Nature Festival of SA 2023 – NGT’s ‘Grand Tour’ of ecological restoration sites

As part of the 2023 Nature Festival of SA, we are hosting a 6 day self-drive grand tour of our restoration sites this October!

We will start with freshwater fish recovery in the Adelaide suburban environment and then venture across agricultural regions to see restoration of woodlands, grasslands and wetlands, being undertaken at scale. On the final couple of days, we’ve even stretched the geographic boundaries of the Festival a little by including some of NGT’s restoration sites in south-western Victoria, enabling you to join our community of supporters from across Australia on the final day for our major spring celebration at Walker Swamp!

To get a sense of the geography of the tour, please see the map below, which also provides the names of the places that might make good overnight stay locations along the way.

Summary: Each day can be booked and attended as a single event, or alternatively, completing the entire Grand Tour will involve a 6-day, multi-site, self-drive experience across southern SA and south-western Victoria. Each day, your NGT hosts will meet you at designated locations (details to be provided in due course after booking) for each event.

Dates: The tour and our daily events start on Monday 2nd October in Adelaide, SA and conclude on Saturday 7th October at Walker Swamp, Victoria.

Attendance requirements: Each day is a separate event with a different flavour, so you can register for a single event on any day, or join us as we travel across the landscape and come to them all!

So why not come along and join us each day, as we visit some of our favourite restored places, where nature is being given a second chance? We will meet various NGT ecologists and special guests along the way, during this rare opportunity to learn about what is involved in overcoming the challenges of environmental recovery and allowing nature to thrive, in a range of very different landscapes.

Places are limited, so please read the instructions carefully:
To confirm your attendance, each day needs to be booked separately on the Nature Festival website, and please be assured that we have allowed sufficient time for travel between sites during daylight hours if you are joining us for more than one day of the Grand Tour. Detailed travel instructions will be provided, as well as a suggested itinerary for those who register for multiple days of the tour, but please note that meals, accommodation and travel for the Grand Tour are to be self-managed by attendees, with the exception of a free catered BBQ lunch on Day 6.

Bookings:

Day 1 – Monday 2nd October: Join Nature Glenelg Trust ecologists, Traditional Custodians and other partners as we explore projects protecting threatened fish in suburban Adelaide and restoring Swamps on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Click the button below or here to learn more or book your place at Day 1.

Day 2 – Tuesday 3rd October: This is your chance to join NGT and others, as we learn all about Bio.R’s large-scale woodland restoration project underway at Frahns Farm, Monarto. Click the button below or here to learn more or book your place at Day 2.

Day 3 – Wednesday 4th October: Let’s explore restored woodlands, home to the south-eastern Red-tailed Black-cockatoo and many other woodland bird species, at NGT’s Eaglehawk Waterhole Restoration Reserve, Bangham. Click the button below or here to learn more or book your place at Day 3.

Day 4 – Thursday 5th October: Come along and immerse yourself in wetlands restored at NGT’s Mt Burr Swamp Restoration Reserve in 2016 and 2023, home to nationally threatened species of fish, frogs, birds and mammals. Click the button below or here to learn more or book your place at Day 4.

Day 5 – Friday 6th October: Experience NGT’s longest-running coastal wetland restoration project at Long Swamp, Discovery Bay Coastal Park, and then take a rare look at grassland restoration underway behind the new predator-proof fence at NGT’s Mt Vandyke Restoration Reserve, embedded deep within Cobboboonee National Park. Click the button below or here to learn more or book your place at Day 5.

Day 6 – Saturday 7th October: End the ‘Grand Tour’ on a real high, by attending the major community event celebrating the recent addition of 390 acres to NGT’s Walker Swamp Restoration Reserve, a spectacular wetland restoration site adjacent to the Grampians National Park. Click the button below or here to learn more or book your place at Day 6.

Please email any enquiries to , otherwise I look forward to seeing you out there for what promises to be a fantastic week exploring the landscape together!