Take a walk in Canunda National Park: the Cape Buffon Walk

Locat­ed about 428 km south-east of Ade­laide, filled with diverse coastal habi­tats, a spec­tac­u­lar coast­line of cliffs and long stretch­es of surf beach­es, is Canun­da Nation­al Park.

The park offers great oppor­tu­ni­ties for observ­ing local birdlife, surf­ing, snorkelling and bushwalking.

With­in the park you’ll find the Cape Buf­fon Walk, a trail that high­lights how the forces of wind and waves have shaped the lime­stone cliffs, sea stacks, reef plat­forms and veg­e­ta­tion along the coast.

The 2.5 km loop can be start­ed from a few dif­fer­ent spots, includ­ing the Rain­bow Rocks and Cape Buf­fon carparks, and takes you along the coast­line of Cape Buf­fon. Along your way you’ll see plen­ty of ocean views and a vari­ety of plant life.

From the walk, you’ll be able to see how over time, wind and waves have erod­ed the soft rock of the cliffs, leav­ing the hard rock on top and cre­at­ing an under­cut in the cliff face.

For some extra great views, take a detour and walk south for about 10 min­utes on the Seav­iew Hike Trail from Rain­bow Rocks Carpark, then detour inland and fol­low the signs to the Willichum Lookout.

You’ll be reward­ed with a 360-degree view of Lake Frome Con­ser­va­tion Park, Riv­o­li Bay and the South­ern Ocean.

And if you’re enjoy­ing your­self too much to stop there, con­tin­ue along the Seav­iew Hike to Boozy Gul­ly Carpark to expe­ri­ence sandy beach­es, rocky head­lands, steep cliffs, reef plat­forms, rock pools, geo­log­i­cal for­ma­tion, Abo­rig­i­nal mid­dens and more!

Along your way, be sure to stick to the trails, as the cliffs may be under­cut and could col­lapse if you try to wan­der near the edge.

Want to check it out before you go? You can nav­i­gate the Cape Buf­fon Walk on Google Street View.

Get­ting there

Canun­da Nation­al Park is locat­ed 18 km north-west of Mil­li­cent, or 428 km south-east of Ade­laide. Access to the park is via Mil­li­cent, Southend or Car­pen­ter Rocks.

Two-wheel-dri­ve access is pos­si­ble in the north­ern and cen­tral sec­tions of the park, as well as in Cape Banks Camp­ground in the south­ern sec­tion, but you’ll need a 4WD to get around the rest of the park.

Before you go, down­load the park map from the Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice web­site, or on the Aven­za Maps app. The app uses your phone’s in-built GPS to place your loca­tion direct­ly onto the map. Read our sto­ry to learn how it works.

Stay in the park

Canun­da Nation­al Park has 6 camp­grounds, near sandy beach­es, rock pools and lagoon beach­es, most of which are suit­able for tents, car­a­vans and camper trailers.

All of the camp­grounds have long-drop toi­lets and some of them allow camp­fires, out­side of sea­son­al fire restrictions.

Top tip: all camp­sites in Canun­da Nation­al Park can be booked online up to 12 months in advance.

Keen to explore more of what the parks of the Lime­stone Coast have to offer? Ranger Bri­an Robins has shared histop tips for vis­it­ing Nara­coorte Caves Nation­al Park, and Ranger Cal­lum Banks has mapped out thebest way to spend a day in Lit­tle Dip Con­ser­va­tion Park.