Red Banks Conservation Park

The creeks east of Burra have cut a surprise into the plains: a network of ochre-red gorges and cliffs that palaeontologists rank among the richest megafauna sites in Australia. Erosion here has exposed fossils of diprotodon — the two-tonne giant wombat, the largest marsupial ever known — along with thylacine, the marsupial lion thylacoleo and the giant kangaroo procoptodon, animals that roamed the area until about 65,000 years ago.

The Landscapes of Change interpretive walking trail leads through the story, past deep gorges and permanent waterholes, reconstructing what this country looked like when giants grazed it. Today's residents are smaller but rewarding: southern hairy-nosed wombats, echidnas, red and western grey kangaroos and prolific birdlife.

The park is about 15 kilometres east of Burra on unsealed roads, and pairs well with the waterholes of Burra Creek Gorge for a full day in the hinterland.