Ben-Boyd-Nationalpark

The Ben Boyd National Park is a national park located in the extreme southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales, 382 km south of Sydney. He was named after Benjamin Boyd (1801-1851), an Australian entrepreneur named. This operated a number of stores in the far south coast of New South Wales, for example, Agriculture and whaling. The national park was established in 1971. Initially it covered an area of ​​8900 ha; later it was extended to 9455 ha and today there are 10 400 ha

Boyd commissioned the construction of a tower made ​​of sandstone, which towered over the entrance to the harbor in the Twofold Bay. It should serve to alert the whalers when approaching the whales, but was never finished.

The park consists of two parts on either side of Twofold Bay and the town of Eden. The smaller, northern portion is bounded on the west by the Princes Highway. The geology of this part mainly of sedimentary rock ( iron ore and clay), which has been deposited in the Paleogene. In Storage is quartzite. The main attraction for tourists are The Pinnacles, a multicolored erosion gorge with white sand layers have been deposited on the rust-red clay. The southern part of the coast line is metamorphos and originated in Devon. One finds some highly folded sections at Red Point near the Boyd Tower.

The area of the park is almost flat; no point in the northern part exceeds a height of 100 m. The southern part is not much higher; the highest point is the Haycock Hill with 252 m. The area is very windy, dry and cold, and the coastal regions are covered by low heath. Further inland grows looser eucalyptus forest that covers most of the park area. The two main types of trees there are Eucalyptus and Corymbia sieberi gummifera. In narrow valleys and canyons there are also some places with rain forest with species such as glandulosum Synoum or Notalaea venosa.

212 species of birds have been recorded in the park. The Little Tern breeds in the sand dunes and on the beaches, but is threatened by off-road and beach buggy driver. It also 50 mammal species have been found.

Harmful animals such as Cats and foxes that have both spread in the park, sometimes wild dogs and rabbits on cleared areas and picnic areas. North of the Pambula River, the Bitou bush ( Chrysanthemoides monilifera ) is spreading as a weed.