5 hidden treasures at Morialta Conservation Park

Locat­ed 10 kilo­me­tres north-east of Adelaide’s cbd, most locals have been to Mori­al­ta Con­ser­va­tion Park at least once in their lifetime.

Found­ing mem­ber of the Friends of Black Hill and Mori­al­ta vol­un­teers group, Ann Tay­lor, shares five hid­den trea­sures to explore next time you vis­it this icon­ic park.

Down­load this handy map to help you plan your vis­it.

1. Take a walk along the Pylon Track

A great walk for flo­ra lovers, enter the park from the Moores Road entrance (near Hiker’s Hill) and fol­low the road until you reach the Cen­tre Track on your left. Con­tin­ue on, turn­ing left onto the Pylon Track. Being a fire track, you can expect the path to be wider than our walk­ing trails. You’ll spot beau­ti­ful, pris­tine veg­e­ta­tion and wild­flow­ers along the way includ­ing vanil­la lilies, milk­maids, orchids and tea tree flow­ers. The Pylon Track cross­es a steep gul­ly and you can return to Moores Road via the Third Falls Track. Alter­na­tive­ly, you can access the Pylon Track via the Third Falls, which is a steep climb.

2. Have a picnic

Enter the park from the Trail­head car park and fol­low the Mori­al­ta Falls Plateau hike. On the way to Mori­al­ta Falls (First Falls) there’s a table on the right near the creek, it’s a great place to stop for lunch with plen­ty of shade.

3. Relax at Deep View Lookout

This look­out pro­vides a stun­ning view over the entire park – you’ll see water­falls in the dis­tance as well as the Ade­laide city sky­line. There is a catch though, you will need to hike to get there! The good news is there are three options. To access them, you’ll need to cross the bridge on your left from the Mori­al­ta Falls car park and fol­low trail for about 30 metres. At this point the trail goes straight ahead for an eas­i­er walk which offers spec­tac­u­lar views and lots of wild­flow­ers. If you’re up for more of a chal­lenge, take the trail to your right instead. Anoth­er way to get to Deep View Look­out is to hike in an anti-clock­wise direc­tion, start­ing at the Trail­head car park, head­ing right and merg­ing onto the sec­ond and third falls hike trail. You’ll pass over the top of either First or Sec­ond Falls before reach­ing Deep view lookout.

4. Go wildlife spotting

Look up in the trees to see if you can spot a koala or kook­abur­ra and keep an eye out for kan­ga­roos along the side of the road too. When you pass the creeks, look for yab­bies and lis­ten out for frogs.

5. Explore Giants Cave

Enter the park from the Trail­head car park and fol­low the Mori­al­ta Falls Plateau Hike. On your right, keep an eye out for a set of steep steps with a handrail lead­ing up to this mag­nif­i­cent cave perched in the cliffs. This is a great place to cool off and sit a while, tak­ing in the great view of the veg­e­ta­tion and dra­mat­ic cliffs opposite.

Sto­ry orig­i­nal­ly post­ed in Novem­ber 2015.