Park life

You have climbed to the top of Mount Remarkable and the sun is starting the set, turning the rock all around you a blazing red. You can see down to the township of Melrose and forever out across the Flinders Ranges.

You are standing at the lookout in Yorke Peninsula’s Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, overlooking the wreck of the Ethel, watching the waves pound in and wash around the skeleton of the broken ship. You can smell the ocean and see it blend into the horizon far off in the distance.

You are sitting outside your tent in Mambray Creek in Mt Remarkable National Park just after dawn, drinking a cup of tea. The morning chorus of birds is singing in the giant river red gums all around you, kangaroos are grazing on the creek banks and emus are beginning to wander through the campground.

You are walking the trails on a warm day in Morialta National Park and you have already seen 11 koalas napping in the forks of the gum trees. A kookaburra calls from a nearby tree and a pair of rosellas zoom in front of you.

You are in your four-wheel drive, tackling a steep dune along the Wanna 4WD track in Lincoln National Park. You catch a glimpse of an osprey fishing and remember the winter you saw southern right whales breaching along the coast.

You are standing near the entrance to Bat Cave in the Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Area, the hairs on your arms standing on end as you wait for thousands of endangered southern bentwing bats to begin flying out into the warm twilight to look for food.

You are in your favourite place.

South Australia has set aside close to a fifth of the state for protection in more than 300 national parks and reserves. These are the places that we love to go, to camp, hike, surf, watch the birds and animals, have a picnic or take photographs.

They are our special places, where we can appreciate the beauty of nature, where children and adults alike can have fun, relax and de-stress.

With about 100 campgrounds and thousands of kilometres of tracks to explore, what are you waiting for?

Go out and play!