Glenthorne National Park — Ityamaiitpinna Yarta — Attraction in Adelaide

We visited Glenthorne on a whim, after driving around and randomly exploring Adelaide and its surrounds.

We had no idea what to expect so went in blind, but ended up loving the hour or so we spent there. The park proudly embraces indigenous culture, informs and educates about the local flora and fauna, and contains an awesome playground/BBQ area for families and kids, as well as offering walking tracks through the grounds.

Usually, when I see the very typical dry and barren Aussie grasslands, I'm not too enthused. On this occasion, however, being in the midst of it and away from society (to a reasonable extent, anyway), it was surprisingly peaceful and serene. I could have sat on a rock for hours, just watching the birds and enjoying the sunshine.

The playground is truly one-of-a-kind and would have been a regular haunt had my kids grown up in the area. Everything is a clever blend of steel and timber, giving it a very colonial, 'this belongs here' feel. I was very impressed. For the parents, there's some covered seating, clean toilets, and the aforementioned BBQs. And, should seating be limited on a busy day, the ample shady trees can help you out.

Overall, Glenthorne NP was a lucky find. It gave us an unexpected detox from the hustle-and-bustle, and I say that with a certain level of mirth, considering we were in Adelaide enjoying a holiday! Nevertheless, peace and quiet is always a good thing, as is swapping people for animals, now and again. Glenthorne is a lovely spot, please see it for yourself when the timing and...

One of the best places around Adelaide to walk or to use a bike. Sadly some of the walking areas become overgrown with weeds especially during spring month. The area is used by dozens of walkers and bicycle riders. Extensive tracks are suitable walking, hiking, jogging, cycling and horse riding. Some of the tracks in the southwestern area are made exclusively for mountain bikes. The majority of tracks are shared between hikers and bicycle riders. Most of the the trees in the park were planted by volunteers during the last few decades. Wildlife including Kangaroos and Koalas are slowly returning to the area. The area is still overgrown with introduced weeds and attempts to enhance the biodiversity have been haphazard and sporadic. Most of the hard work such as planting trees and eradicating feral olives was carried out by a small group of dedicated hard working volunteers. It is a great achievement to have a large area of land set aside for recreation and for native fauna and flora so close to a major city. The recreation park has been integrated into a new Glenthorne...

We went here today with two grandchildren. A four year old boy and three year old girl. As it is still new, and today had wonderful weather, the place was packed. We drove through two full carparks and ended up in the third. It turns out that all the carparks are about the same distance from the playground. The playground is fantastic. Slippery dips from high and scary to ones for the not so adventurous. They have two flying foxes. Swings, sand pits, amazing things for kids to climb on. They have great loos, electric BBQ's, etc. I really loved the Kaurna carvings. The kids spent a lot of time simply rubbing their hands over them. Once you walk out of the playground there are paths going to lakes and other things like wooden carved seats with branches over them made into a frame. However they have these amazing posts with info about local animals. You see the picture of the animals on the post and they have the info under little flip up covers. Really clever. The playground works very well for pre school kids. There is heaps more here. I've only...