Corker Trail Hike (20km)

High country in the Hunter hinterland gives Barrington Tops National Park an unusual feel for mainland New South Wales, where cool temperate rainforest, snow gum woodland, wet heath and subalpine wetlands sit on a broad volcanic plateau rising to more than 1500 metres. That elevation, together with the park's heavy rainfall and deeply cut valleys, creates a landscape that shifts quickly from open mountain country to dense forest and river gorges. The result is one of the largest temperate rainforest areas on the Australian mainland, with a sense of altitude and moisture that is quite different from the drier ranges elsewhere in the state.

The park forms part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, a recognition tied to the survival of ancient rainforest lineages in pockets of country that have remained cool and wet over long periods. Antarctic beech stands are part of that story, and so are the mossy creeklines, fern-filled gullies and basalt-derived soils that support lush forest across the plateau margins and escarpments. Elsewhere the country opens out into montane swamps and frost-prone flats, so even short distances can bring a marked change in vegetation and atmosphere.

Barrington Tops National Park also protects a large wilderness area, which helps explain the scale readers notice on the map and on the ground. Much of the plateau drains east and south into river systems including the Gloucester, Williams and Chichester, so the park has an important role beyond its boundaries in feeding and shaping the broader landscape of the Hunter and Mid North Coast ranges. Native animals associated with wetter forests and high country, including lyrebirds and wombats, are part of that mix, along with a long list of threatened species tied to old forest, swamps and cold upland habitats.

This is also Aboriginal Country. The park and adjoining reserves lie within the Country of Biripi, Worimi, Geawegal and Wonaruah peoples, and Aboriginal sites and places remain part of the landscape. One of the most prominent is Mount Mackenzie, which has been declared an Aboriginal Place, a reminder that the tops are not only a refuge for ancient plants and animals but also a cultural landscape with deep and continuing connections.