After having our very late lunch at d’Arrys Verandah Restaurant inMcLaren Vale winery region, we decided to head north to Hallett Cove Conservation Park on our way back home and visit the Sugarloaf. This place is 22 km from Adelaide CBD and is one of the best known geological sites in Australia.
The seagull and the sunset @ Hallett Cove Conservation Park
By the time we arrived, it was already 5.30 pm. The weather was perfect and the sun was setting into the sea, I was able to capture some amazing pictures at the beach and pictures of Sugarloaf. There was a cafe near the entrance of the conservation park, heard good things about that place. Would love to try it out next time we come here again.
The terrain reminded me of some Scottish postcard.
The trial at this conversation park is called “Glacier Hike”, it is 3km long and takes about roughly 2 hours according to the information site. However I do think sometimes Australians overestimate the amount of time needed for trails. Along the way you will experience ancient landscapes and local inhabitants.
The way to Sugarloaf
Due to time constraint, we did a quick walk to Sugarloaf and admire its nature beauty. The name “Sugarloaf” is due to the resemblance of hard refined sugar mass. The shape is due to the erosion by the rain and wind over thousands of years. Each layer tells a different story, if you are interested, googling online won’t be a bad idea. The conservation park website has quite a detailed explanation about the formation of the Sugarloaf.
Sugarloaf looked like a mass of hard refined sugar
Sugarloaf from different angles
Basically due to the discovery of this area, the geologists were able to conclude that parts of South Australia used to be under the sea 600 million years ago. About 500 millions of years ago the region was squeezed by earth movement which formed the folded rocks and into mountain ranges.
Sugarloaf overview
Then 280 million years ago, this area was covered by an ice cap which melted around 270 million years ago. This is proven by the distinct red, white and brown layers which are formed at different stages. The rest was too in depth, which I have a hard time understand it properly and put it in layman terms here. There were a lot of other interesting facts through out the trail, definitely worth a look for nature enthusiast, especially being so close to CBD. On a side note, I was lucky to capture a perfect photo of Sugarloaf and the rainbow 🙂
Perfect combination with the rainbow
Sunset and ocean @ Hallett Cove Conservation Park
Ps. 中文版請看距離市中心22km的幾千億年的海底斷層石頭
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