­tion­al Own­ers, the Ngan­gu­raku peo­ple. Dis­cov­er unique insights with a guid­ed tour from the Man­num Abo­rig­i­nal Com­mu­ni­ty Asso­ci­a­tion. Learn about their tra­di­tions and mar­vel at the rock art engraved into the lime­stone walls of the rock shelter.

18. Devour local oys­ters in Cof­fin Bay Nation­al Park

Vis­it a local seafood sup­pli­er and devour mouth-water­ing­ly deli­cious fresh­ly-shucked local oys­ters on the beach in Cof­fin Bay Nation­al Park. The calm, pro­tect­ed and pris­tine waters are not only per­fect for eat­ing oys­ters but also idyl­lic for swim­ming and kayak­ing. This park with its untouched wilder­ness and coast­line is a favourite amongst visitors.

19. Soak in the ancient hot springs

The water in the Dal­housie Main Spring in Witji­ra Nation­al Park is con­stant­ly between 38 — 40 degrees, mak­ing it per­fect for a relax­ing, warm soak. The waters rise from deep below the sur­face through cracks and fis­sures after orig­i­nal­ly enter­ing the Arte­sian Basin sys­tem mil­lions of years ago.

20. See the stars shine bright

Swan Reach Con­ser­va­tion Park forms the core site of Australia’s only Inter­na­tion­al Dark Sky Reserve. Light mea­sure­ments in the park are some of the dark­est in the world mak­ing it one of the best places any­where in the world to see the stars and planets.

21. Kayak through a ships’ graveyard

Pad­dle through the remains of at least 40 aban­doned ves­sels hid­den with­in the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary. The Gar­den Island Ships’ Grave­yard Mar­itime Trail is the largest and most diverse ships’ grave­yard in Aus­tralia and includes a vari­ety of sail­ing, steam and motor ves­sels, barges, pon­toons and dredges. If you’re lucky you might even spot some of the res­i­dent bot­tlenose dolphins.

22. Hang out on the cliffs

Rock climb your way up the cliff face of the Onka­paringa Gorge in Onka­paringa Riv­er Nation­al Park. The 30 metre high cliffs are pop­u­lar with both begin­ner and expe­ri­enced climbers and are locat­ed only a short walk from Pink Gum campground.

23. Swim with the fish­es in a sanc­tu­ary zone

Explore the under­wa­ter world of the Port Noar­lun­ga Reef with­in the Encounter Marine Park. This pro­tect­ed sanc­tu­ary zone is one of the most acces­si­ble places to go snorkelling for begin­ners and fam­i­lies. The reef is home to over 50 species of fish and more than 200 marine plants and ani­mals that call this reef home. Don’t for­get to keep your eyes peeled for the under­wa­ter infor­ma­tion boards that will guide you along the under­wa­ter trail.

24. Go for a wheel­ie good ride

The Craig­burn Farm sec­tion of the Sturt Gorge Recre­ation Park is fast becom­ing a des­ti­na­tion for moun­tain bik­ing. With a net­work of more than 10 trails over a vari­ety of ter­rains and sur­faces, there for every skill level.

25. Tune in to nature at the Organ Pipes

Cre­at­ed through vol­canic erup­tions over 1500 mil­lion years ago. The Organ Pipes in the Gawler Ranges Nation­al Parks are one of the world’s largest out­crops of vol­canic rhy­o­lite. The cool­ing process of the lava and mil­lions of years of ero­sion have left large sym­met­ri­cal columns resem­bling the pipes of an organ. You can find equal­ly stun­ning rocky out­crops at Yandin­ga Falls and Kolay Mir­i­ca Falls in the park.

26. Watch kan­ga­roos graze at sunset

The stun­ning coastal views of the South­ern Ocean and Kan­ga­roo Island at Deep Creek Con­ser­va­tion Park are often accom­pa­nied by the large pop­u­la­tion of kan­ga­roos in the park. The kan­ga­roos are most active in the twi­light hours, so find a place to sit and watch nature at its best! Try Blow Hole Beach or Cob­bler Hill Pic­nic Ground, as they are the best places to spot kan­ga­roos in the park.

27. Get up ear­ly for a desert sunrise

There is noth­ing like a desert sun­rise and our favourite place to see one is in the Kanku-Break­aways Con­ser­va­tion Park The Break­aways are a col­lec­tion of colour­ful hills and mounds that rise from the plains of Great Vic­to­ria Desert, just north of Coober Pedy. They come to life dur­ing sun­ris­es and sun­sets with rich reds, oranges and whites.

28. See a red knot in breed­ing plumage

Vis­it the Ade­laide Inter­na­tion­al Bird Sanc­tu­ary Nation­al Park — Winaity­i­naityi Pangkara which is home to more than 50 species and over 27,000 res­i­dent and migra­to­ry shore­birds, includ­ing red knots that fly from as far as Rus­sia. The plumage of male red knot birds changes from brown­ish-grey to chest­nut-red when breed­ing. The best time to wit­ness them in their breed­ing plumage is in ear­ly autumn, just before they make their epic jour­ney back to the north­ern hemisphere.

29. Dis­cov­er new shades of blue

Mem­o­ry Cove Wilder­ness Pro­tec­tion Area adjoins Lin­coln Nation­al Park on the south­ern Eyre Penin­su­la. This pris­tine wilder­ness area with its dense coastal veg­e­ta­tion, abun­dant wildlife, white sandy beach­es and water of every shade of blue is lim­it­ed to only 15 vehi­cles a day (requires a four-wheel dri­ve vehi­cle) ensur­ing this spe­cial place remains unspoiled.

30. Wan­der through a land­scape shaped by ice and glaciers

Hal­lett Cove Con­ser­va­tion Park is home to one of Australia’s most out­stand­ing and inter­na­tion­al­ly sig­nif­i­cant geo­log­i­cal sites. Fol­low the inter­pre­tive walk­ing trail and explore an ancient land­scape shaped by ice and glac­i­ers. The park is also a sig­nif­i­cant cul­tur­al her­itage site with over 1,700 Abo­rig­i­nal arte­facts have been found.