Covering 2,750 hectares and five kilometres of coastline, this park is located 30 kilometres south of Sale adjacent to the Gippsland Lakes Coastal Park. The calcarenite reefs here are dominated by invertebrates including sponges, ascidians, bryozoans, hydroids and soft coral.
The Ninety-Mile Beach area has been found to have the highest species diversity anywhere on the planet. In ten square metres 860 species were discovered living in the sand and in one square metre a staggering 187 species.
Victoria's Ninety Mile Beach lies on the edge of a long slender sand dune, thrown up from the sea by the easterly waves and protecting the Gippsland Lakes. The fine sands of East Gippsland appear to harbour more animals per square metre than most other marine habitats in the world. This great diversity is derived from the myriad of small creatures that call this area home. Creatures that burrow into the sand build tiny tubes or scurry around eating the scraps of food that may drift by. Larger animals are far fewer in number.
There are no rocky headlands or platforms along this coast. Offshore, the sandy plains are only occasionally broken by low ribbons of reef which formed as shorelines or sand dunes during ice-ages when the sea-level was lower than today. Even these reefs are periodically covered by sand, shifted around by the strong tidal currents.
For the latest information on track closures and park access, please see the Parks Victoria website. Be bushfire smart. Follow the Parks Victoria checklist before travelling.
Covering 2,750 hectares and five kilometres of coastline, this park is located 30 kilometres south of Sale adjacent to the Gippsland Lakes Coastal Park. The calcarenite reefs here are dominated by invertebrates including sponges, ascidians, bryozoans, hydroids and soft coral.
