Deep Creek National Park

Open dai­ly.

This park is closed on days of Cat­a­stroph­ic Fire Dan­ger and may also be closed on days of Extreme Fire Danger. 

You can deter­mine the cur­rent fire dan­ger rat­ing by check­ing the Fire Ban Dis­trict map on the CFS website. 

Check the CFS web­site or call the CFS Bush­fire Infor­ma­tion Hot­line 1800 362 361 for: 

• Infor­ma­tion on fire bans and cur­rent fire con­di­tions
• Cur­rent CFS warn­ings and inci­dents
• Infor­ma­tion on what to do in the event of a fire.

Lis­ten to your local area radio sta­tion for the lat­est updates and infor­ma­tion on fire safety.

Check the ​‘Safe­ty’ tab for more infor­ma­tion on when you can have a camp­fire in this park. 

All camp­ing book­ing enquiries

Vic­tor Har­bor Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice Office
Phone: (+61) 7133 7300
Email: DEW.​FleurieuOnlineBookings@​sa.​gov.​au

Vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion and park management: 

Deep Creek Nation­al Park Head­quar­ters
Phone: (+61 8) 8598 0263

Emer­gency contacts:

Med­ical, fire (includ­ing bush­fire) and police emer­gency sit­u­a­tions
Phone: Triple Zero (000)

Police Assis­tance
Phone: 131 444 for non-urgent police assistance

Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice SA – Emer­gency After Hours Duty Offi­cer (voice mes­sages only, text mes­sages are unavail­able to be received)
Phone: 0427 556 676

Injured wildlife:

With­in the park
Please con­tact Vic­tor Har­bor Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice Office on (+61) 7133 7300 or the after-hours duty offi­cer on 0427 556 676 (out­side of busi­ness hours).

Out­side of the park
Please con­tact a local wildlife res­cue group

Marine mam­mals
If you find a sick or strand­ed marine mam­mal (includ­ing whales, seals, sea lions and dol­phins), please con­tact Vic­tor Har­bor Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice Office on (+61) 7133 7300 or the after-hours duty offi­cer on 0427 556 676 (out­side of busi­ness hours)

Late autumn and ear­ly spring are the best times to expe­ri­ence the park, go camp­ing and observe the array of wildlife and native flo­ra in full bloom. Tem­per­a­tures dur­ing this time of year make it com­fort­able to hike the net­work of walk­ing trails with­in the park. 

Win­ter and ear­ly spring pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for whale watch­ing. Each year whales migrate to the com­par­a­tive­ly warmer South Aus­tralian coast from Antarc­tic waters to mate and calve.

Sum­mers are dry and hot with tem­per­a­tures rang­ing between 30 to 35 degrees mak­ing it more chal­leng­ing for walk­ing. A respon­si­ble approach to bush­walk­ing is a must dur­ing sum­mer months and in win­ter months when track con­di­tions can be slippery.

The park is locat­ed 108 km south of Ade­laide. Access is via Main South Road from Ade­laide or Range Road from Vic­tor Harbor.

All roads with­in the park are unsealed.

The Boat Har­bour Beach track and the Blow­hole Beach track are 4WD only. 2WD vehi­cles are not per­mit­ted to access the 4WD tracks and fines apply.

• Park maps

Parks are for all to enjoy, we would love to hear from you about your expe­ri­ence in nature. You can share your com­ments, pic­tures and videos with us and oth­ers by tag­ging @NationalParksSA on Face­book, Insta­gram or email us.

Facil­i­ties

Park­ing

There is an acces­si­ble park­ing space at Cob­bler Hill pic­nic area and two acces­si­ble park­ing spaces at Goon­dooloo pic­nic area.

Toi­lets

There is an acces­si­ble toi­let at the Stringy­bark Camp­ground and Goon­dooloo Pic­nic Area.

Trails

The 4.2 km return Goon­dooloo Ridge Walk has a hard packed sur­face, about 1 m wide, and slopes gen­tly down towards the Goon­dooloo Look­out. The look­out offers spec­tac­u­lar views across Back­stairs Pas­sage and The Pages to Kan­ga­roo Island. The walk is a class 2 trail so some peo­ple may require assis­tance. The trail is suit­able for prams.

See and do

Camp­ing

There are acces­si­ble camp­sites (No 12 and No 13) avail­able at Stringy­bark camp­ground. For more infor­ma­tion please con­tact Deep Creek Nation­al Park Head­quar­ters on (+61 8) 8598 0263.

Accom­mo­da­tion

South­ern Ocean Retreats offers ful­ly com­pli­ant wheel­chair friend­ly accom­mo­da­tion at one of their Ridgetop Retreats.

The Trail­Rid­er all-ter­rain wheel­chair allows peo­ple with lim­it­ed mobil­i­ty to explore the diverse trails. The one-wheeled chair is a cross between a wheel­bar­row and sedan chair. The Trail­Rid­er requires a min­i­mum of two rea­son­ably fit peo­ple (one at each end of the chair).

The Trail­Rid­er can be used on a num­ber of dif­fer­ent walk­ing tracks and in a vari­ety of loca­tions, includ­ing the stun­ning Deep Creek Nation­al Park. You will need two or four fit helpers, depend­ing on the trails you wish to trav­el and the strength and lev­el of fit­ness of your helpers. The chair is motorised, mak­ing it eas­i­er to explore some steep­er and longer trails.

Deep Creek Trail­Rid­er sug­gest­ed routes

Goon­dooloo Pic­nic Area to Goon­dooloo Ridge – (Begin­ner, 4.1 km and 68 m ascent) An easy route along a wide trail which gives a good intro­duc­tion to oper­at­ing the Trail­Rid­er. As the trail descends and steep­ens slight­ly, there are a few small rocks that are eas­i­ly avoid­ed. The route fin­ish­es at the view­ing bench. Return to the start by the same route.

For­est Cir­cuit Walk – (Begin­ner, 2.6 km and 48 m ascent) This cir­cuit is best under­tak­en clock­wise. There are small undu­la­tions in the trail sur­face which has a com­pact base. The sec­tion head­ing back to the Stringy­bark camp ground is on a nar­row trail.

Aaron Creek Pic­nic Area to Eagle Water­hole – (Advanced, 4.4 km and 125 m ascent). The first 1.5 km grad­u­al­ly descends on a hard packed track before steep­er sec­tions to Eagle Water­hole which pro­vides a good lunch stop. Return to the start by the same route, don’t be daunt­ed by the ascent as the motor on the Trail­Rid­er makes light work of it.

Stringy­bark Loop Walk – (Advanced, 0.8 km and 31 m ascent) This trail is rel­a­tive­ly short but nar­row with rocks, tree roots and logs that will require good han­dling to nego­ti­ate the obsta­cles. Spring Wild­flower Walk – (Advanced, 4.5 km and 90 m ascent) The route is on most­ly good tracks although the first sec­tion into the gul­ly is steep and has some loose grav­el which the Trail­Rid­er han­dles with ease.

Boat Harbor/​Heysen Trail – (High­ly advanced, 6.8 km and 160 m ascent) Start­ing from Pages Look­out car park the com­pact trail grad­u­al­ly descends towards Boat Har­bor. This is a nar­row trail but gives few tech­ni­cal dif­fi­cul­ties apart from a cou­ple of small rock steps. Although longer with slight­ly more ascent it makes for an adven­tur­ous excursion.

• Deep Creek Nation­al Park — Trail­Rid­er Wheel­chair sug­gest­ed routes map

Trail­Rid­er grades

To com­ple­ment the Aus­tralian Walk­ing Track Grad­ing Sys­tem (AWT­GS), Parks Vic­to­ria have devel­oped a Trail­Rid­er Track Grad­ing Sys­tem (TTGS) for motorised Trail­Rid­ers. This sys­tem is inde­pen­dent of the AWT­GS and focus­es on the num­ber, skill and fit­ness of Trail­Rid­er oper­a­tors. Users of a Trail­Rid­er are encour­aged to con­sid­er both the AWT­GS and the TTGS when select­ing a track. One or more addi­tion­al oper­a­tors are rec­om­mend­ed for non motorised TrailRiders.

Begin­ner Oper­a­tors
Suit­able for all skill lev­els, includ­ing those with no or lim­it­ed expe­ri­ence. Tracks are typ­i­cal­ly flat or undu­lat­ing with gen­tle hills and lim­it­ed obsta­cles. Suit­able for most fit­ness lev­els. Two to three operators.

Inter­me­di­ate Oper­a­tors
Suit­able for peo­ple with expe­ri­ence on undu­lat­ing trails. Some obsta­cles, short stair­cas­es with wide land­ings and occa­sion­al sharp bends. A mod­er­ate lev­el of fit­ness is required. Three to four operators.

Advanced Oper­a­tors
Suit­able for peo­ple with expe­ri­ence on uneven trail sur­faces. Oper­a­tors may encounter short steep hills, nar­row sec­tions, stair­cas­es and many sharp bends. A high lev­el of fit­ness is required. Three to four operators.

High­ly Advanced Oper­a­tors
Suit­able for peo­ple with exten­sive expe­ri­ence using a Trail­Rid­er on uneven trail sur­faces. Long steep and dif­fi­cult hills, rough and unformed sur­face with many steps, obsta­cles a

Trail­Rid­er all-ter­rain wheel­chair hire

The Dis­trict Coun­cil of Yankalil­la have a Trail­Rid­er wheel­chair avail­able for free hire for up to three days. Chair users are required to bring a bike hel­met and under­take a chair induc­tion via short video pri­or to use. It weighs 25 kg, but can eas­i­ly dis­as­sem­ble and fit in the back of most medi­um sized SUVs. 

Book­ings are essen­tial to avoid dis­ap­point­ment. To book contact:

Fleurieu Coast Vis­i­tor Infor­ma­tion Cen­tre
163 Main South Road, Yankalil­la SA 5203
Phone: 08 8558 0240 or 1300 965 842
Email: cooee@​visitfleurieucoast.​com.​au

Assis­tance dogs are per­mit­ted in most pub­lic places and are there­fore wel­come in South Australia’s parks and reserves. Assis­tance dogs must be appro­pri­ate­ly restrained on a lead and remain under your effec­tive con­trol at all times while in a park or reserve.

As per the dogs in parks and reserves pol­i­cy, if the dog is not an accred­it­ed assis­tance dog, they must be trained to assist a per­son with a dis­abil­i­ty to alle­vi­ate that dis­abil­i­ty and meet stan­dards of hygiene and behav­iour appro­pri­ate for a dog in a pub­lic place. How­ev­er, refusal may be giv­en if the per­son with the dis­abil­i­ty is unable to pro­duce evi­dence the dog is an assis­tance dog with the appro­pri­ate training.

Before tak­ing your assis­tance dog into a park that does not nor­mal­ly allow dogs, it is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed that you con­tact us so we can pro­vide you with the lat­est infor­ma­tion on any poten­tial haz­ards with­in spe­cif­ic parks that may affect your dog. Please con­tact the park via the con­tact details pro­vid­ed under the con­tact tab or con­tact the vis­i­tor ser­vice cen­tre via email or on Face­book.

Dogs are not per­mit­ted in this park.

Dis­cov­er which parks you can walk your dog in on our find a park tool or read 12 dog-friend­ly walks in Ade­laide Parks by Good Liv­ing for inspiration.

There is a vari­ety of facil­i­ties avail­able with­in the park.

Toi­lets, water (non-potable) and fire pits are avail­able at all camp­grounds (exclud­ing Wul­di Krikin Ngawan­thi / Eagle Water­hole). Stringy­bark camp­ground has hot show­ers avail­able. Pic­nic tables are avail­able at Goon­dooloo pic­nic area, Goon­dooloo Ridge Walk look­out, Cob­bler Hill pic­nic area, Trig and Stringy­bark camp­grounds and at the Tapanap­pa Lookout.

• Check out Your guide to the new fam­i­ly-friend­ly trail in Deep Creek Nation­al Park on the Good Liv­ing blog.
• Dis­cov­er 10 things to see and do at Deep Creek on the Good Liv­ing blog.
  
• Explore what oth­er nature and out­door activ­i­ties are avail­able in this area on the South Aus­tralia Tourism website. 
• Mobile phone cov­er­age can be patchy and unre­li­able in this park, espe­cial­ly if you are in low-lying areas.
• Parks man­age­ment plans
• Trails SA
• SA Marine Parks
• Impor­tant: Col­lec­tion of fire­wood with­in nation­al parks is prohibited.

Our rangers love hav­ing schools in the park, learn­ing in nature. While we update our online infor­ma­tion and resources to assist teach­ers and oth­er learn­ing providers, we sug­gest vis­it­ing the Green Ade­laide nature edu­ca­tion pages for resources. Addi­tion­al­ly, please con­tact the park office to book one of our facil­i­ties for your next school excursion.

Take a vir­tu­al tour of the rugged coast, steep cliffs, camp­grounds and sweep­ing panoram­ic views of Deep Creek Nation­al Park.

• Geo­ra­ma vir­tu­al tour

Plants

Deep Creek Nation­al Park pre­serves the largest por­tion of rem­nant nat­ur­al veg­e­ta­tion on the Fleurieu Penin­su­la. Even the eas­i­est of walks will sur­prise you with views and native veg­e­ta­tion that will take your breath away.

Ani­mals

Look out for kan­ga­roos, echid­nas or some of the 100 bird species that can eas­i­ly be heard or spot­ted in the park.

Every year, between May to Octo­ber, south­ern right whales gath­er along the south­ern coast­line of Aus­tralia to mate and calve. Deep Creek Nation­al Park offers ide­al van­tage points to see these majes­tic crea­tures, so if you are vis­it­ing dur­ing whale sea­son, keep an extra keen eye on the ocean.

Flo­ra and fau­na species lists

To down­load flo­ra (plants) and fau­na (ani­mals) species lists for this park, use the ​‘Cre­ate Sim­ple Species List’ tab under ​‘Flo­ra Tools’ or ​‘Fau­na Tools’ in NatureMaps.

Phy­toph­tho­ra (fy-TOFF-tho­ra), oth­er­wise known as root-rot fun­gus, is killing our native plants and threat­ens the sur­vival of ani­mals depend­ing on plants for food and shelter.

This intro­duced fun­gus can be found in plant roots, soil and water. Help stop the spread by using hygiene sta­tions, stay­ing on tracks and trails and by com­ply­ing with all Phy­toph­tho­ra man­age­ment signs.

• Phy­toph­tho­ra brochure

The Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple of the south­ern Fleurieu Penin­su­la fall into two lan­guage groups, the Kau­r­na and Ngar­rind­jeri. Dream­ing sto­ries from both groups illus­trate a deep spir­i­tu­al con­nec­tion to the land.

The cre­ation of land for­ma­tions on the Fleurieu Penin­su­la are illus­trat­ed through dream­ing sto­ries. The Kau­r­na dream­ing sto­ry of Tjir­buk high­lights the cre­ation of the west­ern side of the Fleurieu Peninsula.

The Ngar­rind­jeri focus on Ngu­run­deri, who, while on his jour­ney, cre­at­ed many land­forms which we can now see along the Riv­er Mur­ray and the south coast. These land­forms were made while he was trav­el­ling along the riv­er and coast­line in search of his two wives, who had run away from him.

Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ples have occu­pied, enjoyed and man­aged the lands and waters of this State for thou­sands of gen­er­a­tions. For Abo­rig­i­nal first nations, cre­ation ances­tors laid down the laws of the Coun­try and bestowed a range of cus­tom­ary rights and oblig­a­tions to the many Abo­rig­i­nal Nations across our state. 

There are many places across the State that have great spir­i­tu­al sig­nif­i­cance to Abo­rig­i­nal first nations. At some of these places Abo­rig­i­nal cul­tur­al pro­to­cols, such as restrict­ed access, are pro­mot­ed and vis­i­tors are asked to respect the wish­es of Tra­di­tion­al Owners.

In places where pro­to­cols are not pro­mot­ed vis­i­tors are asked to show respect by not touch­ing or remov­ing any­thing, and make sure you take all your rub­bish with you when you leave.

Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ples con­tin­ue to play an active role in car­ing for their Coun­try, includ­ing in parks across South Australia. 

• DEW Park management
• DEW Abo­rig­i­nal partnerships