Your guide to what’s new and coming soon in South Australia’s national parks

Over the past 12 months, vis­i­tor facil­i­ties and expe­ri­ences have been upgrad­ed in a num­ber of nation­al parks across South Aus­tralia. And there’s more to come.

Here’s your guide to what’s new and com­ing soon.

Ade­laide Hills – pic­nic at Mark Oliphant Con­ser­va­tion Park

Have you ever vis­it­ed Mark Oliphant Con­ser­va­tion Park? The park was named in hon­our of for­mer state Gov­er­nor Sir Mark Oliphan­t’s con­tri­bu­tion to con­ser­va­tion and we think it’s one of the hid­den gems locat­ed in the Ade­laide Hills.

The park is tucked away just 5 km from the town­ship of Stir­ling. You can’t miss the park entrance any­more, with recent upgrades includ­ing new entry sig­nage and an upgrad­ed entrance off Scott Creek Road to help vis­i­tors access this spe­cial patch of nature.

A big­ger and bet­ter car park has been cre­at­ed and the near­by pic­nic shel­ter has been refur­bished, with new tables installed so you can kick back and enjoy a leisure­ly pic­nic in nature. 

When you arrive, there’s a short acces­si­ble path that takes you from the car park to the pic­nic area – make sure you take note of the trail­head and wayfind­ing sig­nage to help you dis­cov­er the unique for­est expe­ri­ence this park has to offer.

Fleurieu Penin­su­la – walk the Wild South Coast Way on the Hey­sen Trail

Not far from Ade­laide, on the Fleurieu Penin­su­la, there’s been a huge range of vis­i­tor improve­ments in one of the state’s most pop­u­lar parks – Deep Creek Nation­al Park.

It’s all part of the Wild South Coast Way on the Hey­sen Trail – South Australia’s newest mul­ti-day walk­ing expe­ri­ence.

The upgrades include the cre­ation of the new Goon­dooloo Ridge precinct – a new pic­nic area that fea­tures a 4.2 km Class 2 loop trail that takes you to a new look­out that has spec­tac­u­lar views over Back­stairs Pas­sage to Kan­ga­roo Island.

From the pic­nic area, the trail is suit­able for wheel­chairs and prams, and is a fan­tas­tic immer­sive expe­ri­ence that you can do as an add-on to the main Hey­sen Trail hike. It leads through an open euca­lypt wood­land and a mag­nif­i­cent yak­ka for­est before it reach­es the look­out, so have your cam­era ready.

Four pur­pose-built camp­grounds have also been cre­at­ed along the Wild South Coast Way, giv­ing vis­i­tors who set out on the long dis­tance, mul­ti-day walk­ing expe­ri­ence a great place to rest and refresh overnight.

They’re only acces­si­ble by foot only mean­ing you’re guar­an­teed a seclud­ed stay in some rarely seen land­scapes along the south­ern coastline.

Eyre Penin­su­la – the best of the west has been upgraded

The Gold­en Island Day Vis­i­tor Area in Cof­fin Bay Nation­al Park and the Fish­er­man Point Camp­ground in the pop­u­lar Lin­coln Nation­al Park have both seen vis­i­tor facil­i­ty upgrades.

These upgrades have includ­ed recon­fig­ur­ing and increas­ing camp­ground capac­i­ty, expand­ing car parks, installing new sig­nage, replac­ing toi­let blocks, installing pic­nic shel­ters, improv­ing vehi­cle access, improv­ing pedes­tri­an beach access, and upgrad­ing sig­nage, land­scap­ing and fenc­ing.

If you’re mak­ing the trek to the west coast, be sure to vis­it either of these parks and make the most of the new facilities. 

North­ern Flinders Ranges – cul­tur­al attrac­tions in Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park

Have you ever heard of Akur­ra Adnya? Or per­haps you might know it as Arka­roo Rock? It’s a cul­tur­al rock art site of the Adnya­math­anha peo­ple that can be vis­it­ed in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park, about 5 hours from Adelaide.

Under the direc­tion of Adnya­math­anha rep­re­sen­ta­tives, the park’s entry area has been upgrad­ed for those wish­ing to con­gre­gate and appre­ci­ate this spe­cial area. 

When arriv­ing, you’ll notice a refur­bished car park with good traf­fic flow and brand new toi­let facil­i­ties. And to help you enjoy the sur­round­ing views, there’s new pic­nic facil­i­ties that make the most of all the avail­able shade.

Learn about the cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance of the area from the new­ly devel­oped inter­pre­ta­tion locat­ed at the begin­ning of the 3 km trail before embark­ing to see Adnya­math­anha ochre and char­coal rock art.

If time per­mits, be sure to tour the near­by Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail. Ele­ments of this pop­u­lar 20 km self-dri­ve expe­ri­ence are being enhanced, which will see improved vis­i­tor ameni­ties like seat­ing and trail upgrades, and inter­pre­ta­tion sig­nage at both entry points and at nodes along the trail. 

There’s also a new acces­si­ble trail access and a view­ing plat­form to see the Gold­en Spike mark­er in the adjoin­ing creek bed. Until now, it has been one of those sought-after attrac­tions that wasn’t eas­i­ly acces­si­ble to the gen­er­al public. 

Now, peo­ple with all acces­si­bil­i­ty needs can now see evi­dence of the end of the Elati­na glacia­tion and Cryo­gen­ian Peri­od and the start of the Edi­acaran Period. 

The impor­tance of the trail also sup­ports Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Service’s bid for a World Her­itage List­ing for the Flinders Ranges in the com­ing years.

South­ern Flinders – moun­tain bike at Mount Remark­able Nation­al Park

For adren­a­lin seek­ers, there’s 20 km of new moun­tain bike trails that have been cre­at­ed at Mount Remark­able Nation­al Park.

Con­struct­ed at Wil­lowie in the South­ern Flinders Ranges, about 300 km north of Ade­laide, the works also include a range of vis­i­tor facil­i­ties – a pic­nic area, acces­si­ble toi­lets, a refur­bished carpark and essen­tial facil­i­ties for moun­tain bik­ers such as tyre pumps.

These new trails are for those who have already expe­ri­enced the pop­u­lar moun­tain bike trail net­work in near­by Melrose.

Lime­stone Coast – new pro­jec­tion at Nara­coorte Caves

If you’ve nev­er been before, be sure to vis­it Nara­coorte Caves Nation­al Park in the state’s south east. It’s cur­rent­ly our state’s only World Her­itage List­ed site and you can now see the caves in a whole new light as part of the Vic­to­ria Fos­sil Cave Megafau­na Experience.

The expe­ri­ence fea­tures a new state-of-the-art audio-visu­al light show, where images of extinct ani­mals that once inhab­it­ed the Lime­stone Coast region more than 60,000 years ago are pro­ject­ed on the cave wall.

Yorke Penin­su­la – ins­ta-wor­thy views at Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park

For that insta­wor­thy pic, be sure to vis­it the impres­sive new Gulawul­gawi Ngun­da Nhagu – Cape Spencer Look­out.

Locat­ed in Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park, just a 20-minute dri­ve in from the park entry, the spec­tac­u­lar look­out gives vis­i­tors a 360-degree views of the expan­sive coastal land­scape cap­tur­ing the Inves­ti­ga­tor Strait and the Althor­pe Island group. On a clear day, you’ll even see Kan­ga­roo Island in the distance.

From the car park area, the cir­cu­lar look­out can be reached via a short trail. The trail is anoth­er new pram-friend­ly and wheel­chair-acces­si­ble path­way in SA’s nation­al parks.

Com­ing soon

Kan­ga­roo Island – reimag­in­ing our icon­ic island

Since the bush­fires in the sum­mer of 2019 – 2020, Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice has been work­ing with com­mu­ni­ty to cre­ate new vis­i­tor expe­ri­ences in nation­al parks. Much of the land­scape has regen­er­at­ed, return­ing the island to its renowned beau­ty.

Last Decem­ber, new vis­i­tor facil­i­ties opened at the icon­ic Remark­able Rocks in Flinders Chase Nation­al Park and new camp­sites are being cre­at­ed along the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail, which had been destroyed by fire.

Con­cept images were unveiled of a new $14.6 mil­lion Flinders Chase Vis­i­tor Cen­tre, with con­struc­tion start­ing soon.

The vis­i­tor cen­tre will be most­ly con­crete-free, and pri­mar­i­ly framed from sus­tain­ably sourced bush­fire-resis­tant Aus­tralian tim­bers and will utilise mate­r­i­al on, and adja­cent to, the site for rammed earth walls.

Learn more about all the pro­posed upgrades that are planned for Kan­ga­roo Island and put this vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence on the top of your buck­et list when it’s all ready. 

Met­ro­pol­i­tan Ade­laide – nature play fun for the south

SA’s newest met­ro­pol­i­tan nation­al park is start­ing to take shape with plen­ty of com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers get­ting their hands dirty dur­ing plant­i­ng days to reveg­e­tate the land­scape at Glen­thorne Nation­al Park — Itya­mai­it­pin­na Yarta in the south­ern sub­urbs of Ade­laide.

In part­ner­ship with the City of Mar­i­on and with input from local schools, a new Nature Play is under­way for peo­ple of all ages and abil­i­ties to enjoy.

The park will also have new pic­nic and bar­beque facil­i­ties, shared trails for walk­ing and cycling, new look­outs and inter­ac­tive cul­tur­al and her­itage experiences.

Ear­marked for com­ple­tion lat­er this year, you can stay up-to-date with the progress of the park’s trans­for­ma­tion by sub­scrib­ing to the eNews via the Glen­thorne Nation­al Park web­site.

Flinders Ranges – new fos­sil expe­ri­ence at Nilpe­na Edi­acara Nation­al Park

Nilpe­na Edi­acara Nation­al Park is a new nation­al park that was recent­ly cre­at­ed in the Flinders Ranges. It is not open for vis­i­tors yet and the park will be an escort­ed expe­ri­ence when it opens in 2023.

On the tra­di­tion­al lands of the Adnya­math­anha peo­ple, Nilpe­na Edi­acara Nation­al Park is where impor­tant cer­e­monies and camp­ing occurred along­side the local springs, and ochre was trad­ed between the Flinders Ranges and the Lake Eyre region.

It’s also where you’ll be able to see fos­sil evi­dence of the ear­li­est life on earth. Nilpe­na holds the world’s best exam­ple of the Edi­acaran explo­sion of life from about 560 – 542 mil­lion years ago.

For the pro­tec­tion of the fos­sils, access into the park will be by guid­ed tour only.

At the site of the for­mer Nilpe­na pas­toral sta­tion, works have includ­ed refur­bish­ing the old Black­smith’s Shop into an excit­ing and immer­sive fos­sil expe­ri­ence. Inside you’ll see Alice’s Restau­rant Bed – Nilpena’s most superbly pre­served fos­sil bed that dis­plays earth­’s ear­li­est form of com­plex mul­ti­cel­lu­lar ani­mal life.

This is one expe­ri­ence not to be missed and rea­son enough to plan a vis­it to the Flinders Ranges next year. 

Want to know more about what’s on offer in South Australia’s nation­al parks? Vis­it the NPWS web­site or have a scroll through our See and Do library.