Deepwater National Park, Nature reserve at Queensland coastal region, Australia.
Deepwater National Park is a nature reserve stretching along Queensland's coast with sandy beaches, freshwater creeks, and eucalyptus woodlands. The park protects diverse plant and animal species that thrive in this coastal environment.
Deepwater National Park was gazetted in 1988 and covers 4,090 hectares, or 47.3 square kilometres, of sand dunes and coastal heath in the Deepwater Creek catchment. It lies 375 km north of Brisbane, 60 km north-west of Bundaberg and 80 km south-east of Gladstone. The catchment is one of the few remaining pristine freshwater catchments on Queensland's east coast.
The park lies in the Deepwater Creek catchment, one of the last undisturbed freshwater catchments on Queensland's east coast. Visitors can watch rose-crowned fruit doves, fairy gerygones and grey fantails in the western canopies, and pied oystercatchers, bar-tailed godwits and crested terns along the beaches. Emus and brahminy kites also occur, and the park holds Queensland's largest cockroach, Macropanesthia sp.
Visitors need a four-wheel drive vehicle to access the park as the terrain requires this type of transport. Camping spots are scattered throughout the area for those wanting to stay overnight.
Deepwater National Park is the only mainland site in Australia where leatherback turtles return repeatedly to lay eggs; loggerhead, flatback and green turtles also nest on its beaches. The park's 9 km beach frontage lies below a 70 m vegetated dune.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,697 contributors worldwide.