Los Parques Nacionales

AUSTRALIA

Daintree National Park

The Daintree National Park is located in Far North Queensland, 100km northwest of Carins. It was founded in 1981 and was granted listing in the Wet Tropics World Heritage List in 1988. It is accessible by car and most trips leave from Cairns or Port Douglas.

Mossman Gorge section

The main entrance to the park is at Mossman Gorge, where visitors can see the very best rainforest. Here there are visitor tracks that offer views of beautiful fauna and flora, as well as a large river that is a popular swimming hole.

Cape Tribulation section

Originally the cape belonged to the Cape Tribulation National Park, however was merged into the Daintree National Park in 1983. This section covers 17,000 hectares along a narrow coastal strip of long sandy beaches. It is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world.

Kosciuszko National Park

The Kosciuszko National Park is located in New South Wales, 354 km southwest of Sydney. The park covers 6,900 square kilometers and is home to mainland Australia’s highest peak – Mount Kosciuszko. Its borders contain a mix of mountains and wilderness, making it popular with recreational skiers and bushwalkers.

The higher regions of the park experience an alpine climate, an unusual occurrence on mainland Australia. The mountains are typically covered by metre-deep snow for up to four months of the year, and the park attracts many skiers to its ski stations such as Perisher and Thredbo. However it is also popular in the summer, and many people use the Australian Alps Walking Track. Many rare or threatened plant and animal species reside within the boundaries of the park, for example the Corroboree frog, one of Australia’s most threatened species.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park

Uluru and Kata Tjuta, Northern Territory

Uluru

Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It stands at 3.6km long and rises a towering 348m from the surrounding sandy scrubland (867m above sea level) and it is even believed that two-thirds of the rock lies beneath the sand.

Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. The area around the formation is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site and if not for the wonder of this incredible natural occurrence, a trip to Uluru is worth it for the cultural experience.

Uluru, Northern Territory

The landscape of Uluru changes dramatically with the shifting light and seasons. If your first sight of Uluru is during the afternoon, it appears as an ochre-brown colour, scored and pitted by dark shadows. As the sun sets, it illuminates the rock in burnished orange, then a series of deeper and darker reds before it fades into charcoal.

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta, also called Mount Olga or The Olgas, lies 25 km (16 mi) west of Uluru. Kata Tjuta means 'many heads' and is of great tjukurpa significance, so climbing on the domed rocks is not permitted however, special viewing areas with road access and parking have been constructed to give tourists the best views of both sites at dawn and dusk. 

Kata Tjuta aerial view, Northern Territory 

The 36 domes that make up Kata Tjuta cover an area of 21.68 km2 (8.37 sq mi), are composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of varying rock types including granite and basalt, cemented by a matrix of sandstone.

Kata Tjuta, Northern Territory

The best way to view Kata Tjuta is to take the Valley of the Winds walking track, a 7.4km loop trail (two to four hours) that traverses varying desert terrain and yields wonderful views of surreal boulders. Like Uluru, the Olgas are at their glorious, blood-red best at sunset. 

Kakadu National Park

World Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park is Australia’s largest national park and home to a variety of habitats and wildlife, including saltwater crocodiles.

Jim Jim Falls, Kakadu National Park

Kakadu provides extraordinary natural and human histories witch will defy anything you have read. Even old-hand nature buffs will find for the first time seed pods, insects and animals unique to the area. 

Red Lily Billabong, Kakadu National Park

The 2000 million-year-old rocks tell 20, 000-year-old stories: of the existence of long-extinct giant kangaroos and thylacines. There are hundreds of square kilometres of park, so allow at least three days to discover a smidgen.

Arnhem Highway, Kakadu

Parks Australia and the traditional owners, the Bininj in the north and Mungguy in the south, who have lived in Kakadu for at least 50, 000 years. There are several settlements in the park, and much of Kakadu is Aboriginal land, leased to the government for its current use. About one-third of the park rangers are Aboriginal people.

Yellow Water, Kakadu National Park

Top places to visit:

• Jim Jim and Twin Falls
• Explore the wetlands at Yellow Waters
• Discover the amazing caves and artwork at Nourlangie Rock
• Day trip to Arnhem Land or Gunbalanya  to visit Oenpelli
• Bubba Bubba wetland walk
• Take a cruise up the East Alligator River
• Gaze at Gunlom escarpment waterfall
• Visit Ubirr Gallery and Nardab lookout

Kambolgie Billabong, Kakadu National Park

NEW ZEALAND

Abel Tasman National Park

The coastal Abel Tasman National Park is New Zealand’s most visited national park. It is renowned for its golden beaches, sculptured granite cliffs, unmodified estuaries and world-famous Abel Tasman Coast Track. It has a mild climate and is a good place to visit at any time of the year, however is particularly popular in summer. It is located at the top of the South Island, and the nearest towns are Motueka and Takaka.

Natural highlights

The park is famous for its golden sandy beaches, fascinating rocky outcrops, the estuaries and the offshore islands. There are a number of forest birds that can be seen, such as tui and bellbirds. All native wildlife, natural, cultural and historic features are protected within the park.

Things to do

Walking – The Abel Tasman Coast Track is 51kms long and suits most ages and levels of fitness. Most people can walk it in 3-5 days with plenty of time to explore.

Sea kayaking and sailing – these activities allow you to access some of the sheltered coves now available by the walking track.

Facilities

There are eight huts in the park that have bunks, tables, benches and heating. There are also numerous campsites in the park with water supplies and toilets.

Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park

Aoraki/Mount Cook (70,696 hectares) is New Zealand's great alpine park.  It was formally established as a national park in 1953 from reserves that were established as early as 1887 to protect the area’s significant vegetation and landscape. 

Mount Cook, New Zealand

Aoraki/Mount Cook is located in the central part of the South Island, deep in the heart of the Southern Alps. Aoraki/Mount Cook village lies within the park with Twizel the nearest town outside

It has the highest mountains and the largest glaciers - of the 27 New Zealand mountains over 3050m, 22 are in this park. Aoraki/Mount Cook village and all visitors to the park are dwarfed by the immensity of the landscape that surrounds them. The highest is the mighty Mt Cook, and at 3755m it’s the tallest peak in Australasia. Known to Maori as Aoraki (Cloud Piercer), after an ancestral deity in Maori mythology, the mountain was named after James Cook by Captain Stokes of the survey ship HMS Acheron.

Mount Cook, New Zealand

Top things to do:

• Go Heliskiing down Mount Cook
• Go fishing
• Trekking
• Take a boat tour on the glacier lakes