Ghost Tree Gully | Black Hill Conservation Park | Review

Looking for a family walk where you’re guaranteed to see kangaroos? The Ghost Tree Gully walking trail in Black Hill Conservation Park is an easy, outdoor adventure that’s perfect for little legs with areas that are also pram-friendly.

Review by Claire Davill

Black Hill Conservation Park might be full of steep, imposing hills, but there’s relatively flat and family-friendly options to be found. Our favourite kid-friendly walk is up Ghost Tree Gully, with an optional diversion along the Tetragona trail and Wildflower track. All of these trails are wide, smooth, stroller-friendly, with no steep hills. A big bonus is that you’re almost guaranteed to spot large numbers of kangaroos along these trails, without having to walk very far at all.

The best place to park is at the end of Everest Avenue, Athelstone. This is a quiet residential street, and provides the easiest access to the park. Note that the entrance to the park is not fully accessible, with a curb step to navigate and a narrow gap in the fence. You should be able to get a stroller through this gap with a little work, and access here is easier than other nearby gates at Joann Street, Bradbrook Road, and the end of Addison Avenue.

From the end of Everest Avenue, walk straight ahead up the Everest track, which quickly becomes the Ghost Tree Gully track. You’ll see the Joann Track cross the gully, and from this point you’re likely to see large mobs of kangaroos. The track maintains a gentle uphill incline, and is surrounded by large, silvery-barked eucalyptus trees. The forest is open with little undergrowth here, and it feels much more inviting than the steep, scrubby trails higher up in the hills.

You can walk up the gully for about a kilometre before it starts getting steep. A good spot to turn around is where the Summit Link trail heads off to the right. This will give you a nice, two kilometre out-and-back walk that’s suitable for small kids.

Optional Extra Adventurous Diversion

If you’re feeling adventurous, there is a very cool feature we’ve found just up the Summit Link trail, but you’ll need to be comfortable with a short, steep (and sometimes a bit slippery) off-track climb. Take the Summit Link trail along the creek for about 50 metres, then turn left and walk straight up the hill for another 50 metres. Here you’ll find a huge boulder, almost the size of a house! There are a couple of little rock shelters at ground level, plenty of other cliffs and crags to explore here, and views to the city back down the valley. If you’re a geocacher, one of our old geocache hides can be found in the large rock – it’s been safely hidden for over 18 years.

Tetragona / Wildflower Garden Extension

If you want to extend your walk without encountering more hills, a walk along the Tetragona trail and through the Wildflower Garden is a great option. The Tetragona trail can be accessed via the Joann track or Everest track, and heads south from Ghost Tree Gully towards the end of Addison Avenue. All of these intersections are clearly signposted. You’re likely to see even more kangaroos along the Tetragona trail, often grazing right next to the track.

The trail brings you to the end of Addison Avenue, where there is ample car parking available if you want to start your walk from here instead. If you walk down Addison Avenue for 100 metres, you will come to the entrance of the Wildflower Garden. The Wildflower Garden contains several well-maintained paths through original native plantings from 1940, with interpretative signs along the way. The paths pop back out onto the main trail (now the Wildflower track) to the south, and you can continue further south here if you wish. The Wildflower track bends around to the right and joins the Boundary track.

At the point where the track bends to the right, you’ll notice some minor trails heading off to the left, into a gully with evidence of old diggings. We used to call this area “The Valley of the Kings” because the sandy, cobblestone cliffs looked like you could easily find an ancient Egyptian tomb in the cliffs. Over time, the area has become more vegetated and looks less like the Egyptian desert, but it’s still a fun place to explore, particularly if your kids like hunting for cool looking rocks.

Continue south on the Boundary track for another 100 metres or so to find a picturesque lake, with a trail around it and a small stone bridge. This is a great spot to turn back towards the Wildflower Garden and back to Ghost Tree Gully.

It’s about 750 metres from Ghost Tree Gully to the Wildflower Garden, and another 500 metres to the lake on the Boundary track, making this extension about a 2.5 kilometre round trip.

What we like about this part of Black Hill Conservation Park

• The trails are wide, smooth and stroller-friendly.
• There’s no steep hills.
• There are plenty of kangaroos to see. On our two most recent walks here, we spotted more than 35 kangaroos (and plenty of joeys in pouches) each time.

Things to consider

• The access from Everest Avenue provides the easiest entrance to the park, but still requires a step up on the curb, and passing through a gap in the fence. For bigger strollers you might need to lift them up a bit to get through.
• Keep a close eye on little ones at the end of Everest Avenue and Addison Avenue, although these roads are quiet with very little traffic apart from other walkers.
• In winter, the paths might be a bit slippery, with wet clay and slippery green moss. Walking on the side of the track on the lawn reduces the slipperiness.
• The kangaroos in this area are quite unbothered by humans, but they are still wild animals. Don’t approach or try to pat the kangaroos, and try not to stress mums with joeys in their pouches.
• If walking up to the large rock from the Summit Link trail, we recommended walking sticks to help traverse the steep slope.

Location:

End of Everest Avenue, Athelstone. Approach from Gorge Road, turn onto Kirkevue Road, then turn right onto Bradbrook Road and then left onto Everest Avenue.

Alternative parking/trailheads at the end of Joann Street, Bradbrook Road, or Addison Avenue, Athelstone.

For more information and all enquiries please visit the National Parks and Wildlife website.

At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.

As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go (unless specified).

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