7 Nature Festival events being held in and around South Australia’s national parks

Each year, Nature Fes­ti­val aims to bring our peo­ple clos­er to nature, and in a time of cli­mate change, bush­fires, and glob­al pan­demics this is more impor­tant than ever.

From 25 Sep­tem­ber to 4 Octo­ber, you’ll be able to immerse your­self in events and expe­ri­ences to cel­e­brate your love of nature – both in nation­al parks and in the broad­er South Aus­tralian environment.

We’ve scoured the pro­gram and found these sev­en events and activ­i­ties held in our parks and places that will bring you up-close and per­son­al with our envi­ron­ment (make sure you check the pro­gram for oth­ers too!):

1. Moun­tain Bik­ing Skills Ses­sions for Kids

Moun­tain bik­ing is a great way to explore our nation­al parks, and these ses­sions, held in Glen­thorne Nation­al Park (O’Hal­lo­ran Hill Sec­tion) in Adelaide’s south, will help to grow your kids’ skills before they head out on the trails.

They’ll cov­er skills such as bal­ance and con­trol, body posi­tion­ing, brak­ing tech­niques and nav­i­ga­tion of small obstacles.

The ses­sions will be host­ed by Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice and led by qual­i­fied instruc­tors from Head for the Hills Off-road Cycling.

Dates

Wednes­day 29 Sep­tem­ber, 9 am to 11 am – begin­ner skills
Wednes­day 29 Sep­tem­ber, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm – inter­me­di­ate skills
Fri­day 1 Octo­ber, 9 am to 11 am – begin­ner skills for girls

Cost

From $20

2. For­est Bathing in Belair Nation­al Park

For­est bathing, or ​‘Shin­rin Yoku’, is a Japan­ese prac­tice that is proven to low­er heart rate and blood pres­sure, reduce stress, boost the immune sys­tem, and improve over­all feel­ings of wellbeing.

In this 2.5 hour ses­sion in the foothills at Belair Nation­al Park, Escape­goat Adven­tures’ res­i­dent nature ther­a­pist will guide you through the ther­a­peu­tic expe­ri­ence, help­ing you to relax and con­nect with the nat­ur­al world via mind­ful­ness, slow walk­ing, ground­ing, and embrac­ing your dif­fer­ent senses.

Date

Sat­ur­day 2 Octo­ber, 1 pm to 3:30 pm

Cost

$79 per person

3. Dis­cov­er­ing Pollen at Ade­laide Botan­ic Gar­den – A Guid­ed Tour

Join Research Botanist Andrew Thorn­hill on a tour of Ade­laide Botan­ic Gar­den and Botan­ic Park in the CBD to explore the pollen of dif­fer­ent flow­er­ing plants.

You’ll learn how the type of pollen influ­ences a plan­t’s pol­li­na­tion suc­cess, find out how it is used by ani­mals and by peo­ple, and have plen­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ties to ask questions.

This guid­ed tour begins at the Friends’ Gate, on Plane Tree Dri­ve, and will go for approx­i­mate­ly 90 minutes.

Date

Fri­day 1 Octo­ber, 11 am to 12:30 pm

Cost

$5 per person

4. Car­ing for Coun­try with Major ​‘Moogy’ Sumner

Join Uncle Moogy in Belair Nation­al Park, 25 min­utes from the city cen­tre, for an after­noon of shar­ing cul­ture and heal­ing the spirit.

The after­noon will begin with a Wel­come to Coun­try and smok­ing cer­e­mo­ny, fol­lowed by an inspir­ing and inter­ac­tive dance per­for­mance by the Tal-Kin-Jeri Dance Group fol­lowed by a vari­ety of work­shops and a lis­ten­ing circle.

Then, set­tle in for a spe­cial screen­ing of ​‘Ring­balin – Break­ing the Drought,’ a pow­er­ful doc­u­men­tary about the heal­ing of the Mur­ray-Dar­ling Basin through ancient cer­e­mo­ny of cul­ture and spirit.

Date

Sun­day 3 Octo­ber, 2 pm to 6 pm

Cost

$15 per person

5. Guid­ed Tour through Rhodo­den­dron Gully

Expe­ri­ence Mount Lofty Botan­ic Garden’s icon­ic Rhodo­den­dron Gul­ly in its mag­nif­i­cent glo­ry on this guid­ed tour, led by the botan­ic garden’s Rhodo­den­dron expert Robert Hatcher.

At this stun­ning Ade­laide Hills gar­den, you’ll learn about the plant’s his­to­ry, botan­i­cal clas­si­fi­ca­tion and the con­ser­va­tion impor­tance of sev­er­al threat­ened species.

The tour begins at the Chris Steele Scott Pavil­ion, Mount Lofty Botan­ic Gar­dens, and will run for approx­i­mate­ly 2 hours.

Date

Tues­day 28 Sep­tem­ber, 10 am to 12 pm

Cost

$5 per person

6. 4 Ways of Explor­ing Nature

Join the team from Mid North Cli­mate Con­nect in Spring Gul­ly Con­ser­va­tion Park in the Barossa Val­ley for a morn­ing of nature immersion.

In this event, you’ll have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to immerse your­self mind­ful­ly in nature by for­est bathing, cre­ate a ​‘draw what you see’ nature jour­nal, dis­cov­er the park through a guid­ed ​‘Walk of Curios­i­ty’, or socialise in sim­ple style with a cup­pa and a chat in nature.

Date

Sat­ur­day 25 Sep­tem­ber, 10 am to 12 pm

Cost

Free

7. Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary Fam­i­ly Tour

Join Adven­ture Kayak­ing South Aus­tralia at the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary in Adelaide’s north-west­ern sub­urbs for a 90-minute fam­i­ly-friend­ly guid­ed kayak tour.

Meet your guide at the Gar­den Island Boat Ramp, where you’ll get set up with a 2- or 3‑person kayak and get a run­down in safe kayaking.

From there, your guide will help you to launch from the boat ramp as you set out on your kayak­ing adventure.

The tour is at an easy pace and you’ll have plen­ty of time for pho­tos as your guide tells you all about the sanc­tu­ary and the dol­phins that call it home.

Dates

There are mul­ti­ple dates and times for this event – check out the web­site for a com­plete list.

Cost

From $35 per person

Want more ideas of fun ways to con­nect with nature in South Aus­tralia? Check out the Good Liv­ing ​‘See and Do’library for sto­ries on every­thing from whale-watch­ing and camp­ing to gar­den­ing and moun­tain biking. 

This sto­ry was orig­i­nal­ly post­ed in Sep­tem­ber 2020 and has been updat­ed with new infor­ma­tion for this year’s events.