Barrington Tops National Park Walk
Drive north from the Hunter Valley to Barrington Tops National Park — a World Heritage rainforest wilderness with ancient Antarctic beech trees and dramatic escarpment walking.
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Gloucester Valley Entry
The Gloucester Valley approach to Barrington Tops passes through dairy farming country — the flat valley floor contrasts with the dramatic escarpment that forms the edge of the Barrington plateau above.
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Barrington Tops Forest Road
The forest road climbs steeply from the Hunter Valley floor to the plateau edge — at 1,500 metres, the temperature drops noticeably and the subtropical forest gives way to cool temperate rainforest.
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Antarctic Beech Forest
Ancient Antarctic beech trees, some over 2,000 years old, grow in twisted groves on the Barrington plateau — these are the same genus as trees in Patagonia and Tasmania, remnants of the ancient Gondwana supercontinent.
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Careys Peak Walk
Careys Peak is the highest accessible point in the park — the walk through subalpine grassland and ancient beech forest reaches the summit at 1,547 metres with views over the Hunter Valley below.
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Gondwana Rainforest
The World Heritage Gondwana Rainforest at Barrington Tops is one of the world's most significant — the combination of warm temperate and cool temperate rainforest species exists nowhere else in such proximity.
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Williams River Valley
The Williams River descends from the Barrington plateau through a dramatic gorge — the river is crystal clear, fed by the high rainfall of the plateau, and popular for swimming and platypus spotting.