Para Wirra Conservation Park

Fur­ther inspiration:

• Check out Nature Play SA’s 40 things to do in Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park.
• Check out Ranger tips: Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park
• Check out How to spend a week­end in South Aus­trali­a’s Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park

Bush­walk­ing is a fan­tas­tic way to con­nect with nature, keep fit and spend time with fam­i­ly and friends. Please ensure that you are well equipped with food, water, sun pro­tec­tion and stur­dy shoes. Please note that in win­ter and spring the water lev­els of the South Para Riv­er can become quite high, mak­ing it chal­leng­ing to cross in sections.

Bush­walk­ing is a fan­tas­tic way to con­nect with nature, keep fit and spend time with fam­i­ly and friends. South Aus­trali­a’s nation­al parks fea­ture a range of trails that let you expe­ri­ence a diver­si­ty of landscapes.

• Vis­it the Walk­ing Trails Sup­port Group for maps, leaflets and walk­ing notes pro­duced by park volunteers.

Grade 2 — No bush­walk­ing expe­ri­ence required 

Lake Dis­cov­ery Walk (30 mins. 1km)

Nav­i­gate this trail using Google Street View

This pop­u­lar short trail is great for fam­i­lies where you can soak up the tran­quil set­ting of Para Wirra’s lake. You’re sure to see many water­birds and bush birds along the way, so bring your binoc­u­lars. Great in the morn­ing and late afternoon.

Gawler View Nature Loop (30 mins. 1km)

Nav­i­gate this trail using Google Street View

Explore the Nature Play For­est shared-use paths through the Gawler View pic­nic area. Keep your eyes peeled for bush birds, scur­ry­ing lizards and maybe even an emu or kan­ga­roo. Suit­able for prams. Some lim­it­ed mobil­i­ty access may be pos­si­ble if assisted.

Grade 3 — Suit­able for most ages and fit­ness levels

Vic­to­ria Hill Cir­cuit Hike (45 mins, 1.5km anti­clock­wise loop)

Dis­cov­er the secrets of this his­tor­i­cal min­ing town in the Barossa Val­ley. Allow time to stop and read the inter­pre­tive signs along the route that tell the colour­ful sto­ry of the Barossa Gold­fields. Keep to trail at all times as there are dan­ger­ous mine shafts in the area.

Access: car park on Allen­dale Road near Bow­den Cottage.

Scenic Loop (2 hrs, 4.5km return or 1 hr 30 mins, 2.25km loop)

Nav­i­gate this trail using Google Street View

Whether you walk or ride to The Knob you’ll find your­self immersed in val­leys of bush­land sur­round­ed by high hills, miles away from city life. Fol­low the shared use Knob Look­out Track down to the small round­ed hill of the Knob. Return along the same track or Scenic Dri­ve. Alter­na­tive­ly, return along a sec­tion of the South Para Grand and Lizard Rock hikes.

The Scenic Dri­ve sec­tion is a shared zone with vehicles.

Access: Gawler View Pic­nic Area

Lizard Rock Hike (45 mins, 1.6km return)

Nav­i­gate this trail using Google Street View

An enjoy­able loop trail with easy grades and pic­turesque views across Wild Dog Creek val­ley. Explore the rock for­ma­tions along the ridge and see if you can spot the Lizard Rock! Great for fam­i­ly groups. For safe­ty, please super­vise chil­dren near rocky outcrops.

Access: near the Gawler View Bar­be­cue and Nature­play areas.

• Lizard Rock Hike brochure

Hissey Hike (1 hour, 2km anti­clock­wise loop)

Nav­i­gate this trail using Google Street View

Walk along the shad­ed val­ley of Wild Dog Creek and take in the scenery as you mean­der around the tran­quil Lake. Ide­al for fam­i­lies or vis­i­tors with lim­it­ed time.

Access: near the lake access road (east side).

Hissey Loop Hike brochure

Tree Creep­er Loop (2 hrs, 5km)

Nav­i­gate this trail using Google Street View

A delight­ful nature trail, great on its own, or as part of oth­er trails in the Forestry SA net­work. Look for wild­flow­ers year round and stop by the dam along Blue Gum Track to see the wildlife that comes to vis­it! The Para Wirra Dri­ve sec­tion is a shared zone with vehicles.

Access: Wild Dog Creek car park, east of Para Wirra Dri­ve and just south of Wirra Road.

Horse­play Trail (4 hrs, 8.5km)

Enjoy 8.5 km of track around and through the Mack Creek sec­tion of the park that is avail­able for hik­ers and horse riders.

Access: Mack Creek car park, Hum­bug Scrub Road

Pink Gum Track (750m)

This track pass­es through pink gum wood­land and links Wirra Road, Wirra Camp­ground and Hum­bug Scrub Road.

Wild Dog Track (350m)

This is a short spur track that heads down to Wild Dog Dam. Sit qui­et­ly and you are like­ly to spot plen­ty of wildlife at this local waterhole.

Grade 4 — Bush­walk­ing expe­ri­ence recommended

Bush­walk­ing expe­ri­ence is rec­om­mend­ed. Trails may be long with rough sur­faces and very steep. Trail sig­nage may be limited.

Dev­ils Nose Hike (2 hrs, 4.4km)

Nav­i­gate this trail using Google Street View

Take the ridge top walk to the Dev­ils Nose Look­out. Sweep­ing views of the Barossa Range, Gawler Dis­trict, South Para Gorge and Mis­ery Farm will take your breath away. Bring your cam­era! For safe­ty, please super­vise chil­dren near rocky out­crops. Trail can be start­ed from either the Lake or Dev­ils Nose car parks.

Access: car park and trail­head west of the lake.

South Para Grand Hike (4.5 hrs, 10km clock­wise loop)

Nav­i­gate this trail using Google Street View

See all the scenic high­lights of cen­tral Para Wirra , this hike is best hiked in a clock­wise direc­tion. If you start from Hissey Pic­nic Area, you’ll first pass the Lake, then onto the Devil’s nose for spec­tac­u­lar views. From there head down into South Para Gorge, before wind­ing back up to the Knob Look­out. Final­ly, dis­cov­er the amaz­ing Lizard and Chim­ney rocks.

Access: Car park at Hissey Pic­nic Area

Mack Creek Hike (4 hrs, 7.5km)

Fol­lows Mack Creek down­stream through a val­ley of mag­nif­i­cent riv­er red gums. Look out for the beau­ti­ful orchids flow­er­ing in late win­ter and spring.

Access: car park on Hum­bug Scrub Road

Phoenix Cir­cuit Hike (2 hrs 30 mins, 5km anti­clock­wise loop)

Take a walk through time, pass­ing the major mines of the Barossa Gold­fields. Fol­low the pick­axe sym­bols every 200 metres, read­ing the sto­ries of ear­ly min­ers on inter­pre­tive signs along the way. Dis­cov­er the old tramway tracks from Men­zies Mine, near the Bat­tery. Keep to trail at all times as there are dan­ger­ous mine shafts in the area.

Access: car park on Allen­dale Road near Bow­den Cottage.

Lady Pearce Cir­cuit Hike (4 hrs, 5km anti­clock­wise loop)

A superb walk going down, but a sol­id climb back up. Hike through the old Barossa Gold­fields and down to the Bat­tery site. Take in the seren­i­ty of the South Para Riv­er before rock-hop­ping across the riv­er. Climb out of the gorge along a dra­mat­ic spur. Keep to trail at all times as there are dan­ger­ous mine shafts in the area.

Access: car park on Allen­dale Road near Bow­den Cottage.

Fees and booking

Camp­ing fees apply and must be paid before you arrive.

• Book online
• FAQs about book­ing online

Wirra camp­ground

View camp­ground on Google Street View 

Sit­u­at­ed at the east­ern end of the park, among the pink gums, grass trees and hop bush this camp­ground has 19 camp­sites, includ­ing six that are suit­able for small camper­vans (RV’s) and camper trail­ers, toi­lets, a basic camp kitchen, gas bar­be­cues and fire pits in each camp site for use out­side the fire ban season.

All of the camp­sites are wheel­chair acces­si­ble, they are on flat ground with a com­pact­ed grav­el sur­face. The toi­let facil­i­ties are wheel­chair acces­si­ble, with a 900mm door width and a fixed handrail along­side the toilet.

Click through to the Wirra Camp­ground book­ing page for camp­site descrip­tions and pictures.

Check out the Good Liv­ing — Guide to camp­ing at Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park.

Look­ing for some­thing to do with the kids while camp­ing at Para Wirra? Down­load the Wirra Camp­ground activ­i­ty before you leave home.

Group book­ings

Camp­ing is avail­able for larg­er group book­ings at the Heli­pad Site with­in the Gawler View Vis­i­tor Precinct – see Vis­i­tor Precinct map for loca­tion. This area is suit­able for schools, scout groups, com­mu­ni­ty and recre­ation­al organ­i­sa­tions or large fam­i­ly groups. A large open grass area it’s suit­able for tent camp­ing and can accom­mo­date up to 60 peo­ple. With a shel­ter shed near­by and toi­lets about 100m walk from this site. A small fire pit is locat­ed on site, which is avail­able for use out­side the fire danger.

The Heli­pad site can be booked online but if your organ­i­sa­tion requires an invoice please con­tact the North Lofty Dis­trict Office — Black Hill Con­ser­va­tion Park on (+61 8) (+61) 7133 7300

Acces­si­bil­i­ty information

Most of the Wirra Camp­ground camp­sites are wheel­chair acces­si­ble, they are on flat ground with a com­pact­ed grav­el sur­face. The toi­let facil­i­ties are wheel­chair acces­si­ble, with a 900mm door width and a fixed handrail along­side the toi­let. Toi­let facil­i­ties at Heli­pad camp­site are not wheel­chair accessible.

Impor­tant Information:

• Vehi­cle access to the Wirra Camp­ground dur­ing day­light hours is through the main park entrance, these gates shut at sun­set and open at sun­rise. For access into the park after hours when a book­ing is made you will be giv­en a com­bi­na­tion lock code for the East­ern Entrance along Hum­bug Scrub Road. This entrance is locked to gen­er­al park visitors.
• Col­lec­tion of fire­wood with­in Nation­al Parks is pro­hib­it­ed. In order to use the fire pits at Wirra Camp­ground you will need to bring your own wood. A num­ber of the local shops may have fire wood for pur­chase – try the One Tree Hill Fod­der Store, Kers­brook Gen­er­al Store and Cock­a­too Val­ley Store.
• Water at the camp­ground and park is all non-potable, so campers are advised to bring along their own drink­ing water.
• Campers need to take all their rub­bish out with them as there are no bins pro­vid­ed with­in the park.
• If you have a large group please call the Black Hill Con­ser­va­tion Park on (+61 8) (+61) 7133 7300 or email DEWPWOnlineBookings@​sa.​gov.​au.
• Com­mu­ni­ty and recre­ation organ­i­sa­tions, school groups and scouts can arrange spe­cial ​‘camp-over’ activ­i­ties at one of the open spaces by appoint­ment with a ranger (con­di­tions apply).

Come along and expe­ri­ence Adelaide’s only Nature­play For­est at the Gawler View Pic­nic Area, in Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park. There is plen­ty to explore includ­ing, climb­ing trees, the dry creek bed, rope and sand play, a tun­nel run and rocky amphithe­atre as well as a very pop­u­lar and long fly­ing fox.

Our new Nature­play For­est blends into the trees so well that the real secrets are only revealed once you get inside and start explor­ing. It is sure to inspire a new gen­er­a­tion of park vis­i­tors with its focus on nat­ur­al mate­ri­als and expe­ri­ences to chal­lenge a range of ages. Climb giant fall­en logs, build an Abo­rig­i­nal Wudli along the tun­nel run, use the grind­ing stones to make wat­tle seed flour, soar through the air like a fal­con on the fly­ing fox, chal­lenge your­self on the rope climb or take some time out and lis­ten to the sounds of the wind and birds while you sit in our wood­en carved seats.

The feed­back we have received so far from our Bush Kindy class­es and fam­i­lies are call­ing the new Nature­play For­est ​“won­der­ful, real­ly well designed” and ​“our kids are lovin’ it.”

• View play­ground on Google Street View

Why not down­load the Nature Play ​’40 things to do’ in Para Wirra for some cool ideas and what to do and look out for.

New shared-use trails in Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park now allow you to explore the blue gum, long-leaf box wood­lands and shin­ing grass tree com­mu­ni­ties of Para Wirra by bike and on foot.

Spe­cial­ly des­ig­nat­ed shared-use trails in the main Cen­tral area of the park allow fam­i­lies to explore the park at an easy pace. They also pro­vide links to the most pop­u­lar fea­tures of the park, includ­ing the lake, nature play for­est, Gawler view pic­nic area, The Knob Look­out and Wirra Campground.

Please obey signs, includ­ing sec­tions where bike rid­ing is not per­mit­ted. Bike rid­ing is only per­mit­ted on des­ig­nat­ed trails and tracks and rid­ers are remind­ed that bike rid­ing is not per­mit­ted north of the South Para Riv­er in the Barossa Gold­fields area of the park or south of Hum­bug Scrub Road in the Mack Creek area of the park. 

The trails list­ed below are pop­u­lar sug­gest­ed routes. In addi­tion you may also ride on the sealed park roads and some fire tracks (Pink Gum Track and Wild Dog Track only). Check the shared-use trails maps under the map tab above for all the trails. Know­ing the clas­si­fi­ca­tion sys­tem will help ensure you select trails suit­able to your ability.

Easy trails

Most suit­able for chil­dren, fam­i­lies or novices with a basic lev­el of skill and fit­ness. Fire tracks or wide sin­gle tracks with a gen­tle grade and a rel­a­tive­ly obsta­cle free, hard­ened surface.

• Gawler View Nature Loop — (1km loop)

  Slow­ly ride along paths around the Gawler View pic­nic area. A trail for junior rid­ers. Don’t for­get to hop off your bike and jump pud­dles, climb a tree or look for ani­mal tracks.

• Lake Dis­cov­ery Loop - (1km loop)

  This short loop is a slow rid­ing zone, suit­able for young rid­ers and begin­ners. A pop­u­lar trail that is great for fam­i­lies. Soak up the tran­quil set­ting of Para Wirra’s lake. You’re sure to see many water­birds and bush birds along the way,so bring your binoc­u­lars. Great in the morn­ing and late after­noon. This trail is for slow rid­ing only and please super­vise chil­dren near the lake.

Inter­me­di­ate trails

Most suit­able for rid­ers with a mod­er­ate lev­el of skill and fit­ness. A com­bi­na­tion of pub­lic roads and/​or man­age­ment tracks with obsta­cles (such as fall­en branch­es), vari­able sur­face, and a mod­er­ate slope.

• Scenic Loop — (4.5km loop)

  Whether you ride or dri­ve to The Knob you’ll find your­self immersed in val­leys of bush­land sur­round­ed by high hills, mile­saway from city life. You can also access the steep Quar­ry Track before you get to the top of The Knob, which you can ride all the way to the South Para River. 

• Tree Creep­er Loop — (5km loop)

  A delight­ful nature trail, great on its own, or as part of oth­er trails in the Forestry SA net­work. Look for wild­flow­ers year round and stop by the dam along Blue Gum Track to see the wildlife that comes to visit!

• Pink Gum Track — (1.5km return)

  This track pass­es through pink gum wood­land and links Wirra Road, Wirra Camp­ground and Hum­bug Scrub Road.

• Wild Dog Track — (700m return)

  This is a short spur track that heads down to Wild Dog Dam. Sit qui­et­ly and you are like­ly to spot plen­ty of wildlife at this local waterhole.

Take your horse for a ride along unspoiled bush tracks in the south­ern end of the park at Mack Creek. There are two entry points off Hum­bug Scrub Road, one with a car park area large enough to turn a horse float around. The Horse­play trail detailed below incor­po­rates the bound­ary track of the Mack Creek area as well as the ruins track that cross­es Mack Creek. This sec­tion of the park is part of the shared use trails for hors­es and walk­ers only.

Please note that hors­es are not allowed on the walk­ing trail along Mack Creek.

• Horse­play Trail — (8.5km loop)

• Enjoy 8.5km of track around and through the Mack Creek sec­tion of the park this is avail­able for hik­ers and horse riders

Phy­toph­tho­ra cin­namo­mi disease

Phy­toph­tho­ra dieback is killing many native plant species, and threat­ens the sur­vival of ani­mals depend­ing on plants for food and shel­ter. Hors­es and rid­ers can spread the dis­ease through plant mate­r­i­al that sticks to hooves, boots, ban­dages or boot covers.

• Horse rid­ing guidelines

Gold was dis­cov­ered here in the 1860s and although a num­ber of min­ing syn­di­cates invest­ed heav­i­ly, they did not make their for­tunes. Small scale min­ing con­tin­ued in the area until the mid-1930s and many remains of min­ing activ­i­ty can be seen through­out the north­ern end of the park. 

Inter­pre­ta­tive walks of the Barossa gold­fields take you past many points of inter­est, and you can vis­it Bow­den Cot­tage, a muse­um run by the Barossa Gold­fields His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety ded­i­cat­ed to the gold­min­ing days. 

Please note that fos­sick­ing is not per­mit­ted in Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park.

Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park can be a noisy place. You’ll hear the rau­cous cries of wat­tlebirds when the gums and wat­tles are flow­er­ing and see fam­i­lies of white winged choughs dig­ging for roots and grubs. You’ll hear the strange and unique drum­ming sound emus make as they wan­der through the pic­nic grounds (watch out for your food or they will try to steal it from you, and please do not feed them). The small­er birds, like the scar­let robin, blue wren and east­ern spine bill, make their busy rustling nois­es as they go about their busi­ness clos­er to the ground.

Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park is a per­fect spot for group and fam­i­ly gath­er­ings, with acces­si­ble facil­i­ties in a nat­ur­al bush­land set­ting. The lake is one of the park’s most pop­u­lar areas, there’s a bar­be­cue area and pic­nic tables with a view out over the water. On a calm day you’ll see the sur­round­ing bush­land reflect­ed in the water with mir­ror-like perfection. 

The Gawler View pic­nic area is a large, open recre­ation space with an oval and a flat grassy area near the bar­be­ques. There are shel­ters, acces­si­ble toi­lets and Nature Play For­est for kids of all ages. The Wirra camp­ground area has free bar­be­cues and acces­si­ble toilets.

Impor­tant for children’s well-being and development!

Our new bush kindy pro­gram in Para Wirra Con­ser­va­tion Park is a unique expe­ri­ence on the doorstep of Adelaide’s north­ern suburbs.

Bush kindy expos­es chil­dren to new expe­ri­ences and self-direct­ed play that is led by their curios­i­ty. They are free to explore, prac­tice new skills and learn new infor­ma­tion through their exploration.

The activ­i­ties and space also give chil­dren a renewed con­nec­tion and appre­ci­a­tion of the nat­ur­al environment. 

They learn to lead their own play, away from a for­mal set­ting, estab­lish­ing new skills in col­lab­o­ra­tive, imag­i­na­tive and cre­ative play.

Fam­i­lies intro­duced to the park through their children’s involve­ment in bush kindy, have then been moti­vat­ed to explore camp­ing, bush walk­ing and bike rid­ing in parks too.

Cre­at­ing a bush kindy

Adams Road Children’s Cen­tre, Craigmore

The kids are so excit­ed to be out­side! They are explor­ing, touch­ing, smelling and feel­ing ele­ments in nature. The kids are curi­ous about the envi­ron­ment and are learn­ing about bugs that live in the lake, and dif­fer­ent ani­mals and plants. They are exposed to the weath­er and are see­ing the chang­ing of the sea­sons. The kids col­lab­o­rate to cre­ate and explore. They are hap­py in the out­doors and are able to learn real-life expe­ri­ences that you just can’t repli­cate at the kindy.

Read the full case study here.

Fur­ther information

If any schools are inter­est­ed in attend­ing a bush kindy ses­sion, con­tact the North Lofty Dis­trict Office — Black Hill Con­ser­va­tion Park on (+61 8) (+61) 7133 7300 or email DEW.​NPWSNorthLofty@​sa.​gov.​au.

Want to help?

To find out how you can help in this park or near­by, please vis­it Friends and Vol­un­teer groups.

Want to join oth­ers and become a Park Friend?

To find out more about Friends of Parks groups please vis­it Friends of Parks South Aus­tralia.

You could join oth­ers to help look after a park. You can take part in work­ing bees, train­ing and oth­er events.