Where

Macquarie Pass National Park in South Coast, Country NSW

Accessibility

Hard

Distance

6km return

Time suggested

2 - 3hrs

Grade

Grade 5

What to
bring

Drinking water, hat, sunscreen

Please note

• Protect against leeches and ticks with insect repellent
• Please leave wildflowers and other plants as they are
• Tall forest is best avoided when there are strong winds
• Remember to take your binoculars if you want to birdwatch

For a varied and interesting walk, take the Clover Hill trail. This old logging route leads to Rainbow Falls and three smaller falls upstream on the Macquarie Rivulet. After walking in the dense shade of the forest, suddenly the landscape opens up at Clover Hill – these are the paddocks cleared by farmers over a century ago. High above, the massive cliffs of the escarpment glow yellow and orange in the sunlight.

Bushwalkers, birdwatchers and adventurers will love this walk, with its sharp contrast between rainforest and open fields. The huge rainforest trees, eucalypts, beefwood, Illawarra flame trees, cabbage tree palms and tree ferns, home to lyrebirds and goannas, give way to sunny plains where you will often see kangaroos hopping about.

Highlights include a spectacular view of the escarpment, and adventurers may wish to scramble upstream at the end of the track to access Rainbow Falls.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Maps and downloads

Learn more

A colourful escarpment

Macquarie Pass National Park covers a spectacular sandstone escarpment that glows a rich yellow and orange in the sunlight, contrasting with the lush, deep green of the forest. At its base lie massive boulders lined with ferns and orchids. It's said that local Nurrewin House was built entirely from the stone of one boulder.

An ancient route

It's thought that the track through Macquarie Pass followed a traditional path used by the Wodi Wodi people to travel between the coast and the highlands. Made into a track in 1863 and a road in 1898, it was so rugged that the brakes and radiators of the first cars had trouble coping. At least one went straight over the embankment. Today, it's a much more enjoyable journey - the winding, steep Illawarra Highway gives travellers time to take a look at the beautiful landscape and forest.

Diverse habitats

The first thing visitors will notice in the park is the sheer size of the trees and the rainforest feel of the park, with plentiful figs, cabbage tree palms and vines. Tall open forest on the north and west slopes contains huge turpentine, brown barrel and gully gum, and there are three distinct types of rainforest in the park. If you're patient and lucky, you may see platypus in the larger watercourses and koalas in the forests. There are thought to be threatened broad-headed snakes here too, and you're also likely to see grey-headed flying foxes feeding on native figs in season. The park is an important place for the conservation of tiger quolls and long-nosed potoroos. There's plenty for birdwatchers to see too. Lyrebirds and satin bowerbirds wander about and the threatened powerful owl is also local to the area.

The perfect climate for bushwalking

In summer, take advantage of the dense shade and fern-lined watercourses criss-crossing the park. In winter, you'll find that many parts of the park are much milder than the exposed highlands, which makes walking a pleasant thing to do all year round.