Discover 4 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Cleland Conservation Park (Australia). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: First Falls, Cleland Wildlife Park, and Mount Lofty. Also, be sure to include Mount Bonython in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Cleland Conservation Park (South Australia).
Table of Contents
First Falls
Fall. The First Falls, a cascade waterfall on an unnamed watercourse, is located in the Mount Lofty Ranges region in the Australian state of South Australia.
Situated within the Cleland National Park, the First Falls are the first of a series of seven waterfalls in Waterfall Gully, south-east of the Adelaide city centre.[1]
Cleland Wildlife Park
Conservation park in Australia. Cleland National Park, formerly Cleland Conservation Park, is a protected area located in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia about 22 kilometres south-east of the Adelaide city centre. It conserves a significant area of natural bushland on the Adelaide Hills face, including Mount Lofty Summit and Waterfall Gully.
Formerly a conservation park, Cleland was combined with the bordering Eurilla Conservation Park in November 2021 when it was upgraded to the status of national park. The area includes Cleland Wildlife Park, a major tourist attraction, with the draft plan suggesting that the Wildlife Park will be a part of the new Cleland National Park, but this is open to public consultation until late January 2022.
The park is classified as an IUCN Category II protected area.[2]
Address: Mt Lofty Summit Road, 5152 Crafers
Mount Lofty
Hiking and biking trails and a summit cafe. Mount Lofty is the highest point in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges. It is located about 15 km east of the Adelaide city centre, within the Cleland National Park in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia.
Mount Lofty Summit has panoramic views of the city and the Adelaide plains to the west, and of the Picadilly Valley to the east. It is also popular destination for international tourists, as well as for cyclists coming up the old Mount Barker Road through Eagle on the Hill, and for walkers from Waterfall Gully.[3]
Mount Bonython
Mount Bonython is one of two major peaks in the Adelaide Hills visible from Adelaide. The other, about a kilometre to the south and some 50 m higher, is Mount Lofty. Mount Bonython is named after Sir John Langdon Bonython and was previously known simply as Little Mount. There is a telecommunications tower used for the Telstra NextG network located at its summit.
According to the mythology of the indigenous Kaurna people, the Mount Lofty Ranges were part of the story of the ancestor-creator Nganno. Nganno travelled across the land of the Kaurna and after being wounded in a battle, lay down to die and formed the Mount Lofty Ranges. The current name of the Greater Mount Lofty Parklands, Yurrebilla, is taken from the Kaurna name for the twin hills of Mount Lofty and Mount Bonython, which are supposed to be Nganno's ears.[4]