Australia National Parks - QLD Tropical North Coast

Qld Far North Coast National Parks

Daintree National Park

A large rainforest park with rivers gorges and waterfalls. Walking tracks which start at Mossman Gorge, pass through rainforest and and some excellent swimming holes. Cruises are available up the Daintree River and are a great way to spot many birds and animals, and even crocodiles.
Cape Tribulation

At Cape Tribulation spectacular beaches are surrounded by dense rainforest on one side and spectacular coral reef on the other.

Mount Hypipamee National Park (The Crater)

Located high on the southern Evelyn Tableland in the Hugh Nelson Range, this park is centred around a volcanic pipe which has crater approximately 70m across, sheer granite walls and a lake 82m deep, fifty-eight metres below the rim.

This park consists of high altitude rainforest with flora closely related to the sub-tropical rainforests of southern Queensland and New South Wales. Being at a higher altitude than other parks on the Tablelands, climatic conditions are wet and cool.

Seven species of possum can be found in the park and the Crater is home to many rainforest birds such as the golden bowerbird and spotted and toothbilled catbirds. Scrub turkeys as well as Lewin's and bridled honeyeaters are common around the picnic area and Victoria's riflebird, a bird of paradise, may be seen performing his spectacular mating dance in the spring.

Lake Eacham National Park

Lake Eacham is a maar (a volcanic crater formed by explosions from overheating groundwater) surrounded by rainforest. Different soil types and drainage patterns can result in a wide variety of forest types. A 4.5km track around the lake passes many different rainforest communities. At the start of the track there is evidence of rainforest clearing during World War II with dominant grey-green wattles in the canopy and a large number of young rainforest species underneath.

There are approximately 100 species of birds in the rainforest here as well as one of the few species of marsupial active during daytime, the small, dark, musky rat-kangaroo.

Lake Barrine National Park

Lake Barrine, a clear, blue lake 65m deep surrounded by lush rainforest is also a maar. The vegetation consists of mainly tall trees (35-40m), many large fig trees, and an understory with long-leaved ginger plants and aeroids. A 6.5km circuit track begins at the lake's edge below the car park and passes two exceptionally large kauri pines, a tree which dominated Tableland forests for thousands of years.

Wildlife around the lake includes the common saw-shelled turtle, water dragons, amethystine pythons and the colourful Boyd's forest dragon, a lizard that grows to 45cm.

Lake Barrine is an ideal location for scientific studies of pollen found in sediments on the lake floor. These layers which go back millennia, are used to record past changes in vegetation and therefore climatic changes Study of these sediments and those of other maars nearby have provided evidence for a theory proposing expansion and contraction of Tableland rainforests.