Cape Conran Coastal Park is a coastal reserve located near

Marlo Marlo is a name which may refer to: People Given name or nickname Notable people with the given name or nickname include: *Marlo Dahl (born 1972), Canadian curler *Marlo Hoogstraten (also known as MaRLo), Dutch DJ * Martin "Marlo" Hyland (1969–2 ...

East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering 31,740 square kilometres (14%) of Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: East Gippsland (St ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. The 11,700 hectare area was declared a coastal park under the ''National Parks Act 1975'' (Vic) in 1997. It is 420 km east of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and 530 km south of Sydney.

Flora and fauna

Much of the area is covered by heathland and

banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range ...

woodland which attracts nectar-feeding birds.

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

and

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s (depending on the time of year) may be spotted off the coast. The abundant bird life includes

white-bellied sea eagle The white-bellied sea eagle (''Haliaeetus leucogaster''), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related t ...

s and the

eastern ground parrot The eastern ground parrot (''Pezoporus wallicus'') of Australia is one of only five ground-dwelling parrots in the world, the others being its closest relatives, the western ground parrot (''Pezoporus flaviventris''), the extremely rare night pa ...

Recreation

The area is used for a number of water-based activities including boating, fishing, swimming, diving and rock pooling. Short walks within the park include the Heathland Walk, the Cape Conran Nature Trail, the East Cape Boardwalk and the Yeerung River Estuary View and Gorge trails. Day walk destinations include Dock Inlet and Pearl Point. The Banksia Bluff Camping Area has facilities including septic toilets, cold showers, tables and fireplaces. Cabin accommodation is also provided nearby.

References

External links

Cape Conran Coastal Park (Parks Victoria)
* Cape Conran Coastal parks of Victoria (Australia) East Gippsland Headlands of Victoria (Australia) Coastline of Victoria (Australia) {{Gippsland-geo-stub