Our beautiful South Australian parks provide countless opportunities for children and families to connect with nature and to experience the health and wellbeing benefits of playing, learning and being physically active through bushwalking, camping, picnicking, fishing, swimming, cycling, surfing and exploring.
Nature Play SA’s Park of the Month will showcase a different park each month and encourage children and families to experience a range of landscapes, flora and fauna while taking part in fun nature based activities.
To kick things off for 2015, Nature Play SA are featuring Encounter Marine Park in the month of January!
Encounter Marine Park offers some of Australia’s best-preserved ocean wilderness and includes the coastline of the Fleurieu Peninsula and the east coast of Kangaroo Island and has 11 marine sanctuary zones. There are lots of activities for kids in the Encounter Marine Park including swimming, beachcombing, fishing, surfing, rockpools and whale watching.
Fishing is still allowed from all public jetties and popular beaches across the state of South Australia, which is great for kids as they can still rig up a rod, grab some bait from the local tackle shop and head down to a jetty.
A popular activity is snorkelling the Port Noarlunga Reef Sanctuary Zone. This sanctuary protects a significant barrier reef and more than 50 native fish species, including old wives. There is even a self-guided scuba trail with underwater interpretive signs.
Did you know…
Even when you are playing on the beach you might be in the Encounter Marine Park, because marine parks reach to the high tide mark. About 80% of sand and sediment is made up of bryozoans, which are small aquatic invertebrate animals that use retractable tentacles to sieve food particles out of the water. If you pick up a piece of seagrass off the beach, you might see a bryozoan wrapped around the stem.
10 things to do in the Encounter Marine Park
- Try fishing from Port Noarlunga jetty
- Visit the SA Whale Centre at Victor Harbor
- Go for a snorkel at Port Noarlunga Reef
- Try surfing at Middleton Beach
- Go for a kayak in Horseshoe Bay and around Pullen Island
- Check out the rock pools at Aldinga Reef (without taking anything)
- In winter, visit the viewing platform at Basham’s Beach to watch the whales in Encounter Bay
- Take some sand home and look at it through a microscope or pair of binoculars (look through the other end of the binos)
- Go beach combing and collect any rubbish you find
- Look for bryozoans wrapped around pieces of seagrass that have been washed up on the beach
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Nature Play SA website.
What: Nature Play SA Park of the Month | Encounter Marine Park
When: January 2015
Where: Encounter Marine Park (see map)
Who: Families/All Ages
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.
