Gibraltar-Washpool World Heritage Walk (45km)

Granite country and ancient rainforest meet in Gibraltar Range National Park, where the tablelands begin to break eastward toward the escarpment and the coast. The park sits on the Gibraltar Range between Glen Innes and Grafton, and that position gives it a striking mix of landscapes: cool high country, steep valleys, clear creeks, rocky tors and pockets of old forest that feel markedly different from the drier country farther west. It is also part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, linking it to a much broader chain of protected rainforest country across northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.

What stands out here is the contrast between hard geology and lush vegetation. The wider Gibraltar Range park group stretches from the New England Tablelands across the Demon Fault toward the Great Escarpment, with country ranging from about 200 to 1,490 metres above sea level. That change in elevation helps explain why the scenery shifts so quickly from exposed granite and open forest to sheltered gullies, wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest. Water is everywhere in the shape of creeks, cascades and falls, and the landforms are a legacy of ancient volcanic activity followed by faulting and uplift.

This is also one of the larger relatively intact forest landscapes in the region. Large parts of the surrounding park system are protected as wilderness, and Gibraltar Range forms part of a broader block of rugged country adjoining Washpool and other reserves. The result is a sense of depth and remoteness that is unusual in eastern Australia, even with a major highway crossing the range. Plant communities in the World Heritage sections preserve lineages that reach far back in time, while the mix of rainforest and wet forest supports species such as the giant barred frog, yellow-bellied glider and fruit-doves.

The planning area for these parks encompasses parts of the former countries of Bundjalung and Jukumbal peoples of the Bundjalung, as well as Ngarrabul and Gumbaingirri people. Aboriginal connections to this country are long and continuing, and particular landscape features including Sugarloaf, or Gwydirii, and Waratah Trig hold cultural significance. That enduring presence adds another layer to a park whose character comes not from any single lookout or waterfall, but from the way geology, forest and cultural history are tightly bound together.