Where

Boonoo Boonoo National Park in Country NSW

Accessibility

No wheelchair access

Distance

0.6km return

Time suggested

6 - 15min

Grade

Grade 4

Entry fees

Park entry fees apply

What to
bring

Drinking water, hat, sunscreen

Please note

• The weather in this area can be extreme and unpredictable, so please ensure you’re well-prepared for your visit.
• Remember to take your binoculars if you want to birdwatch

Stroll along Falls Lookout walk from Boonoo Boonoo Falls picnic area to a fantastic lookout over the falls, only 35km from Tenterfield. Take the time to notice trees and plants in the bushland. Can you recognise the flowers of the boronia, banksia and grevillea that add their colours to this landscape? Keep an eye out too for wallabies, kangaroos and birds such as the glossy black-cockatoo.

The walk ends at the viewing platform overlooking fabulous Boonoo Boonoo Falls. Here, according to legend, is where Banjo Patterson proposed to his sweetheart, Alice Walker. Over the sound of the pounding waterfall, Banjo was relieved to hear, or at least lip-read, an unmistakable ‘yes’.

Keep a lookout for endangered brush-tailed rock-wallabies. They live in the refuge around the falls. Although most active at night, they can sometimes be seen during the day foraging for food or sheltering in rock crevices and under overhangs.

Combine this walk with Rockpools View walk where you can see rockpools reflecting the sky and surrounding bushland. For a longer leg stretch, why not hike along River walk and spend the night at Cypress Pine campground?

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Maps and downloads

Learn more

Fabulous falls

The park's jewel is Boonoo Boonoo Falls. If you'd like to see what this feature is really made of, visit during the wetter months of summer. Even if the falls aren't pumping, though, they're still beautiful and there will always be rockpools along Boonoo Boonoo River to swim in, walking tracks to follow and riverside picnics to indulge in.

Gold fever

Morgans Gully and Ropers Gully are two sites in the park where alluvial gold was discovered in the late nineteenth century. As a result, there was a huge influx of European and Asian prospectors to the area. As well as giving the nearby town of Tenterfield a massive economic boost, the village of Boonoo Boonoo temporarily flourished, though it is now in ruins.

Though nature has reclaimed these gullies too, imagine what the areas might have looked, sounded and smelt like when they were teeming with men from here and all over the world, half-crazy with gold fever.

Have you seen the wildlife?

Boonoo Boonoo takes its name from the Jukambal language and means ‘big rock’. Known for its stunning waterfalls, secluded waterholes and many walking trails, this national park is home to many plants and animals including kangaroos, endangered brush-tailed rock-wallabies and vulnerable spotted-tailed quolls which you may see throughout the park in the early morning and late afternoon. You may also be lucky enough to spot platypuses frolicking in Boonoo Boonoo River.