Type

Picnic areas

Where

Sherwood Nature Reserve in North Coast

Accessibility

Easy

Opening times

Woolgoolga Creek picnic area is open from sunrise to sunset.

Please note

• Remember to take your binoculars if you want to go birdwatching.
• The weather in this area can be extreme and unpredictable, so please ensure you’re well-prepared for your visit.
• There is limited reception in this park.

Woolgoolga Creek picnic area is a delightful place for a picnic and a fantastic way to experience the plants and animals that make Sherwood Nature Reserve so special. Nestled below towering flooded gums, you’ll find this secluded picnic area fringed with blue quandongs. There’s plenty of space for the kids to run around, and nearby rainforest and creeks to explore, making it a great family day out.

Find a spot on the grassy lawn, throw down a picnic rug and listen to the sounds of nature. Or head over to the picnic tables and cook up a storm on one of the barbecues.

Goannas are regular visitors here, so you’ll probably spot one wandering through while you’re enjoying a picnic. You’ll also see brush turkeys and butterflies while there are over 50 species of birds around Woolgoolga Creek. If you’re feeling like a short walk, don’t miss the superb waterfall views at the end of Falls walking track or continue exploring the nature reserve along Sherwood Forest drive.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Maps and downloads

Learn more

Aboriginal culture

The landforms, creatures and plants of Sherwood continue to have cultural significance for the Gumbaynggir People. Plants found in the rainforest such as figs, rosella leaves, tamarinds, ginger fruit and wombat berries are important for local cultural knowledge. There are also many special Aboriginal sites in the reserve, like Woolgoolga Creek, which is important for Gumbaynggir Women. This gives visitors a fascinating insight into Aboriginal culture and heritage.

Bird watching paradise

Birdwatchers will find an incredible diversity of birdlife at Sherwood. Wander through the rainforest on a spring or summer morning and you’ll see and hear up to 30 different species. It’s home to white-eared monarch and other common species like yellow-throated scrub wren, rufous fantail, little shrike thrush, noisy pita and log runner. It’s also an important place for threatened migratory pigeons such as the rose-crowned fruit dove and wompoo fruit dove.

Changing landscapes

Early settlers began logging here in the 1800s, and this continued right up to 1961, when it was prohibited. In 1907, they built a tramline to take timber to the mill in Woolgoolga. In the early 1900s, banana plantations were established and from the 1960s, parts of the rainforest were cleared for plantations of flooded gums and bunya pines, some of which you can still see today. Along Falls walking track, you may also see remnants of a pipeline, built in 1966 to take water from Woolgoolga Creek Falls to Woolgoolga township.

Precious plant life

Sherwood Nature Reserve protects one of the few subtropical lowland floodplain rainforests remaining on the NSW North Coast, as well as dry and warm temperate rainforest and old-growth forest. A highlight is the magnificent stand of blue quandong around Woolgoolga Creek, with its whitish trunk covered in lichen and large buttresses. You might also spot the giant climbing orchid, the only known climbing orchid in Australia.