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.
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
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.
- 4
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.
- 5
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.
- 6
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.
Walk this route with audio
Stories play automatically as you reach each stop — no tapping needed.
