The Royal National Park



On Friday 17th of August we went to Royal National Park. The first thing that met us was the stunning ocean view, with unique sandstone cliffs going straight down in the water. The colours on the sandstones were remarkable at first glance and makes the area amazingly beautiful and really picture friendly. We did a spectacular coastal walk where we got to take a lot of pictures and observe and talk about the landscape around us while walking. I have chosen three pictures from the walk and based on these pictures I will share my reflections on the ecosystem in the Royal National Park and compare this to the ecosystem where I come from.  
A coastal ecosystem are areas in nature where the water meets the land. This creates a unique environment with distinct species and landscape that is influenced by both nature powers like erosion and human influence in the respective area. The coastal ecosystem in the Royal National Park is really different from that of my hometown Trondheim in Norway. In Trondheim the rocks are softer due to erosion and is more in line with the ocean which makes them more slippery. Trondheim is a coastal town, but it holds a much colder climate compared to the area of the National Park. A key difference between the coastal ecosystem in my hometown and in the Royal National Park is the climate throughout the year. Compared to Norway the climate in New South Wales is pretty stable. In Trondheim you find huge fluctuations through the year with temperatures rising to 30 degrees Celsius in the summer and down to minus 20 degrees Celsius in winter time. It effects the species living by the coast as they need to have the ability to quickly adapt to a rapidly changing environment. As for the coastal ecosystem in the Royal National Park, it’s much more stable through the year but the temperature it is still changing from season to season.
 As one can see by picture number two, the vegetation is really dry. This rarely happens in Trondheim as the area receives a has a high percentage of rainfall throughout the year. It’s therefore a really green area in contrast to some of the vegetation in Royal National Park. I’m more used to running around in the humid and green woods of Trondheim, and in a way I feel more connected to this kind of ecosystem. Still, I love the scenery with vegetation and steep rocks going straight down in the ocean like the one you find in Royal National Park. It’s something powerful and unique about this landscape. 


 In the third picture one can see a sort of dam divided by a part of the beach. This kind of landscape form you can also find in Trondheim, except that’s its usually rocks dividing dams from the ocean. In one way the nature in Trondheim is rougher – with a lot of storms in the autumn and cold winters the environment needs to be adaptive. But I love the ocean, and I feel connected to the ocean in Australia and the Royal National Park in the same way that I feel connected to the ocean in Norway. I loved visiting The Royal National Park and I’m definitely going back to discover the beautiful nature more in depth!  

 - Iphigenia Hellen

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