20 THINGS
TO DISCOVER
KELLY HILLS
CONSERVATION PARK
Kelly Hills Conservation Park is home to a unique
underground limestone cave system, beautiful coastal
landscapes and unique old-growth woodlands and is
adjacent Cape Bouguer Wilderness Protection Area.
The Park has a range of walks and tours to suit any
nature explorer. The Park also offers the opportunity
to spot rare plants and animals as well as those unique
to the island such as the: Kangaroo Island Kangaroo;
Kangaroo Island Echidna; Kangaroo Island Tiger Snake;
and the Kangaroo Island Silver Bush.
The fees generated at the Park enable the conservation
of the wildlife and preservation of the unique cave
system for generations to come.
For bookings, maps and other Park
information see
environment.sa.gov.au/parks
1. Visitor Centre
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A relaxing and short hike amongst towering sugar gums and ancient
grass trees. Bushland birds are a plenty including wrens, robins,
cockatoos, kookaburras, honeyeaters, and crimson rosellas. You will
encounter signs of wildlife including echidna and goanna diggings,
kangaroo and wallaby scats and small burrows for reptiles and if you’re
lucky you may even get glimpse of some of these amazing creatures.
The small visitor centre, surrounded by Sugar Gums, has some great
information including tour times, costs, and duration and length of
walks through the Park.
2. Show Cave
4. May/Burgess Walking Trail
Cost: Show Cave Tour: Adult - $18.00, Concession - $15.00, Child $10.00, Family (2 adults & 2 children OR 1 adult & 3 children) - $45.00
Adventure Caving Tour: Adult - $70.00, Concession - $55.00,
Child (min age 8) - $40.00
5. Hanson Bay Hike (1 day, 18km)
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One of the most brightly coloured birds. Males are bright blue and
black. Females are brown with red above their eye. They weave small
dome-shaped nests. You will see them around the Visitor Centre.
8. Laughing Kookaburra
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The Show Cave is situated 12 metres underground and is accessed only
by guided tours. Within the limestone cave system it is a constant 16
degrees all year round with 70-80% humidity. The cave is decorated
with fascinating stalactite, stalagmite, shawl, helictite and column
formations. For more adventurous souls there is an Adventure Caving
Tour where you will crawl through a network of caves with a head torch.
7. Superb Fairy-wren
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A type of Kingfisher, Kookaburras have an unmistakable sound
when they start laughing! They are mostly carnivorous birds feeding
on insects, lizards, mice, snakes, and occasionally other birds.
Kookaburras depend on tall gum trees to perch and nest in tree
hollows such as the Sugar Gums around the Visitor Centre.
This day-long trail meanders from Kelly Hill Visitor Centre to Hanson
Bay. It passes through a variety of ecosystems with an array of plants
and wildlife alongside freshwater lagoons, and over dunes along the
coast. It also travels through through the Cape Bouguer Wilderness
Protection Area and forms day five of the Kangaroo Island Wilderness
Trail (a 5 day walking trail).
AGREEMENT
When playing in nature I agree to:
1
Have fun
2
Get dirty
3
Learn something
4
Explore new places
5
Discover new things
6
Be kind to the plants and animals
7
Leave nothing but footprints
8
Come back to play again!
9. Kangaroo Island Kangaroo
and Tammar Wallaby
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3. Original Cave Entrance
The original cave entrance is a steep hole/shaft in the ground (known
as a solution tube) that was once the only access point to the caves –
you can see the ladder that is still used for Ranger access. It is located
on the May/Burgess Hike. On occasion the Chocolate Wattled Bat
may use this to sleep during the day.
6. Crimson Rosella
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This bright red and blue parrot can be heard chattering in the
canopies around the visitor centre. It is dependent on the hollows of
ancient trees such as Sugar Gums to lay eggs and raise their young.
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The Kangaroo Island Kangaroo is endemic to the Island and differs
from the mainland species by its shorter more robust appearance
with dark markings on its snout, arms, and feet. Females spend
much of their life breeding so almost always have a joey in their
pouch! Tammar Wallabies are much smaller than the KI Kangaroo.
They were extinct on the mainland in the 1920’s and have since been
reintroduced to parts of SA. Dawn and dusk is the best time to see
both of these creatures.
10. Kangaroo Island Short-beaked Echidna
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This echidna has more spines that are longer, thinner and paler in colour
than the mainland sub species. From mid-May to early September up to
10 males can form a ‘train’ behind one female all hoping to mate. They
are one of the only two mammals in the world to lay eggs (the other one
is the Platypus). Echidna diggings are cone-shaped and common along
the many walking trails.
13. Sugar Gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx)
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These towering trees are endemic to South Australia with a strong
population on the island. The leaves are glossy green and the canopy
spreads out like parachutes. Their gum nuts are ridged and can be
found on the ground around the trees. Sugar Gums can form important
tree hollows for birds, bats and mammals and are valuable habitat for
insects, and other invertebrates.
16. Kangaroo Island Silver Bush
(Adenanthos macropodiana)
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19. Fungi
This bush is endemic to Kangaroo Island meaning it is found nowhere
else in the world. It has soft silver leaves with reddish flowers
appearing winter providing a source of nectar for honeyeaters.
Over 140 different fungi exist in the Park. Fungi play important roles in
all ecosystems from backyards and school grounds to the old growth
woodlands in the Park. Many fungi are recyclers, helping break down
dead plant and animal material
and putting nutrients back into the soil.
Many others form essential partnerships with trees and other plants with
the fungi collecting nutrients and water from the soil and passing them
to roots. In return the plants provide energy-giving sugars. Fungi are
most common in autumn and winter, particularly following rain.
Note: wild fungi should never be eaten.
17. Bracken Fern (Pteridium esculentum)
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11. Rosenberg’s Goanna
14. Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata)
Growing up 1.5 metres long, the survival of this reptile is dependent
on very small creatures – termites. The female lays up to 13 eggs in a
termite mound. The hole made by the mother is quickly repaired by
the termites. The eggs stay inside the mound for around eight months
(where it is a constant 32 degrees celsius). When the hatchlings
emerge they feed on the protein rich termites before digging their
way out – although only one in twelve survive the first year.
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A green fern with fine hairs on its stems and ranges from knee to headhigh in certain places. Provides ideal shelter and protection for small
birds and mammals such as the Southern Brown Bandicoot.
The Silver Banksia has a large cylinder-shaped yellow flower that
produces pollen sought after by insects and nectar eaten by birds
such as honeyeaters. The seeds are a popular food source parrots and
cockatoos. Banksias need fire to release seeds from their woody seed
pods. The other bankisa in the Park is Banksia ornata.
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20. Fallen logs
Fallen logs throughout the Park play an important role as they: provide
habitat and protection for wildlife; provide perfect growth conditions
for some fungi, lichen, and moss, and feed valuable nutrients back into
the soil as they decompose.
Thanks to all the passionate staff at Kelly Hills Conservation Park for their
contribution to this poster. This Poster is part of the Park of the Month initiative
driven by Nature Play SA and supported by the Department for Environment
Water and Natural Resources. Photography: Jason Tyndall (JT), Louis Decrevel
(LD), Nick Heath (NH) and KI Natural Resource Management Board (KINRMB).
natureplaysa.org.au
KINRMB
12. Kangaroo Island Tiger Snake (Venemous)
One of only two snakes on Kangaroo Island (the other being a Pygmy
Copperhead), Tiger Snakes are venomous and on the mainland can be
aggressive, however on Kangaroo Island they are more docile
and tend
to flee when disturbed. They are black thick snakes with flattened heads
and variable in colour from black to brown and most with tiger-like bands.
To avoid snakes it is important to keep to designated paths.
15. Yacca (Xanthorrhoea semiplana)
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Yaccas, also known as grass trees, have a black trunk that looks burnt,
with long spiky grass-like leaves. The tall flowering stalk attracts
birds, insects, and pygmy possums. It is long lived but slow growing,
achieving only one centimeter of growth per year – some in the Park
are over five metres (not including their flower spike).
18. Native Orchids
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Much like frogs can tell us if water is healthy, orchids can tell us if an
area of native vegetation is healthy. Throughout most months of the
year there is an orchid flowering in the Park. Orchids in the Park include
helmet orchids, greenhoods, pink fingers, and the spider orchids.
P R O U D LY S U P P O R T E D B Y