Cape Melville National Park

This beautiful yet rugged park features the rocky headlands of Cape Melville, massive tumbled granite boulders of the Melville Range, sandy beaches of Bathurst Bay, sandstone escarpments of Altanmoui Range and inland dunes. Rainforest, mangroves, heathlands, woodlands and grasslands are found here. The isolation of this park means that many plants and animals are found only here and nowhere else in the world; the best-known of these endemic species is the foxtail palm. Bush camp on the eastern side of Bathurst Bay near Cape Melville in one of several camping areas along the beach, or at Ninian Bay camping area on the park's eastern coast. Walk along the sandy beaches of Bathurst Bay or take the short track up to the Mahina monument that commemorates lives lost in the pearling fleet disaster of 1899. Fish and boat in the adjacent marine parks. Take your mountain bike or trail-bike along the park's internal roads and tracks. This park is extremely remote and visitors must be well prepared and entirely self-sufficient. Be aware of estuarine crocodiles (be croc wise) and dangerous stinging jellyfish. Camp only in the designated areas.