Wildflowers bloom on Yorke Peninsula

Right now is the per­fect time to head to Yorke Penin­su­la with the arrival of spring in Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park, bring­ing with it a spec­tac­u­lar dis­play of wildflowers.

Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park Ranger Mark Davi­son said a wet­ter-than-aver­age win­ter had pro­vid­ed ide­al con­di­tions for an extra­or­di­nary dis­play of native flow­ers on-park.

“From the moment you enter Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park, to right across the park, you can spot the most mag­nif­i­cent dis­play of wild­flow­ers,” Mark said.

“Native lilacs, also known as hard­en­ber­gia vio­la­cia, with their beau­ti­ful, vivid pur­ple flow­ers are in full bloom.

“Tem­ple­to­nias, also called cocky’s tongue or flame bush, with their large, strik­ing red flow­ers, can also be eas­i­ly spotted.

“Oth­er wild­flow­ers also on dis­play include old man’s beard, coastal vel­vet bush, coastal beard­ed heath, wat­tle, com­mon fringe myr­tle, pea flow­ers, run­ning post­man, strong­ly-scent­ed leu­co­pogons, rice flow­ers and melaleuca.

“Beau­ti­ful native orchids can also be spot­ted here and there on some of the walk­ing trails through­out the park.

“Alto­geth­er the park has 333 species of native plants, with 115 of those plant species of con­ser­va­tion sig­nif­i­cance, many of which are not found any­where else on Yorke Peninsula.”

Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park is locat­ed on the south-west­ern tip of the Yorke Penin­su­la, and is about 300 kilo­me­tres by road from Ade­laide via Port Wake­field, Ardrossan, Min­la­ton and Warooka.

With Sep­tem­ber being Bio­di­ver­si­ty Month, the park and it’s wild­flower dis­play has even more mean­ing by allow­ing vis­i­tors to see and con­nect with the vast amount of flo­ra and fau­na South Aus­tralia has to offer.

In oth­er times of the year vis­i­tors can enjoy camp­ing, fish­ing and surf­ing. Bush­walk­ing is also a great way to dis­cov­er the park, with trails rang­ing from 30-minute strolls to four-hour treks.

The park also has a rich and tumul­tuous mar­itime his­to­ry, with light­hous­es and the Ethel ship­wreck pop­u­lar places for vis­i­tors to explore.

The his­toric, aban­doned town­ship of Inneston with its restored her­itage cot­tages is an accom­mo­da­tion option, and there are also sev­er­al camp­sites with­in the park.

The Narung­ga peo­ple are the tra­di­tion­al cus­to­di­ans and co-man­agers of the Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da — Innes Nation­al Park. Their cul­tur­al con­nec­tion with the land stretch­es back many thou­sands of years. Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da means ​‘South­ern Narung­ga Region – Yorke Peninsula’.

Are you a nature lover? Why not check-out our guide to Moth­er Nature’s best this spring or our blog on why but­ter­flies are ben­e­fi­cial to the envi­ron­ment.

This sto­ry was orig­i­nal­ly post­ed in Sep­tem­ber 2021