My Science School

Tongariro National Park is famous not only for being the oldest national park in New Zealand. It is also famous for being a dual World Heritage area.

Tongariro National park is centred around three active volcanoes – Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. A variety of flora and fauna thrive in this acidic environment. Along with volcanic vents, one could also see several glaciers in the park. The plant and animal life in the park include the endangered whio or blue duck, North Island brown kiwi, tomtit, robin, tui, grey warbler, native falcon, golden and red tussocks, white foxgloves, podocarp trees, mountain cedars and sundews. Because of these outstanding natural characteristics, Tongariro National Park was declared a World Heritage site in 1990.

Three years later, the Park was also granted Cultural World Heriatge status under the revised criteria in recognition of its cultural significance and history. The Park is also famous for Maori cultural and spiritual associations.

 

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The Nelson Lakes National Park supports a honeydew ecosystem. Honeydew is a sweet sticky substance that forms a rich source of food for many birds, bats, lizards and insects.

Honeydew is produced by small scale insects that live inside the bark of beech trees; it is a sugar-rich sticky substance formed in droplets that protrudes from each tree trunk.

The Nelson Lakes National Park is centred around two large lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa; these lakes are the largest in this area. Both the lakes are surrounded by steep mountains and the shores of the lakes are lined by native honeydew beech forest, which feed a variety of tuneful nectar-eating native birds.

Apart from the red and silver beech trees, the forests around the lakes are abundant with a range of shrubs. These shrubs have an unusual wiry form. This feature is thought to have evolved as a defence against browsing by moa, a flightless bird now extinct.

 

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How can anyone compare rocks to pancakes? But we do have rocks shaped like pancakes stacked together in a giant heap. This curious structure is found in Paproa National Park. The Pancake Rocks are one of the most visited tourist destinations in New Zealand.

The Pancake Rocks are in fact a heavily eroded limestone area that forms surge pools and blow holes. Apart from the Pancake Rocks, the Paparoa National Park has a variety of landforms including mountains, high cliffs, lowlands, glacial valleys and coastal terrains.

Due to the mild climate and high fertility of the soil, a variety og organisms thrive in Paparoa National Park. One could find colonies of the Westland petrel, a rare seabird, in the densely forested terraces south of the Punakaiki river. Seals including the fur seal, elephant seal and leopard seal are also found here in abundance.

 

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Locked between Golden Bay and Tasman Bay at the north end of the South Island, Abel Tasman National Park is the smallest national park in New Zealand. The park is named after a European explorer Abel Tasman. Tasman was the first person to sight New Zealand in 1642 and anchored near the Golden Bay.

Abel Tasman National Park is a forested hilly area with considerable flora and fauna. Petrels, shags, penguins, gulls, terns, and herons are the birds that frequent this area.

A private funded trust named Project Janszoon works to conserve and restore the Park’s ecosystem. This name too has got something to do with the European explorer; Janszoon is Tasman’s middle name!

 

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The Westland Tai Poutini National park stretches from the highest peaks of Southern Alps to a remote coastline. Within this stretch, it contains glaciers, lakes, dense temperate rainforests, the remains of old gold mining towns along the coast and even hot springs. There are sixty named glaciers in Westland Tail Poutini National Park!

Both rain and snow falls on the park. There are three main rivers that originate in the park; they empty into the Tasman Sea. The diverse geological forms support a variety of plant and animal life. Gillespies Beach in the park is home to the only species of fur seal breeding on the New Zealand mainland. A sizeable bird population thrives on the vegetation in the park that includes huge pines and cypresses, and subalpine scrubs. The birds in the park range from ducks and kingfishers to skylarks and falcons. Himalayan tahr too can be spotted here.

 

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The sand dunes in Sigatoka became the first national park in Fiji. These sand dunes were continuously forming for thousands of years as a result of coastal erosion and are 20-60 metres tall.

Sigatoka National Park supports a sand dune ecosystem, and is home to different varieties of plants and 22 species of birds. This place is of archaeological importance as well. Several excavations have been carried out in this site and the findings include pottery that is more than 2600 years old. The dunes came under the management of the National Trust of Fiji in 1989.

 

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Freycinet National Park, noted for its range of rare and endemic flora and fauna, as well as the diversity of landscapes and communities is also the oldest national park in Tasmania. Granite mountains, sandy beaches, dunes and estuaries dominate the landscape of Freycinet National Park.

A place of scenic beauty, Freycinet National Park is also noted for its flora and fauna; forty-nine endemic species are found at Freycinet. Whales, particularly southern right whales are frequent visitors here. The fauna of Freycinet include brushtail possum, sugar glider, humpback whale and bottlenose dolphins. The Tasmanian devil was once a common sight at the park. Now there is a significant drop in their numbers due to a cancer known as the Devil Facial Tumour Disease. The Park has a vivid plant life as well; more than 500 plants have been recorded within the park including more than 80 species of orchids.

 

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Coloured sand, large sand dunes, healthlands, untouched beaches, rainforests, swamps, creeks, freshwater lakes and mangrove forests – the Great Sandy National Park has got them all. This coastal national park is a geological marvel. Thousands of tourists come here every year to see the coloured sand.

The coloured sands were formed when the old sand get mixed with clay to form a consolidated mass. The colours are a reflection of the iron-rich minerals embedded in the sand for thousands of years. It is brought to the surface by wind and water eroding the land. One can find red, brown, and yellow sand in Great Sandy National Park.

Great Sandy National Park is divided into two sections – the Cooloola Recreation Area and Fraser Coast Important Bird Area. The Fraser Coast Important Bird Area supports a huge bird population including black-breasted button-quails, regent bowerbirds and mangrove honeyeaters.

 

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Though isolated from other landmasses of Australia, Christmas Island is spectacular. It is rich in biodiversity and home to several endemic species.

Christmas Island has uniquely structured rainforests and wetlands that shelter millions of animals, birds, insects and reptiles. You would be surprised to know that 45 million red crabs live in this island! Every year, around 80,000 birds nest in Christmas Island. Most of the animals and plants found in this national park are not found elsewhere in the world. Many of the animals here have Christmas Island gecko, Christmas Island blind snake and Christmas Island shrew.

At least 200 species of endemic plants are found in Christmas Island. The plant life here is influenced by warm temperatures, heavy rainfall and the soil type.

 

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Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is named after two of Australia’s most spectacular sites-Uluru, a sandstone monolith and Kata Tjuta a conglomeration of red rock domes. Both Uluru and Kata Tjuta are regarded as sacred spots as some Aboriginal communities believe that their ancestral beings still live here. The Anangu are the traditional Aboriginal owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

Uluru is made of a type of rock called arkose with flaky red surface containing grey patches. The flakes are in fact bits of rock left after water and oxygen have decayed the minerals in the rock. Kata Tjuta is a large dome-like structure made of pebbles and boulders that are cemented by sand and mud. Most of the pieces are granite and basalt, and look like a plum-pudding. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to hundreds of plants, birds, reptiles and animals.

 

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Most of us know about Port Campbell as a scenic coast with limestone formations that would make a good photograph.

We have seen these limestone formations near the Great Ocean Road on our desktop background. But, there is much more in Port Campbell than the cliffs, rock stacks, gorges, arches, and blow-holes.

A wide variety of birds thrive on the fragile ecosystem in Port Campbell National Park including honeyeaters, southern emu, fairy wrens, swamp harriers, Rufous bristlebird, peregrine falcons, pelicans, ducks, black swans and egrets.

These birds are found in the grasslands and health lands of Port Campbell. Along with these, Australasian gannets, wandering albatrosses and short-tailed shearwaters live out at sea. Penguins are also seen near the shore line.

 

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Undara Volcanic National Park is noted for its lava tubes and rich mineral deposits. For millions of years, Undara was an active shield volcano.

A massive eruption occurred in the volcano. The lava tubes and caves that we see today were formed when rivers of lava confined to a valley crusted over and formed a roof.

The lava tubes in the Undara Volcanic National Park contain the remains of the Earth’s longest flow of lava originating from a single volcanic crater. Numerous caves were formed within the lava tubes and these are now fertile pockets in which plant and animal species thrive.

Out of these, Bayliss Cave is considered one of the world’s most important, biologically diverse caves. The mineral wealth of the Park includes topaz, moonstone, peridot, aquamarine, gamet, quartz and gold. The Park also has many perennial springs which provide important habitats for a range of wildlife.

 

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Daintree rainforest is one of the oldest rainforests in the world. Home to many rare species, the Daintree rainforest has a significant bird population. This rainforest has more than 430 bird species, 23 reptiles and at least thirteen amphibians. The Daintree National Park is divided into two sections with an agricultural settlement in the middle.

The Daintree National Park is quite a spectacle; lush forests, the Daintree river and pristine beaches. Much of the national park is covered by tropical rainforest that has existed for more than 100 million year. The name comes from the Daintree river. The river was named by George Elphinstone Dalrymple, an early explorer of the area. He named the river after his friend Richard Daintree.

 

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Kakadu National Park is famous for natural and cultural reasons. It houses a complex ecosystem of tidal flats, floodplains, lowlands and plateaus that is home to hundreds of plants and animals, and Aboriginal people.

In fact, the Aboriginals have been living in Kakadu for as long as the last 40,000 years. The site is rich in Aboriginal culture. It has around 5000 recorded art sites illustrating Aboriginal culture over thousands of years.

These existed along with a rich variety of flora and fauna; the Kakadu plum, Koolpin Gorge, spear grass, black wallaroos, black flying foxes…the list can go on and on with more names of plants, mammals, birds, frogs and fish. Because of the natural and cultural history of Kakadu National Park has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

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The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the world’s biggest coral reef system. It is made up of 400 types of coral and is home to 1,500 species of fish and 4000 varieties of mollusc.

It is indeed the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms and is so huge that it is visible from outer space. So, imagine the size.

Billions of tiny organisms called coral polyps compose the Great Barrier Reef; there are around 3000 individual reefs that span over 2300 kilometres.

It is home to a wide range of organisms including the green sea turtle, stingray, clownfish, red bass, red-throat emperor, dwarf minke whale, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, and the humpback whale.

The Reef also supports around 500 species of algae and seaweed.

A large part of the Reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The Park works to limit the impact of human interventions, such as fishing and tourism. It also monitors the health of the Reef.

 

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