10 things to see and do at Morialta Conservation Park

For more than 100 years, Mori­al­ta Con­ser­va­tion Park has been a well-loved recre­ation­al escape, offer­ing plen­ty to see and do for every­one. The park is locat­ed just 10 kilo­me­tres east of Adelaide’s city cen­tre, but its wood­lands, gorges, gul­lies and stun­ning water­falls will make you feel miles away.

The name ​‘Mori­al­ta’ comes from the Kau­r­na phrase ​‘mori­at­ta’, mean­ing ​‘ever-flow­ing’ – which is fit­ting, con­sid­er­ing the park’s three strik­ing water­falls.

Here are 10 fun ways to explore Mori­al­ta Con­ser­va­tion Park!

1. Take in the view from above

Walk the Mori­al­ta Falls Plateau Hike and enjoy the view of First Falls from Eagles Nest Look­out and remem­ber to remain behind the safe­ty bar­ri­ers at all times. Keep an eye out for the Aus­tralian paint­ed lady but­ter­flies as they flut­ter along the path. (Please note access to the Plateau via Giants Cave is cur­rent­ly closed, and access is now via Sec­ond and Third falls hike.)

2. Climb, slide and play the wild way

Explore the Mukan­thi nature play space Designed by Climb­ing Tree and Peter Sem­ple Land­scape Archi­tects. Cre­at­ed out of nat­ur­al mate­ri­als, you can climb the Birds Nest, dis­cov­er an Abo­rig­i­nal fire pit at Frog Island, find the secret tun­nel at Great Snake, and reach the peak at Eagles Perch!

3. Have a bar­beque lunch 

Have a pic­nic on the lawn near Strad­broke Road and make use of the free bar­be­cue facil­i­ties. Keep an ear or an eye out for the wildlife around you, every day there are inter­est­ing fau­na sight­ings report­ed, includ­ing frogs in the creek, koalas and many colour­ful par­rots includ­ing the threat­ened yel­low-tailed black cockatoos. 

4. Try rock climb­ing and abseiling

Awak­en your adven­tur­ous side with a spot of rock climb­ing or abseil­ing. If you have nev­er tried rock climb­ing before, you will need to con­tact a local rock climb­ing com­pa­ny and join a come and try day with qual­i­fied instruc­tors. It’s one of the most pop­u­lar spots in the state for it!

5. Call out from the cliffs

When stand­ing at Eagles Nest Look­out see who can ​‘coo-ee’ the loudest.

6. Take the track less travelled

For a dif­fer­ent adven­ture, give the Pret­ty Cor­ner hike a try. It can be accessed via the First Falls, Plateau or Sec­ond Falls Gorge tracks. Here you’ll spot some great views of Ade­laide and spot one of the two types of grass trees that grow in Morialta. 

7. Enjoy a longer walk

If you love a longer walk, this is the park for you! The three falls with­in the park can all be viewed on the Third Falls Hike. Get pumped for a 7.5 km hike, which will take approx­i­mate­ly four hours!

8. Wildlife spotting

Walk along the First Falls trail to spot koalas — try and count how many you see! It’s also a great spot for bird watch­ing, so look out for vari­eties such as the Superb Fairy-wren, yel­low Gold­en Whistlers or red Mistle­toe­birds. Lis­ten out for frog sounds as you draw clos­er to the creek, and watch out for yab­bies that may be under bridges.

9. Take your fur­ry mate for a walk (lim­it­ed areas!)

Dogs on lead are wel­come in the recre­ation zone of the park (list­ed areas) – that’s the stretch between the Strad­broke Road carpark and First Falls carpark. You can stroll togeth­er through the pic­nic area, play­ground and along the trail next to Mori­al­ta Falls Road, all the way to the Falls Trail­head carpark.

10. See kan­ga­roos at gold­en hour

Take a stroll around dusk or dawn and increase your chances of spot­ting kan­ga­roos hop­ping along, doing their thing!

Come and say hi! 

Vis­it­ing Morialta

Mori­al­ta Con­ser­va­tion Park is a pop­u­lar place to vis­it. Read our safe­ty tips before you go, to make sure your vis­it is an enjoy­able one.

Park of the Month:

Through­out June, Black Hill Con­ser­va­tion Park and Mori­al­ta Con­ser­va­tion Park are being cel­e­brat­ed as the Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vicePark of the Month. There are lots of events and activ­i­ties to get involved in, find out more.