Explore the Littlehampton Tunnels in the Adelaide Hills.
A short drive up the freeway to Littlehampton, just outside of Mount Barker, brings you to a fantastic group of tunnels that you can walk as a family. There’s plenty to explore here and lots of photo opportunities.
Review by Claire Davill
To reach the tunnels we recommend parking at the end of Childs Road in Littlehampton, just down past the brickworks. Here you will find an amazing 75 metre long pedestrian tunnel that takes you underneath the South Eastern Freeway. The entire tunnel has been painted by street artist Wendy Dixon-Whiley, in a scrawling black and white pattern that creates an amazing effect as you walk along the corrugated iron lining. This tunnel is well lit, stroller friendly and will have you posing for photos along the whole length!
When you reach the opposite end of the tunnel, turn right. Follow the bike and pedestrian path down the slope.
Just before you reach a culvert that goes underneath the old train line, look for a small path up onto the tracks to the right of the bike path, as shown in this picture.
The path is a little steep and slippery, so take care. If you can’t traverse this, you can backtrack, and drive around to Cameron Road to the south, and hop on to the old railway tracks there.
Once you are up on the old tracks*, you’ll see the 96 metre long tunnel. You don’t need a torch to walk through this one, but you might want one to see where your feet are – a phone light is sufficient. There may be some broken glass on the ground, so we recommend everyone wears closed shoes. There’s plenty of colourful graffiti in here, and a nice echo for little voices. Make sure to take pictures, there’s a reason this is one of the most Instagrammed spots in the Adelaide Hills! The tunnel is especially spectacular in autumn, with leaves on the trees and tracks.
(* the tracks are not usually in use! The SteamRanger train does use these tracks very rarely, so check their website to see if a train is schedule to come through or not)
This tunnel takes you back underneath the freeway, and out the other side, we highly recommend walking further along the tracks. The soil is compacted up to the sleepers along most of this section, making it much smoother and easier to walk on. The scenery here is beautiful, and you can walk all the way up to the Old Princess Highway, along the back of the brickworks too.
If you happen to have the kids bikes with you, after you exit the tunnel, look for a path heading up the hill on your left. This will take you to a bmx track that has some big jumps for big kids and a smaller section suitable for little kids. The track is really tucked away and very quiet, the only other access is from the Radio Racing Cars track’s driveway from the Old Princes Highway adjacent to Anembo Park.
Double back to the tunnel, and if you look down to the left (the north eastern side of the tunnel), you’ll find a third, smaller tunnel. This rectangular tunnel was an old stormwater tunnel, and has old telegraph wires running along the top of it as well!
This tunnel is smaller and darker, and you’ll definitely want a torch or phone light for this one. You can walk all the way through, and there’s lots of graffiti in here too. If you happen to have a UV/blacklight torch, bring it! Seeing the graffiti fluoresce is fun for the kids and makes for some different pictures too. At the southern exit you can walk back up to the train line through the trees to end up back at the southern entrance to the railway tunnel. This path isn’t steep, but it may be a bit overgrown at times.
From here you can walk back down to the bike path, and back up to the first tunnel, and back to your car.
The whole walk is less than a kilometre (less than two kilometres if you walk north along the trail lines), and packs in so much to explore. We highly recommend checking out all three tunnels when you’re visiting this part of the Adelaide Hills.
Location:
Access the tunnels via Childs Road, Littlehampton
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Mount Barker District Council 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.
Image Source: Play & Go Adelaide 2024
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