Platypus Waterholes Walk

Moderate

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Official parks.sa.gov.au 4.5km, 2hr wheelchair/pram-accessible walk from the Flinders Chase Visitor Centre where platypus can sometimes be spotted.

☰ Trail details

Hide panel — map only✕

Distance

3.16 km

Est. time

53 min

Elevation gain

64 m

Route type

Out & back

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island, SA. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

+ Add to tracks / plans

Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Kangaroo Island River DaisyDocumented on this trail

Achnophora tatei

Rare — SA: Rare▾

Rare — SA: Rare

Achnophora is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae described as a genus in 1883.

How to spot it

=== Morphology ===

Family Asteraceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Achnophora tatei

Twisted Sun-OrchidDocumented on this trail

Thelymitra flexuosa

Rare — SA: Rare▾

Rare — SA: Rare

Thelymitra flexuosa, known as twisted sun orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to southern Australia. It has a single thin, wiry leaf and up to four cream-coloured to canary yellow flowers with four rows of short hairs on the back of the column. It is a common and widespread species, superficially similar to T. antennifera.

How to spot it

Thelymitra flexuosa is a tuberous, perennial herb with a single wiry, linear leaf 60–150 mm (2–6 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. Up to four cream-coloured to canary yellow 10–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in) wide borne on a flowering stem 200–350 mm (8–10 in) tall. The sepals and petals are 5.5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and about 4 mm (0.2 in) wide. The labellum (the lowest petal) is shorter and narrower than the other petals and sepals. The column is white to cream-coloured, 4.5–5 mm (0.18–0.20 in) long

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Thelymitra flexuosa

Small-Flower Daisy-BushDocumented on this trail

Olearia microdisca

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, SA: Endangered▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, SA: Endangered

Olearia microdisca, commonly known as small-flowered daisy-bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae and is endemic to Kangaroo Island, South Australia. It is a compact shrub with small, crowded, oblong leaves and white and yellow, daisy-like inflorescences.

How to spot it

Olearia microdisca is a compact shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and has many softly-hairy branches. Its leaves are crowded, sometime overlapping each other, oblong 1.5–2.5 mm (0.059–0.098 in) long, about 1 mm (0.039 in) wide and sessile. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous, the lower surface is woolly-hairy and the edges are rolled under. The heads or daisy-like "flowers" are arranged singly on the ends of erect branches and sessile. Each head has two t

Family Asteraceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Olearia microdisca

Photo via NatureMapr (CC-BY 3.0 (Au)), collected by Paul4K

Enigma HakeaDocumented on this trail

Hakea aenigma

Rare — SA: Rare▾

Rare — SA: Rare

Hakea aenigma, commonly known as the enigma hakea, is a critically endangered shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It is one of two Hakea species totally reliant on suckering to reproduce therefore having "reached evolutionary dead-ends" as this method of reproduction greatly limits genetic variation. The entire population of this species may be of clonal colonies descended from a single individual.

How to spot it

Hakea aenigma is a rounded bushy shrub 1.5 to 2.5 metres (4.9 to 8.2 ft) high. Smaller branches are densely covered with flattened fine hairs, thinning nearer flowering time. The glabrescent leaves are flat and linear 5 to 35 centimetres (2 to 14 in) long and 3 to 10 millimetres (0.1 to 0.4 in) wide with prominent longitudinal veins 1–7 above and 4–9 on the underside. Each inflorescence has 16–33 flowers growing on an individual stalk. Pedicels and perianth are cream-white and smooth. The style

Family Proteaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Hakea aenigma

Native Fuchsia (Common Correa)

Correa reflexa

Widespread understorey shrub▾

Widespread understorey shrub

One of the most variable native shrubs in southern Australia, ranging from a low prostrate mat to a 1.5 m bush depending on where it grows. Its pendant tubular flowers are a reliable winter nectar source for honeyeaters and hover-feeding insects.

How to spot it

Oval leaves 10-50mm long with visible oil glands and a slightly rough feel. Bell-like, drooping tubular flowers up to 40mm long with four flared tips, usually greenish or red-and-yellow, hanging singly or in small clusters.

Family Rutaceae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: David Midgley (CC BY-SA 2.5) via Wikimedia Commons

Adelaide Hills Grass Tree

Xanthorrhoea semiplana

Slow-growing icon▾

Slow-growing icon

An iconic, extremely slow-growing grass tree of southern South Australia, taking many decades to form even a short trunk, which makes old plants a living record of how long a patch of bushland has gone unburnt or undisturbed.

How to spot it

Flat (not square) leaf cross-section distinguishes it from the related Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata. Subspecies semiplana is usually trunkless and under 1m tall; subspecies tateana, found on Kangaroo Island, develops a distinct trunk over 1m. Sends up a tall flowering spike after fire or in warmer months.

Family Asphodelaceae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: DiverDave (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Dryland Tea-tree (Moonah)

Melaleuca lanceolata

Coastal woodland former▾

Coastal woodland former

A gnarled, twisted-trunked small tree that forms distinctive low woodlands behind coastal dunes across southern Australia, tough enough to handle salt spray, wind and limestone soils that few other trees tolerate.

How to spot it

Rough, dark grey, often twisted or leaning trunk. Narrow linear leaves under 15mm long, and dense spikes of small cream-white flowers that smother the tree in summer, followed by woody spherical capsules.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Melburnian (CC BY 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Southern Cypress-pine

Callitris gracilis

Native conifer▾

Native conifer

A broad, conical native conifer of southern Australia's mallee and coastal woodlands, part of the ancient Callitris lineage of Australian cypress-pines that have persisted since Gondwanan times.

How to spot it

Flexible green branchlets covered in tiny scale-like leaves rather than needles. Small, near-spherical woody cones about 2.5-4cm across with six thick valve-like scales that split open to release papery-winged seed.

Family Cupressaceae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Heath Hunter (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Velvet Correa (Kangaroo Island Correa)

Correa backhouseana

Coastal heath shrub▾

Coastal heath shrub

A rounded, densely-hairy shrub of coastal and near-coastal heath in southern Australia; a round-leaf variety is found only on Kangaroo Island, where it grows over limestone in the coastal scrub around Flinders Chase.

How to spot it

Elliptical to round leathery leaves covered in soft woolly hairs on the underside. Cylindrical to funnel-shaped flowers 15-25mm long in cream, pale green or red-and-yellow, with stamens just protruding from the tube.

Family Rutaceae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Melburnian (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Heath Monitor

Varanus rosenbergi

Critically Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, NSW: Vulnerable, VIC: Critically Endangered, SA: Vulnerable▾

Critically Endangered — ACT: Restricted Trade Species, NSW: Vulnerable, VIC: Critically Endangered, SA: Vulnerable

The Rosenberg's monitor is an Australian species of varanid reptile found in southern regions of the continent. They are large and fast predators with rugged bodies and long tails, having a combined length up to 1.5 metres, that will consume any smaller animal that is pursued and captured or found while foraging. They occur in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, where it may be rare or locally common, and more frequently observed in Western Australia, where it is sometimes abundant.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Flinders Chase National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 2018) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Varanidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Heath Monitor

Koala

Phascolarctos cinereus

IUCN Vulnerable; EPBC-listed Endangered in QLD/NSW/ACT▾

IUCN Vulnerable; EPBC-listed Endangered in QLD/NSW/ACT

The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial endemic to Australia and the sole living member of the family Phascolarctidae, most closely related to wombats. It is recognisable by its stout, tailless body, large round-eared head, and dark leathery nose.

How to spot it

Look up into eucalypt canopies for a grey-to-chocolate-brown, tailless bundle wedged in a fork, often sleeping (koalas rest up to 20 hours a day). Body length 60-85 cm, males noticeably larger with a more curved nose and a visible chest gland. During breeding season males give a loud, deep snoring-and-belching bellow that carries a long way through the bush at night.

Family Phascolarctidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: Diliff (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Platypus

Ornithorhynchus anatinus

IUCN Near Threatened▾

IUCN Near Threatened

The platypus is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia and the sole living member of its family, combining a duck-like bill, dense waterproof fur, and (in males) a venomous ankle spur. It hunts underwater using electroreception, detecting the tiny electrical fields of prey rather than relying on sight.

How to spot it

Best spotted at dawn or dusk on still freshwater streams, rivers, or lakes — look for a low, rippling wake and a dark, streamlined body about 40-50 cm long with a rubbery grey-brown bill and a flattened beaver-like tail. They dive briefly and repeatedly, surfacing to chew food at the surface; genuinely wild sightings require patience and quiet.

Family Ornithorhynchidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Western Grey Kangaroo

Macropus fuliginosus

IUCN Least Concern▾

IUCN Least Concern

A large, common kangaroo of southern Australia, ranging from south of Shark Bay across coastal Western Australia and South Australia into western Victoria and the Murray-Darling basin; it does not occur in Tasmania or far north Queensland.

How to spot it

Distinguished from the eastern grey kangaroo by darker grey-brown fur, darker colouration around the head, and sometimes a blackish patch near the elbow. Males can be up to twice the size of females; look for them grazing in open woodland, coastal heath and farmland edges across the southern mainland.

Family Macropodidae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Southern Brown Bandicoot

Isoodon obesulus

EPBC-listed Endangered (mainland/Tasmanian subspecies); IUCN Least Concern overall▾

EPBC-listed Endangered (mainland/Tasmanian subspecies); IUCN Least Concern overall

A small, nocturnal, ground-dwelling marsupial once common across coastal southern Australia, now with a more limited and fragmented distribution; it is listed Endangered under the EPBC Act even though the species overall is IUCN Least Concern, and the isolated Fleurieu Peninsula population in South Australia is a particular conservation focus.

How to spot it

Look for fresh conical diggings in leaf litter and soil rather than the animal itself, as it is strictly nocturnal; if seen, it has coarse grizzled dark greyish-brown fur, a creamy-white underside, a pointed snout and a short tail around 13 cm long. Favours dense ground cover in heath, shrubby woodland and scrub, and in South Australia is a key focus of Fleurieu and Eyre Peninsula recovery programs.

Family Peramelidae · Source: Wikipedia; EPBC Act (SPRAT)

Photo: John O'Neill (jjron) (Public Domain) via Wikimedia Commons