Mount-Buffalo-Nationalpark
The Mount Buffalo National Park is a national park in the north of the Australian state of Victoria, about 200 km north-east of Melbourne and 12 km south of Myrtleford. The Buffalo River flows around him in the West, during the Ovens River forms its eastern border.
This national park is one of the oldest in the Australian Alps. It was set up in 1898, when 11.65 km ² were protected around the Eurobin Falls. 1908, the park was expanded to over 105 km ², today it covers 310 km ² of the plateau and the foothills of Mount Buffalo.
The Mount Buffalo is a moderately high plateau (up to 1723 m) in the western part of the Victorian alpine region. The summit shows large blocks of granite and other rock formations. From the north, the mountain is quite impressive, the highest attainable point is clearly remote summit, which is called The Horn. A footpath leads up there and visitors can enjoy from there a 360 ° panoramic view.
By January 2007, it was able to spend the night in the historic Guest House Mount Buffalo Chalet, built in 1910. A consortium is negotiating with Parks Victoria on the reopening of the house. The Tatra Inn at the western end of the plateau near The Cathedral was destroyed in 2006 by a misguided forest fire against fire. From the chalet you can overlook most of the granite plateau, it opens up spectacular views down into the valleys of the Ovens River and the Buckland River. The area with climbers and top rope climbers, as well as for paragliding, popular. Also you can beklettern caves at Mount Buffalo. The campsite at Lake Catani is open from November to April. In winter, the Mount Buffalo is a popular cross-country ski area. Near The Cathedral there are several cross-country skiing ( Cresta Run) and a toboggan trail at Dingo Dell, both well suited for beginners. In addition, there are also trails for experienced skiers. The nearby town of Bight also provides accommodation for guests.
Adventure Guides Australia regularly offers courses for top rope climbing, caving and other adventure sports at Mount Buffalo. In winter you can book with the Mount Buffalo Ski School cross country courses and snowshoeing.
History
The Aborigines climbed in the summer of Mount Buffalo and other mountain ranges in the Alps to ( infusa Agrotis ) to catch the protein-rich Bogong moths and eat that collect in crevices, and to also meet and perform ceremonies.
The explorers Hume and Hovell gave the mountain its name in 1824, because he for them like a buffalo (English: buffalo ) looked. Gold diggers and naturalist later found ways up to the plateau. With the advent of tourism in the 1880s to an area reserved to the spectacular gorge at the Eurobin Falls, which was declared a National Park in 1898. The park was expanded several times and today covers the entire plateau and the slopes up to the foothills. The Mount Buffalo Chalet was founded in 1910, soon after the construction of the first road on the plateau, built and replaced an earlier, more " rustic " guest house. The park has become a popular holiday area for future generations and a place for the early skiing and ice-climbing. In fact, it was the first ski lift in Australia at Mount Buffalo. Many residents of Melbourne saw before the Second World War at Mount Buffalo snow for the first time.
As long as the Mount Buffalo Chalet was operated by the railway company of Victoria, it was regarded as the official Railways Refreshment Room. The staff worked in railway uniforms, blew whistles and Schaffner imposed nightly curfews for guests. Railway billets such as engine to Wangaratta ( bus trip to Wangaratta ) and skis, steel edged with cane stocks and boots 2nd Grade 8/6- (skis with steel edges, ski poles and boots 2 Class 8 /6 ") were for services issued.
Fauna
According to the different altitude levels in the park there are also different habitats for wildlife. In the forests of the foothills will take place on kangaroos, wallabies and various species of possums and Gleitbeutlern. Smaller mammals such as native rats and mice inhabit the plateau. Wombats are found in all habitats. The Alpine Silver Xenica is a butterfly, which is found only on the plateau of Mount Buffalo. Bogong moths looking in crevices at The Horn protection, and often you can see during the day birds fly in these columns for feed intake; at night it make with them after the bats. Peregrines nest sometimes in the granite cliffs. Pennant Parrots are found in large numbers in the park.
Vegetation
Over 550 native plant species have been found at Mount Buffalo. The main vegetation zones are the alpine and subalpine. On the slopes of the foothills there are different eucalyptus species, including Peppermint and Bogong Gum (Eucalyptus chapmaniana ). From about 1100 m these forests in Eucalyptus species groups of Alpine Ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis ) Go on and from 1300 m in snow gums (Eucalyptus pauciflora ). Most of the plateau is about 1500 mm in height. In the valleys there is grass mats with peat moss and grasses along waterways.
The endemic Buffalo Sallee (Eucalyptus mitchelliana ) grows at higher Granitgraten and heads. Other endemic plants are the Buffalo Grevillea ( Grevillea alpivaga ), the Buffalo Swallow Wattle (Acacia phlebophylla ) and the long- leaf Baeckea ( Babingtonia crenulata ). The rare Snow Pratia ( Pratia gelida ) occurs in a small area on the Hospice Plain.
The grazing of cattle in 1957 was banned in Mount Buffalo National Park, one of the first ban of its kind in an Alpine National Park. Weeds, especially Himalayan Honeysuckle ( Leycesteria formosa ), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium ) and blackberries is an ongoing task for the park administration dar.
Forest fires of 2006
The end of 2006, in the first phase of the large forest fires of 2006/2007, part of the Mount Buffalo National Park hit by forest fires. The fire destroyed the Cresta Lodge, but the historic chalet could be saved, although this house was at risk.
List of Australian Natural Monuments
On 7 November 2008, the Mount Buffalo National Park was included as one of eleven areas in the Australian Alps in the list of Australia's natural monuments.