Sydney OutBack is one of Australia’s Biodiversity Hotspots

Five facts that may surprise you about the biodiversity of Sydney’s top natural heritage spot

As golden afternoon light strikes the Aussie bush, it illuminates wildflowers that are vital to the area’s biodiversity. Photo Credit: www.SydneyOutBack.com.au

The biodiversity of Ku-ring-gai Chase is regarded as one of the three top natural heritage spots in Australia, alongside world famous destinations like the Daintree and Wet Tropics; but you might be surprised by how very diverse and special this area truly is.

Here are five impressive facts about the incredible landscape 45 minutes north of Sydney CBD:

1. Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a hotspot primitive Gondwanan species, and is home to more than 1,000 plant species in no less than two dozen plant communities such as heathland plateaus and woodlands, open forest and temperate rainforest, sandstone cliffs, swamps and mudflats, and drowned river valley estuaries.
2. Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is Australia’s oldest national park established primarily for nature conservation and is the country’s second oldest overall. This conservation zone has been an escape for visitors since 1894, who want to surround themselves in Australia “as it was meant to be”.
3. As a protected, pristine time capsule, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is in Australia’s top 5% of areas for species richness for birds, several families of plants, including eucalypts, and a hotspot for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity. Yet, six plant communities are endangered, of which four are forests (two are on the critical list).
4. Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is home to many species unique to the Sydney basin, and some are only found within its characteristic sandstone landforms.
5. Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park’s unique, remnant underlying geology (such as 200 million year old sandstone outcrops and two volcano craters and dykes that are older than 50 million years) create the perfect environment for varied yet concentered biota when combined with the Park’s topography (drainage, elevation, aspect, proximity to the coast), soil, climate, and relative isolation despite its close proximity to the Sydney CBD.

Unusual rock formations on the plateaus are part of a unique geology to support the region’s vast biodiversity. Photo Credit: www.SydneyOutBack.com.au

A Sydney OutBack tour by land and water is the best way to imagine Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) as it appeared to the colonial First Fleet ships over 200 years ago. To learn more about Sydney OutBack’s Wilderness and Aboriginal Explorer Tour and Cruise, just click here.

Our tours are part of Tourism Australia’s Indigenous Tourism Champions Program (ITCP), recognizing that we offer a quality experience that that meets the needs and expectations of international visitors.

To find out more about the incredible biodiversity for yourself, visit The Department of Heritage website (click this link) or view the region’s Biodiversity Strategy (click this link and select from the list).

Primitive plant communities span heathland plateaus to temperate rainforest. Photo Credit: C.Munro for SydneyOutBack.com.au

Biodiversity as bush meets the sea in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Photo Credit: www.Gusha.com.au for SydneyOutBack.com.au

Under mist, the pristine waterways of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park take on a primitive air. Photo Credit: C.Munro for SydneyOutBack.com.au