Warrumbungle National Park is one I’ve never heard of before – yes, before we moved to Australia. But that’s the true magic of Australia: all the places you haven’t heard of – not because they’re not breathtakingly wonderful, rather because they’re remote and there are too many of them. Well, Warrumbungle National Park is one.
It’s located in the Orana region of New South Wales, about 6 hours drive from Sydney and in the Warrumbungle Mountain Range, often shortened (of course, you’re in Australia!) to the Warrumbungles. It’s quite inland, surely enough to not be a convenient stop on a drive from Sydney to Brisbane, a beloved tourist route. That’s not to say it’s not worth the drive though, rather to explain why you’ll find yourself in a wild, beautiful park with few other visitors and possibly more kangaroos than people.
I was impressed. By the dramatic volcanic rock formations emerging from the savanna grasslands, by the rich wildlife, including the hordes of kangaroos in the valley, by the magical starry nights and the beautiful spring wildflowers. This post is my guide about all the things worth seeing and doing if you visit Warrumbungle National Park, with practical information about planning, too.
Why should you visit the Warrumbungle National Park?
Find impressive views of volcanic rock formations
They dramatically emerge from the surrounding forests and grasslands. Some are bright orange, some feature those typical hexagonal basalt columns and some have a very distinctive shape. The most well-known of these volcanic rock formations in the park are Belougery Spire, Bluff Mountain, Mount Exmouth, The Breadknife, Split Rock, Fans Horizon and Crater Bluff.
To get the best view of them, I recommend doing some walking. I’m a passionate hiker, of course, I recommend walking. But seriously, to enjoy the best views of the rock formations, walking is required. While there are some easy walks, there are quite a few steep climbs, too. You choose your own thing, and I can describe the different walks for you as we did most of them.
A separate post is in the works, all about hiking in Warrumbungle National Park – stay tuned. In short? If I could choose one full day hike, I’d choose the Grand High Tops Circuit (14.5 km loop), with the possible addition of Bluff Mountain (this makes it a 17 km hike altogether). It’s incredibly scenic, probably one of the best walks in Australia (uhm… I guess I shouldn’t be too quick to grant this title, but I can’t help it), but it’s also a demanding walk, with ~650 meters elevation gain and 1000+ steps.
If you’re looking for an easy walk to a pretty viewpoint, take the one to the White Gum Lookout. It’s a 500 meters walk from the parking lot on a paved pathway.
The 1 km loop Wambelong Nature Trail is also a fantastic choice as an easy walk. Though it’s a bit steeper and has quite a few steps, it treats you with views of the Split Rock towering above you, and also leads you through a small canyon.
If you want to conquer the tallest mountain in the park? It’s Mount Exmouth! (I sure did.)
Marvel at the night skies
Warrumbungle National Park is Australia’s first Dark Sky Park. With little light pollution, crystal-clear night skies, low humidity, high altitude and a world-class astronomy research facility (Siding Spring Observatory), it’s one of the best places for stargazing in Australia.
Simply find a grassy meadow, put down a blanket, lie down and gaze up. It’s easiest if you camp in the park, anyway. That’s what we did. I truly enjoyed our family stargazing sessions before bedtime, and once we even ventured on the Wambelong Nature Trail with headlights in the dark and enjoyed the starry skies with the silhouette of Split Rock in the foreground. Several trails have reflective markers along the way to make walking out at night even safer.
Meet with hordes of wild kangaroos
Often it was barely 7 am and I felt I’ve just had the highlight of the day. Because early morning is prime time to observe kangaroos (and evening, too), and kangaroos run wild in the Warrumbungles. Actually, New South Wales is full of kangaroos if you leave the Sydney area.
I felt inside a nature documentary as I watched the kangaroo mums with their joeys of various ages, or the young males fighting, kicking each other with both of their strong hindlegs while supporting themselves with their tails only. Sometimes they grazed on the grass among the tent at Camp Blackman. Their gazes followed me on my morning runs. They were there as we prepared and cooked our food at the picnic tables. A mummy was feeding her joey right behind our tent one morning!
My favorite “kangaroo walks” were the ~1.5 km Link Track (also called Gurianawa Track) that connects Camp Blackman with the visitor center, and the ~5 km Belougery Flats circuit walk. I ran on the Belougery Flats track in the morning, but you don’t need to complete the full track to see plenty of kangaroos (and maybe a few emu, too, as I did). It also treats you with impressive distant views of the Grand High Tops, Mount Exmouth and Belougery Split Rock. Both tracks run in the valley, through grassy and forested terrain, so the elevation change is minimal, and it’s exactly the kind of habitat that kangaroos love.
I mostly saw Eastern gray kangaroos, and occasionally Red-necked wallabies and Brush-tailed rock-wallabies – the latter two are more shy and prefer the heavily forested areas and mountain slopes.
A very important note: kangaroos are wild animals and shouldn’t be touched or fed – for both your and their safety. They keep their distance from you, especially wallabies. But even those kangaroos who are more familiar with people and let you walk closer won’t let you touch them. They’re wild animals, please respect their space.
Camp at one of the campgrounds within the park
To experience the magic of wildlife and night skies, it’s best to camp inside the park, whether in a tent or a campervan. There’s plenty of options to choose from:
Camp Blackman
kangaroos behind our tent
We stayed at Camp Blackman, which is a great choice for beginners, families and convenient campers, and it offers some powered sites for vans, too. There are more than a hundred campsites, a modern amenity block with hot showers and dishwashing sinks, several toilet blocks, electric BBQs, picnic tables and even drinking water (from a dedicated tap near the amenity block).
We camped in a tent and after visiting several smaller, more remote campgrounds in national parks and reserves in New South Wales, Camp Blackman felt luxurious. Hot water! Drinking water! Access on paved road! But it’s also more busy than those smaller campgrounds.
Still I’d choose it again, and not only because of the luxuries. I really enjoyed the variety of walking tracks leading out of Camp Blackman: Gurianawa Track, Belougery Flats circuit and Wambelong Nature Trail. They are great options for morning and evening walks, or nighttime walks to see the stars. The Gurianawa Track and Belougery Flats are also quite wide and almost flat routes, which made them suitable for morning runs, too.
Camp Wambelong
Then there’s Camp Wambelong, a smaller campground, which is also accessible on a paved road (it’s directly along the John Renshaw Parkway). But it offers less amenities: picnic tables, barbecue facilities and toilets only.
It’s quite close to Camp Blackman by car, and the only reason I’d choose it is because it’s smaller and supposedly quieter. It doesn’t have the feeling of a “camping village” like Camp Blackman. But after a stay at a remote campground with basic facilities, we were eager to have running water and hot showers, so Camp Blackman it was.
While I also preferred the walking tracks at Camp Blackman, Camp Wambelong is a starting point for different tracks, too. Like the one along Wambelong Creek or Burbie Canyon (relatively easy ones), or the Belougery Split Rock walking track (a short, but steep and quite technical route) that starts on the other side of John Renshaw Parkway, opposite the campground.
More remote campsites
In addition to the two largest campgrounds – which are also the easiest to access -, the Warrumbungles have several remote campgrounds for backpackers, a walk-in campground with basic facilities (Camp Pincham, ~250 m walk from the Pincham car park) and a 4WD accessible campground in a remote area of the park (Gunneemooroo campground, only accessible by 4WD vehicles and in dry weather, because there are two creek crossings and flash flooding can cut off all access in and out of the campground).
Best time to visit the Warrumbungles?
In short: spring, mainly October and November (late spring). Second best: autumn, mainly March and April (late autumn).
We visited during the spring break, which is supposedly among the busiest periods, and we barely met with a few groups on each walking track. Campgrounds need to be reserved in advance, and Camp Blackman was full during the spring holiday, but I had no trouble reserving a spot a few months before our trip. If you need a powered site though, plan well ahead, because they’re harder to grab than a simple unpowered tent site.
Overall, the Warrumbungles are not busy, which means you’ll enjoy the unique landscapes, wildlife and beautiful stars in peace and quiet any time of the year. However, there’s another important factor to consider: weather – and this restricts the visiting window.
Summer in the Warrumbungles
This is inland New South Wales, which means summers are hotter and winters are colder than on the coast. Summer daytime temperatures often exceed 30°C, and winter nights are often freezing (hovering around 0°C on average, but often below freezing). Since most tracks are unshaded and some are quite demanding (steep uphills, lots of stairs), I wouldn’t go hiking there in the summer. There aren’t any swimming holes or rivers suitable for cooling off either. Also, flies are the worst in the summer, and thunderstorms are common in mid to late summer. The most rain falls between December and February (summer again, because we’re in Australia).
Spring and autumn in the Warrumbungles
Spring (especially October and November) or autumn (especially March and April) are the best times to visit the park, because daytime temperatures are pleasant for outdoor activities, nights are mild enough for camping and flies are not too bad either (annoying mainly when you eat, so prepare with mosquito net protected dining area). We chose spring because of the pretty wildflower display. We had dry weather and pleasant temperatures, hovering between 20-27°C during the day, and nighttime temperatures around 11-14°C at night.
Winter in the Warrumbungles
Winter daytime temperatures are also suitable for outdoor activities, but nights are too cold for tent camping. If you have a heated campervan or rent out rooms, winter is a great time to visit, as well.
Best time for stargazing
A last consideration for stargazing: it’s best when there’s a new moon! We got lucky with that.
It also helps if the nights are not freezing as you lie down to look up at the night sky. However, winter is generally the best time to see the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis).
Best place to stay
I’m obsessed with camping – either with a tent or a campervan – when it comes to Australia. Few countries have better weather, and to get the best wildlife experiences, you’d better be out in nature early in the morning and after dark. Moreover, campgrounds are inside the national parks, close to most trailheads. Hence I’ve already written long paragraphs about the best camping in the Warrumbungles.
But what if you’d want a room? The closest town is Coonabarabran, half an hour drive from the central area of the national park. Don’t expect a wide variety of accommodation. But you’ll find a few simple motels, and Acacia Motor Lodge is one with some of the best ratings, clean and spacious rooms, a restaurant and a seasonal outdoor pool. It’s also walking distance from shops.
What else to visit near the Warrumbungles?
Hickeys Falls
I know I told you there’s no swimming holes in the Warrumbungles, but here’s one that’s not far. Just one hour drive from the visitor center or half an hour drive from Coonabarabran, Hickeys Falls is just off of the Newell Highway. There’s a paved car park and a few picnic benches along the road, but if you walk about 50 meters, you’d find yourself in paradise: a small creek, towering rock walls and a lovely waterfall, with a deep pool that’s refreshing for a swim.
Hickeys Falls exceeded my expectations, both the general scenery and the waterfall. Who would have thought of anything like that when stopping at a random roadside picnic area?
Mount Kaputar National Park
Mount Kaputar is another national park nearby. Well, it’s relative. You need to drive about 190 km (2.5 hours) from the Warrumbungles to reach Mount Kaputar, but that doesn’t count much in New South Wales. It’s a mountainous and volcanic park, with a pretty scenic drive (that leads all the way to the summit), several roadside viewpoints and various hiking trails.
Mount Kaputar was our base for a few days on our camping trip in the area, so you’ll read more about it very soon.
Pilliga Sandstone Caves & Pilliga National Park
Between the Warrumbungles and Mount Kaputar, or rather between Coonabarabran and Narrabri, the 100 km of the Newell Highway travels through the Pilliga Forest, an expansive woodland and that typical red soil that you see on pictures from the Outback. It surely left its mark on our car. 🙂
Pilliga National Park consists of plenty of unpaved red dirt roads, some picnic areas and hiking trails. It’s a great place for bird-watching, and its Sandstone Caves are spectacular. At least, I suppose so, because sadly, the trail to the cave system was closed due to damage during our visit.
Did I miss anything? Do you find the Warrumbungles tempting for a road trip?
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