Park of the Month: Murraylands Parks

You’re invit­ed to join us in cel­e­brat­ing Park of the Month in the fol­low­ing Mur­ray­lands Parks:

• Brook­field Con­ser­va­tion Park
• Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park
• Ngarkat Con­ser­va­tion Park

Join us each month as we show­case our amaz­ing nation­al parks with our Park of the Month program.

Park of the Month is a great way to gain a deep­er under­stand­ing of our spe­cial nat­ur­al places and to find new ways to enjoy them.

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What’s on

Ranger-guid­ed 4WD Tag-Along tour 

Ngarkat Con­ser­va­tion Park

When: Sun­day 14 August, 9:00am – 4.00pm

Join Rangers for a 4WD Tag-Along tour through the south west of Ngarkat Con­ser­va­tion Park, expe­ri­ence the range of activ­i­ties avail­able in the park and learn some more about the behind the scenes activ­i­ties that take place. 

Rangers will allow time to Hike two walk­ing trails, Mount Res­cue and Gosse Hill, along the way.

Where:Ngarkat Con­ser­va­tion Park, Snoswells Road Entrance, South West Cor­ner of the Park

Cost: FREE, Vehi­cle Entry Fee required for entry into Ngarkat Con­ser­va­tion Park

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Nature Jour­nal­ing at Kinchina

Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park

When: Sun­day 14 August, 10:00am – 12.00pm

Come along to a nature jour­nal­ing work­shop at Kinchi­na. You’ll receive a kit to get you start­ed, includ­ing infor­ma­tion on fur­ther ideas. Our friend­ly facil­i­ta­tor will guide you through some easy draw­ing and writ­ing exer­cis­es to help you cre­ate a jour­nal of your own. You’ll get plen­ty of tips for future nature jour­nal­ing and nature vis­its. Jour­nal­ing is a great way to enjoy the park, help­ing you view it with fresh eyes. This work­shop aims to inspire you to jour­nal any­where and any­time you are out in nature, appre­ci­at­ing it even more. 

Where: Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park, Mau­rice Road Entrance, Monarto

Cost: FREE

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Wom­bats and Star Gaz­ing — After Dark Campout 

Brook­field Con­ser­va­tion Park

When: Sat­ur­day 20 August, 4:00 – 8:00pm, overnight camp­ing available

Brook­field Con­ser­va­tion Park was pur­chased in 1971 by the Chica­go Zoo­log­i­cal Soci­ety for the con­ser­va­tion of the South­ern Hairy-nosed wom­bat. . The region is also home to the Riv­er Mur­ray Inter­na­tion­al Dark Sky Reserve, Australia’s only Inter­na­tion­al Dark Sky Reserve and one of only 16 reserves world­wide. The reserve is home to excep­tion­al dark­ness mak­ing it one of the best places on Earth to stargaze. 

Join a guid­ed evening wom­bat walk to learn about the lives of the South­ern Hairy-nosed wom­bat and delve into deep space with a guid­ed star gaz­ing ses­sion through a telescope.

Where:Brook­field Con­ser­va­tion Park — Old home­stead and shear­ing shed area

Cost: FREE

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Intro­duc­tion to bird watching 

Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park

When: Sat­ur­day 27 August, 8:30 – 11:00am

Join expert nat­u­ral­ist Phil Bar­ron and our Vol­un­teer Rangers to explore the morn­ing birdlife of Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park. 

Learn about the wide vari­ety of bird species that depend on the park which pre­serves the largest sec­tion of native veg­e­ta­tion in the Monar­to area. This expe­ri­ence will pro­vide you deep­er under­stand­ing of our pre­cious bush birds and you’ll learn some handy bird­watch­ing skills that you can take away for your next vis­it to a nation­al park. Some of the species you might see dia­mond fire­tail (finch), rufous whistler, shy heath­wren, Bab­blers, dusky woodswal­lows, hood­ed and red-capped robins, owlet night­jar and var­i­ous par­rot species.

Where: Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park, Mau­rice Road Entrance, Monarto

Cost: FREE

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Moun­tain Bike — Begin­ner Skills

Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park

When: Sat­ur­day 27 August, 12:00 – 2:00pm and 2:30 – 4.30pm

This clin­ic will teach par­tic­i­pants bike han­dling and con­trol skills in a 90 minute skills clin­ic led by Head for the Hills coach­es. The course will cov­er basic moun­tain bik­ing tech­niques and include a guid­ed ride so par­tic­i­pants can put their new skills to use! 

We will cov­er top­ics such as:

• bal­ance & con­trol skills
• body posi­tion
• brak­ing techniques
• nav­i­gat­ing small obstacles

Where: Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park, Mau­rice Road Entrance, Monarto

Cost: $20 ($20 for bike hire)

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Wel­come to Coun­try and Ranger Guid­ed Hike

Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park

When: Sat­ur­day 27 August, 2:00 – 4:00pm

Share in Abo­rig­i­nal cul­ture with Ngar­rind­jeri woman Rita Lind­say and her dance group ​‘Rrit­jarukar — Willy Wag­tails’ as they Wel­come you to Ngar­rind­jeri Coun­try. You’ll also get the oppor­tu­ni­ty to join them as they teach you some of their songs and dances.

This will be fol­lowed by a Ranger Guid­ed Hike in Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park.

Where: Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park, Mau­rice Road Entrance, Monarto

Cost: FREE

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Fam­i­ly Nature Walk with Nature Play SA

Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park

When: Sun­day 28 August, 10:30 – 11:30am

Join Nature Play SA for a nature walk through Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park to cel­e­brate Park of the Month. The walk will be inter­ac­tive, fun, and full of fas­ci­nat­ing sto­ries of the plants and ani­mals that call the park home.

Where: Kinchi­na Con­ser­va­tion Park, Mau­rice Road Entrance, Monarto

Cost: FREE

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Ranger Guid­ed Walk – Nanam Well Hike

Ngarkat Con­ser­va­tion Park

When: Sun­day 28 August, 11:00am – 1:00pm

Join our Rangers for a short guid­ed walk through the mallee envi­ron­ment. Along the jour­ney our rangers will share insights on the area’s flo­ra, fau­na and his­to­ry which includes view­ing a restored well, tim­ber lined as it would have been 150 years ago. Recent rains have brought the wild Orchids to life which can be viewed along the way. 

Where: Pine Hut Soak Camp­ground, Ngarkat Con­ser­va­tion Park

Cost: FREE, Vehi­cle Entry Fee required for entry into Ngarkat Con­ser­va­tion Park

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Jug­gle House – Dark Sky Gold Tour 

Ngaut Ngaut

When: August to November

Dis­cov­er an enchant­i­ng jour­ney in the heart of Aus­trali­a’s very first Inter­na­tion­al Dark Sky Reserve. Meet the stars of the region – Astron­o­my guides tour­ing you through the night sky and Abo­rig­i­nal cus­to­di­ans wel­com­ing you to their ancient rock shelter.

Our Sun­set Din­ner Tour intro­duces you to one of the dark­est places on earth with vir­tu­al­ly no light pol­lu­tion. Record­ings of the Reserve mea­sure at 21.9 on a scale of 0 to 22. About 300 stars can typ­i­cal­ly be seen in South­ern Hemi­sphere urban areas, where an esti­mat­ed 5000 can be seen here, includ­ing a bet­ter view of the cen­tre of the galaxy (the Milky Way)!

Your tour mean­ders along the road­side path par­al­lel to the Mur­ray Riv­er. A pop­u­lar nest­ing ground for cock­a­toos and plen­ti­ful wildlife, this farm­ing dis­trict has its own sto­ry to tell. Cross the riv­er on the fer­ry to mar­vel at impres­sive ancient cliffs and the sights from lookouts.

Where:Arnold Park by the Riv­er Fer­ry Cross­ing, 4 Ran­dell Street Mannum

Cost: 15% dis­count when you use pro­mo code ​‘PARKS-SA’ for depar­tures from August to November

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What’s com­ing for Park of the Month

Events and activ­i­ties for each month are not released until close to the month. To keep up-to-date, sub­scribe to our mail­ing list, fol­low us on Face­book or check back here.

• Sep­tem­ber – Parks of Low­er Eyre Peninsula
• Octo­ber – Parks of the Flinders Ranges
• Novem­ber – Adelaide’s sanctuaries
• Decem­ber – Parks of West­ern Kan­ga­roo Island

Host an event

We encour­age com­mu­ni­ty groups, schools, local busi­ness and tour oper­a­tors to host engag­ing, fun and fam­i­ly-friend­ly events in parks as part of Park of the Month. Find out how you can host an event.