Heritage-listed national park is best
accessed via the town of Gloucester.
There are campgrounds aplenty
throughout the park, but the 4x4-only
campgrounds are recommended to
avoid the crowds.
The Barrington Trail is a seasonal
4x4 track (October-May) that runs
south along the plateau from the
Barrington Trail picnic area off Forest
Road. This 15km route provides
access to Little Murray and Junction
Pools campgrounds, as well as Mt
Barrington Picnic area and two of the
park’s bushwalk tracks: Aeroplane
Hill and Careys Peak. Little Murray
Campground is the launch point
for the walk to access Careys Peak
Lookout’s epic views, while Junction
Pools offers great swimming and
trout fishing in the nearby mountain
streams. The campground also
provides access to the 12km-return
Aeroplane Hill Track which passes
by Careys Peak Lookout, or you can
just sit in camp and watch the local
wildlife forage in the sub-alpine
grasslands that define this beautiful
part of the park.
The bushwalking in Barrington Tops NP
is comprehensive and ranges from short
walks to lookouts that take in the views of
this World Heritage-listed area, through to
day walks such as the excellent Gloucester
Tops circuit. This half-day walk takes in
three separate sights – Gloucester Falls,
the River Walking Track, and the Antarctic
Beech Forest walking track – that combine
to showcase the variety of landscape in the
park. All of these walks can be done
separately if you have little ones in tow,
while overnight routes and multi-day epics
that traverse the entire mountain range
and then drop down to the lowlands are
available for serious walkers.BARRINGTON TOPS AND
SURROUNDS
Best time of year: June 1 to
September 30.
More info: The majority of the national
park’s 4x4 tracks are closed from June
1 to October 1. The same applies
for Chichester State Forest. For the
latest track conditions and closures,
as well as campground fees and park
notices, see: http://www.nationalparks.
nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/
barrington-tops-national-park and
http://www.forestrycorporation.com.au/visit/
forests/chichester-telegherryhttp://www.4X4australia.com.au 1251WATERED DOWN
Fishing for trout and native
species is very popular, and
canoeing is widely accepted in the
national park and surrounds. The
Gloucester River Camping Area, on
the park’s eastern border, is ideal
for canoeing with its direct
river access right outside
your tent.S