Celebrate Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park this January

If you love explor­ing parks and enjoy hav­ing a lit­tle inspi­ra­tion built in, Jan­u­ary is the per­fect time to explore. With a series of free and sub­sidised activ­i­ties run­ning across the icon­ic Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park, it’s easy to plan your next adventure!

Start your morn­ing with beach­side yoga, guid­ed by the rhythm of the ocean. Or take part in a hands-on work­shop explor­ing tra­di­tion­al Narung­ga fish­ing prac­tices. Or, if you’re more of a night owl, join a ranger-guid­ed night walk and catch a glimpse of the once local­ly extinct tam­mar wal­la­by. With so many expe­ri­ences on offer, there’s some­thing to suit every pace and interest.

Beyond the Park of the Month events, Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park is a place to slow down and explore. It’s ide­al for camp­ing, fish­ing, surf­ing and bush­walk­ing, with sweep­ing coastal views and abun­dant birdlife and wildlife at every turn. Dis­cov­er the park’s mar­itime his­to­ry at one of its light­hous­es or the Ethel ship­wreck, stay in a restored her­itage cot­tage at his­toric Inneston, or sim­ply wan­der from your camp­site to the beach with a fish­ing rod in hand.

Check out the full pro­gram of activ­i­ties on offer below: 

Ranger-guid­ed Reef Ramble

Sat­ur­day 3 and 17 Jan­u­ary (FREE)

Join our rangers to explore the inter­tidal reef of Pon­dalowie Bay and dis­cov­er the amaz­ing marine life of the South­ern Spencer Gulf Marine Park. The event will start with an infor­ma­tive talk fol­lowed by a walk onto the reef as low tide unveils its treasures.

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Yoga on the Beach

Sat­ur­day 10 Jan­u­ary ($20 per person)

Start your morn­ing off by con­nect­ing to nature in a slow and mind­ful way with a guid­ed and begin­ner friend­ly yoga ses­sion. Meet at Dol­phin Bay Beach, locat­ed in the north­ern sec­tion of the park. 

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KUYA Work­shop with Jamie Gold­smith from Taikurtinna

Sun­day 11 Jan­u­ary (FREE)

Join us for an immer­sive cul­tur­al work­shop invit­ing par­tic­i­pants to con­nect with Narung­ga Coun­try through tra­di­tion­al knowl­edge, prac­tice, and sto­ry. Open to peo­ple of all back­grounds, this work­shop offers a mean­ing­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to lis­ten, learn, and strength­en con­nec­tions to place through cul­ture, respect, and shared experience. 

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Ghost rope work­shop with Sonya Rank­ine-Lakun Mara

Sun­day 18 Jan­u­ary (FREE)

Join local First Nations artist Sonya Rank­ine (Lakun Mara) for a unique cul­tur­al and cre­ative expe­ri­ence. Learn how to sculp­ture using recy­cled and repur­posed ghost ropes from the fish­ing indus­try while hear­ing the Wid­had­ha (shark) Narung­ga Dream­ing sto­ry and the learn about the endan­gered Yal­gi (brush-tailed bettong). 

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The Secret Life of Hood­ed Plovers: Free guid­ed beach walk at Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park

Wednes­day 21 Jan­u­ary (FREE)

The Hood­ed Plover is a threat­ened shore­bird that lives on our beach­es. More than a third of South Aus­trali­a’s pop­u­la­tion live on Yorke Penin­su­la. Come along for a walk and dis­cov­er how ​‘Hood­ies’ raise their chicks, the threats they face and the man­age­ment under­tak­en to help them! 

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Wal­la­bies after dark: Ranger-guid­ed night walk

Sun­day 11 and Sat­ur­day 24 Jan­u­ary (FREE)

Come and see the once local­ly extinct tam­mar wal­la­by on a ranger-guid­ed night walk through the his­toric Inneston Town­ship. Learn about how the wal­la­bies became extinct on the main­land of South Aus­tralia and how they were suc­cess­ful­ly re-intro­duced to Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park all the way from New Zealand.  

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EMS snorkelling

Sun­day 25 Jan­u­ary (Prices from $39)

Join EMS and Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice SA Rangers for a guid­ed snorkel at Chi­na­mans Hat Sanc­tu­ary with­in South­ern Spencer Gulf Marine Park. Look for blue dev­il fish, dol­phins, eagle rays, south­ern rock lob­sters, reef fish, and tiny nudi­branchs (colour­ful sea slugs). 

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Park of the Month Competition

1 — 31 Jan­u­ary (FREE)

You could win a Mul­ti­ple Entry Parks Pass just by explor­ing the Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park sculp­tures this Jan­u­ary! Cre­at­ed by Narung­ga artists Jay Mil­era and Keven New­church. Each piece shares a dif­fer­ent sto­ry from Narung­ga cul­ture, the Tra­di­tion­al Own­ers of this area, and is inspired by the park’s land­scape and cul­tur­al history.

Learn more

Want to learn more about Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park?

Read our Ranger Tips: Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park blog here. 

Read our guide on How to spend a day in SA’s Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park here. 

Stay in the know: To be the first to find out about upcom­ing Park of the Month events, sign up to the Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice fort­night­ly newsletter.