32 | AG Outdoor
ADVENTURE | THE CORKER TRAIL, BARRINGTON TOPS NP, NSW
This section of Barrington Tops National Park
is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia –
50 separate reserves between Brisbane and New-
castle, World Heritage listed in 1986. “Few places
on earth contain so many plants and animals
which remain relatively unchanged from their
ancestors in the fossil record,” the listing boasts.
The track is flanked by giant ferns only outdone
by the imposing tree trunks coated in dangling
mosses. We listened out for the familiar whip
birds and stopped in our tracks in excitement
when we heard the strange, almost schizophrenic
cry of a lyrebird somewhere out of site.
We passed that original Wombat Creek
Campground at about midday, at which point
the landscape had begun to transform from sub-
tropical to subalpine, as the forest flattened out
and opened up and those green ferns turned to
gnarly eucalypts.WINTER WONDERLAND
From early on in the hike, wind had picked up
and was moaning through the trees and rustling
the canopy somewhat disconcertingly – at one
point we came across an enormous eucalypt that
had fallen across the track.
With almost perfect timing, what had been
intermittent, misting rain turned into snow when
we reached historic Carey’s Hut, just before Car-
ey’s Peak lookout. The charming old hut was
originally built in 1934 and repaired in the 1970s.
It was here we took shelter from the snow for our
packed sandwiches and to fire-up the camp-stove
for a cup of hand-warming tea as we watchedsnow fall outside, weighing down dainty ferns
and overlaying a quietness on the surrounds.
We made a dash to the lookout, but there was
no visibility, so continued on our way through
alpine country, now trudging through fresh snow,
past another campsite, Black Swamp, which looks
out over a large, open expanse of alpine swamp-
land.
We also stopped at Aeroplane Hill, a memorial
site for a plane crash in the area in the 1940s.
The National Park is notorious for plane crashes,
including another in the 1980s, from which the
crew and wreckage have never been located – an
apt reminder of the size and remoteness of our
surroundings.
Our arrival at Junction Pools campsite – acces-
sible by 4WD from another direction – was"Few places on earth contain so many
plants and animals which remain
relatively unchanged from their
ancestors in the fossil record"
Clockwise from above The early
morning sunshine made for a
great day of walking; view from
the Junction pools campsite,
which is also accessible by 4WD;
many tracks in the national park
close for the winter months.