Take a walk in Anstey Hill Recreation Park: the Yellow-tail Loop

The Yel­low-tail Loop is one of the more pop­u­lar, yet chal­leng­ing hikes found in Anstey Hill Recre­ation Park.

Locat­ed in Adelaide’s north-east, this spec­tac­u­lar nation­al park is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble by both car and pub­lic trans­port, and offers vis­i­tors an escape into the wilder­ness only a stone’s throw from suburbia.

Start­ing at Anstey Hill’s main carpark (Gate 1), the Yel­low-tail Loop stretch­es for 6.2 km around the heart of the recre­ation park, and takes approx­i­mate­ly 3 hours to complete. 

With hills to climb and plateaus to wan­der, this walk will reward those brave enough to embark upon it with won­der­ful views of the Ade­laide CBD and sur­round­ing sub­urbs, as well scenic van­tage points to take in the beau­ty of the slopes and val­leys of Anstey Hill.

The park is not only home to an array of native plants and flow­ers, includ­ing almost 40 species of native orchid, but pro­vides valu­able habi­tat for some of our most pop­u­lar native ani­mals, includ­ing west­ern-grey kan­ga­roos, koalas and short-beaked echid­nas, all of which can be seen with rel­a­tive fre­quen­cy by park visitors. 

Be sure to keep an eye to the skies, as the remark­able birdlife that calls Anstey Hill home will be sure to daz­zle, in par­tic­u­lar the name­sake for the Yel­low-tail Loop, the stun­ning yel­low-tailed black cockatoo.

Your fur­ry friends are also wel­come to join you on this hike, as Anstey Hill Recre­ation Park is a dog-friend­ly nation­al park. Just make sure to keep your dog on a lead no more than 2 m long and stick to the des­ig­nat­ed walk­ing trails. 

There are no bins in the park, so please take any rub­bish away with you.

Get­ting there

There are sev­er­al entrances for Anstey Hill Recre­ation Park, with the main entrance at Gate 1 being found off North­east Road in Tea Tree Gully.

Before you go, down­load the park mapvia the Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice SA web­site or down­load it on the Aven­za Map App. This app uses your phone’s in-built GPS to place your loca­tion direct­ly onto the map.

Read our sto­ry to learn how it works.

What else can you do at Anstey Hill?

Newman’s Ruins

A vis­it to the ruins of Newman’s Nurs­ery is worth­while on any vis­it to Anstey Hill. Locat­ed at the inter­sec­tion of Water Gul­ly Track and Newman’s Track, the ruins offer a fan­tas­tic insight into ear­ly life and econ­o­my in the area, and are great explor­ing fun for both adults and children. 

There are rem­nant exam­ples of some of the species the nurs­ery grew back in its hey­day dot­ted around, adja­cent to the creek line, so have a wan­der and see how many you can spot!

Top tip: for those want­i­ng to learn more, there are sev­er­al inter­pre­ta­tive signs at the ruins, which pro­vide more infor­ma­tion about the his­to­ry of the site and local area. 

Moun­tain biking

For those who are a lit­tle more thrill-seek­ing, why not take on one of the moun­tain bik­ing trails and explore the park by bike? 

Spe­cial­ly designed shared-use trails allow you to explore the park from a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive, with 2 ded­i­cat­ed moun­tain bike-only trails also locat­ed at Anstey Hill: the Grand Canyon Down­hill and Wild­side Downhill. 

Be sure to check which trails you are plan­ning to ride along, as some do not per­mit moun­tain bik­ers. When util­is­ing shared-use trails please remem­ber to con­sid­er hik­ers and oth­er park users.

Top tip: check out our sto­ry handy tips for moun­tain-bik­ing in nation­al parks to find out a lit­tle more about moun­tain bik­ing in parks. 

Lit­tle Quar­ry Loop

The short­est trail at Anstey Hill Recre­ation Park, at just 650 m, this walk is great for young chil­dren to get their first taste of a nation­al park walk, and begins very con­ve­nient­ly right next to the carpark at Gate 1.

It encir­cles a flat grassy area with mul­ti­ple shel­tered pic­nic tables, the per­fect spot to pull up for lunch and enjoy the beau­ti­ful surrounds.

Anstey Hill Recre­ation Park is one of Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice South Australia’s Park of the Month’s for May. To find out more about the oth­er parks includ­ed in this month’s pro­gram, read our blogs on Ranger tips: Mori­al­ta and Black Hill con­ser­va­tion parksand How to spend a week­end in South Australia’s Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park.