About the Walking Trail

The Tapa Wardlipara indigenous interpretive trail showcases plants used by the local indigenous people in the past. The trail is a winding path and boardwalks through the centre of the Kaurna Park Wetlands.

The trail naming of ‘Tapa Wardlipara’ (sometimes spelt ‘Tappa Wodliparri’) is a Kaurna Mirurna Minaintya (Dreaming). Tappa means path. Tappa Wodliparri is the celestial river in the night sky, the Milky Way. The trail is lined with reed, and huts, and meanders across the warna (plains); the great night plain. For Kaurna people, the sky world explains and reflects their lives and the lands and waters around them. The extensive Adelaide Plains wetlands were a tremendous source of economic and spiritual wealth for the Kaurna people.

Be careful after rains as the boardwalks can be slippery and some parts of the trail may be muddy.

Extend your walk by doing the boundary walk, which is 2.9km and 40mins walk.

It’s best to start at the main carpark off Waterloo Corner Road, although there is an additional entry point via Diment Road in the north but is an additional 8-10 minutes walk along an access path.

The Kaurna Park forms part of the Edinburgh Biodiversity Corridor. From it’s previous light farming use, the park now has a creek system of shallow billabongs, mimicking floodplains found along the Gawler River. The low lying floodplain areas hve been planted with a Eucalyptus camaldulensis (River Red Gum) woodland while slightly elevated areas have been planted to mimic a relatively dense Eucalyptus largiflorens (River Box) woodland.

This is a wheel friendly park, with plenty of pram people walking with prams. It’s very well maintained gravel with a few boardwalk bridges. The lower loop section is sometimes inaccessible after heavy rains as the floodplain can flood.

The trails are shared use. Dog walking is permitted. Dogs must be a on a leash no more than 2m long, except after 6:30pm and before 8am.