13 regional parks with accessible features

There can be lots of things to con­sid­er when plan­ning a get­away in South Aus­tralia, and acces­si­bil­i­ty might be one of them. Plan a smooth trip with this list of region­al parks that have acces­si­ble features.

1. Deep Creek Nation­al Park

Locat­ed with­in 100km of Ade­laide, Deep Creek Nation­al Park is the per­fect des­ti­na­tion for a day trip or week­end getaway. 

The recent­ly devel­oped Goon­dooloo Ridge precinct fea­tures a pic­nic area, acces­si­ble toi­let and a 4.2km loop trail. The walk has a hard packed sur­face (about 1m wide) and slopes gen­tly down towards the Goon­dooloo Look­out, pro­vid­ing spec­tac­u­lar views over Back­stairs Pas­sage to Kan­ga­roo Island. Please note, the walk is a class 2 trail so some peo­ple may require assistance. 

A Trail­Rid­er – all-ter­rain wheel­chair – can also be hired to explore more of the diverse trails avail­able at Deep Creek. Check out this map for sug­gest­ed routes and book­ing infor­ma­tion (be sure to book ear­ly to avoid disappointment)! 

For acces­si­ble camp­sites, look no fur­ther than Stringy­bark camp­ground. The camp­ground also has acces­si­ble toi­lets. Vis­it the Nation­al Parks South Aus­tralia web­site to see pic­tures and descrip­tions of the camp­sites and don’t for­get to book and pay for your camp­site and vehi­cle entry before you go.

If camp­ing isn’t your thing, the South­ern Ocean retreats offer offers wheel­chair friend­ly accom­mo­da­tion at one of their Ridgetop Retreats.

Check out this video and this sto­ry to learn more about acces­si­bil­i­ty in Deep Creek Nation­al Park.

2. Flinders Chase Nation­al Park

Your trip to Kan­ga­roo Island wouldn’t be com­plete with­out a vis­it to Flinders Chase Nation­al Park to see the sur­re­al shapes of the Remark­able Rocks. 

Fol­low­ing the Jan­u­ary 2020 bush­fires, upgrades have seen the inclu­sion of an acces­si­ble board­walk, per­fect for wheel­chair users to enjoy this spec­tac­u­lar geo­log­i­cal fea­ture. New vis­i­tor facil­i­ties also include acces­si­ble car park­ing and toi­let facil­i­ties.

The stun­ning­ly restored Postman’s Cot­tage is the per­fect place to unwind and relax after a day of sight­see­ing. Designed with acces­si­bil­i­ty in mind, the his­tor­i­cal cot­tage has step-free access through­out, spa­cious rooms, acces­si­ble bath­room with roll-in show­er, wall-mount­ed show­er chair and on-site dis­abled parking.

Com­ing soon: work has begun on rebuild­ing the new vis­i­tor cen­tre at Flinders Chase Nation­al Park which was destroyed in the Jan­u­ary 2020 bush­fires. Once com­plete, the cen­tre will offer a com­fort­able mod­ern café, pub­lic toi­lets includ­ing acces­si­ble toi­lets, acces­si­ble car parks and inter­pre­tive dis­plays show­cas­ing the region.

3. Seal Bay Con­ser­va­tion Park

Seal Bay Con­ser­va­tion Park is a must for your next Kan­ga­roo Island adven­ture. There is one acces­si­ble car park and an acces­si­ble toi­let at the vis­i­tor cen­tre. The Board­walk tour is self-guid­ed and ful­ly acces­si­ble to peo­ple with mobil­i­ty impair­ments, includ­ing those in wheel­chairs. The trail to the look­out is also acces­si­ble and offers amaz­ing views of Cape Gantheaume and the wilder­ness area.

4. Gran­ite Island Recre­ation Park

You’ll find acces­si­ble park­ing locat­ed at the end of the Gran­ite Island Cause­way in Vic­tor Har­bor. The cause­way has a pur­pose-built sec­tion for pedes­tri­ans to wan­der across to Gran­ite Island, it is per­fect for wheel­chair users, peo­ple using walk­ers or peo­ple with prams. The pri­vate­ly run horse-drawn tram can accom­mo­date a man­u­al wheel­chair or you can book a taxi ser­vice to cross to Gran­ite Island. There is also an acces­si­ble toi­let on the island. 

5. Mount Remark­able Nation­al Park

Mam­bray Creek camp­ground offers wheel­chair acces­si­ble sites along with toi­let and show­er facil­i­ties. The paths to the toi­let are com­pact grav­el and dolomite. 

The 1.6km Wirra Water Loop has a com­pact­ed grav­el sur­face and is suit­able for prams. It is acces­si­ble to wheel­chair users how­ev­er some peo­ple may require assis­tance. It is a con­sis­tent width and flat, although the grav­el may be loose in parts. The trail fea­tures inter­pre­tive sig­nage that explains the impor­tance of water in the area as you explore rocky riverbeds.

Check out this video to learn more about acces­si­bil­i­ty in Mount Remark­able Nation­al Park. 

6. Nara­coorte Caves Nation­al Park

Vis­i­tors to this World Her­itage Site can view high­lights from a plat­form that is acces­si­ble to wheel­chairs and prams. The 850m-long Rooftop Loop Walk links the Won­am­bi Fos­sil Cen­tre with the Bat Obser­va­tion Cen­tre, Bat Cave and Blanche Cave.

7. Tan­ta­noola Caves Con­ser­va­tion Park

Tan­ta­noola Caves is one of Aus­trali­a’s few wheel­chair acces­si­ble caves. Enjoy a spe­cial host­ed expe­ri­ence as a knowl­edge­able guide intro­duces you to the his­to­ry and geol­o­gy of the caves and explains how its spec­tac­u­lar array of for­ma­tions has devel­oped over thou­sands of years. You can then explore the large cav­ern and take photographs. 

8. Bool Lagoon Game Reserve

The 1km Tea-Tree Board­walk is wheel­chair acces­si­ble and winds through wet­lands, where you can enjoy a vari­ety of birdlife. There aren’t any bath­room facil­i­ties, so be sure to make a pit stop before you get there.

9. Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park

Cap­ture an insta­wor­thy shot at the new Gulawul­gawi Ngun­da Nhagu – Cape Spencer Look­out.
Locat­ed in Dhil­ba Guu­ran­da-Innes Nation­al Park, the spec­tac­u­lar look­out gives vis­i­tors a 360-degree views of the expan­sive coastal land­scape cap­tur­ing the Inves­ti­ga­tor Strait and the Althor­pe Island group. From the car park area, the cir­cu­lar look­out can be reached via a short trail suit­able for wheel­chairs and prams. 

10. Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park

A new acces­si­ble trail and view­ing plat­form has been devel­oped in Eno­ra­ma Creek (800 metres from the Tre­zona camp­site), allow­ing vis­i­tors to see the Gold­en Spike mark­er. 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.

11. Cof­fin Bay Nation­al Park

Locat­ed at the South­ern end of Cof­fin Bay Nation­al Park, Yang­ie Bay offers acces­si­ble facil­i­ties includ­ing a pic­nic area with tables suit­ed to wheelchairs. 

Check out Tem­ple­to­nia Look­out for spec­tac­u­lar views over Yang­ie Bay, acces­si­ble by a short wheel­chair friend­ly board­walk. Please note, there is a steep sec­tion along the board­walk so some assis­tance may be required. 

For camp­ing, look no fur­ther than the Yang­ie Bay camp­ground. Most of the camp­sites are wheel­chair acces­si­ble and locat­ed on flat ground with a com­pact­ed grav­el sur­face. Camp­sites 9, 10, 18 and 19 are clos­est to the toi­lets.

There are two acces­si­ble pit toi­lets, one left hand­ed and one right hand­ed. The paths to the toi­lets are com­pact gravel.

Com­ing Soon

12. Nilpe­na Edi­acara Nation­al Park (open­ing 2023)

One for the buck­et list, the new Nilpe­na Edi­acara Nation­al Park has a rich cul­tur­al her­itage and excep­tion­al sci­en­tif­ic val­ue, where evi­dence of the emer­gence Earth’s ear­li­est com­plex ani­mal life has been discovered.

In the park’s unas­sum­ing hills, an ancient seafloor con­tain­ing strange ear­ly life­forms some half a bil­lion years old have been exquis­ite­ly pre­served in the fine sand­stone grain. When the park opens in 2023, vis­i­tors will be able to take guid­ed tours to the Nilpe­na fos­sil fields to see first­hand where the sig­nif­i­cant dis­cov­ery took place. The tour will include a Class 2, acces­si­ble trail that has been devel­oped amongst the fos­sil fields.

An immer­sive and acces­si­ble Edi­acaran fos­sil expe­ri­ence is also being devel­oped at the for­mer Nilpe­na Pas­toral Station’s black­smith shop, where fos­sils can be viewed up-close with curat­ed light­ing and audio-visu­al technology.

To learn more, check out our sto­ry on why vis­it­ing Nilpe­na Edi­acara Nation­al Park should be on your 2023 buck­et list.

Please note, there will be no overnight facil­i­ties or areas to freely under­take recre­ation due to site being of huge inter­na­tion­al sig­nif­i­cance requir­ing protection.

13. Kel­ly Hill Con­ser­va­tion Park (open­ing 2023)

The Kel­ly Hill caves are cur­rent­ly being revamped to include a Class 2 inter­pre­tive trail. Peo­ple in wheel­chairs will require assis­tance. While the caves them­selves won’t be acces­si­ble, the walk along the trail with fam­i­ly and friends will be worth it once opened.

Want to know which parks are acces­si­ble clos­er to home? Check out our sto­ry on 9 nation­al parks in Ade­laide with acces­si­ble fea­tures.

The team at Nation­al Parks South Aus­tralia is work­ing hard to improve the acces­si­bil­i­ty of parks and they’re keen hear your thoughts. If you rely on acces­si­ble facil­i­ties to vis­it parks, why not drop them a line by using this con­tact form. More infor­ma­tion about acces­si­bil­i­ty in parks is avail­able on the Nation­al Parks South Aus­tralia web­site.

If you’re out and about in one of these parks – help spread the word about these acces­si­ble facil­i­ties and use the hash­tag #Access­NPSA on social media.

Main image: Nilpe­na Edi­acara Nation­al Park (open­ing 2023)