Girringun National Park
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Girringun National Park | |
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IUCN Category II (National Park) | |
Nearest town/city: | Ingham |
Coordinates: | |
Area: | 1510 km² |
Managing authorities: | Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service |
Official site: | Mt Fox Wallaman Falls |
Girrungun National Park is a National Park in Queensland (Australia), approximately 50 km southwest of Ingham, 110 km north of Townsville and 1290 km northwest of Brisbane. The park was formerly named Lumholtz National Park when it was created in 1994. Its name was subsequently changed to Girrungun in 2003.
The park is one of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area series of national parks, and is a gazetted World Heritage site.
[edit] Geography
This large, 1,240 square kilometre National Park consists mainly of wet sclerophyll forests, but small pockets of rainforest also exists along the eastern slopes and hilltops. The Seaview, George and Cardwell ranges dominate the landscape, which is strewn with granite debris from a volcanic eruption 100,000 years ago. Perhaps the most well known geological feature in this park is the Wallaman Falls. At 297 metres, it is the largest single-drop falls in Australia.
[edit] Recreation
There is only limited vehicle and walking access to most areas of the park, and only experienced bushwalkers should attempt to access these areas. There are, however, some paths into the forest, such as the 8 km Dalrymple Gap Track, or the 2 km Wallaman Falls track, which contains extensive lookouts for the falls and surrounding forests and mountains.