A Day at the Tops
THE BARRINGTON TOPS NATIONAL PARK
New South Wales, Australia
Fresh mountain air. Silence from the city. Nature all around. The Barrington Tops National Park offers all of this. Affectionatley known as "The Tops" by locals this 76,500 hectare (189 thousand acre) park is part of the Gowanda Rainforest. Located just a 1-2 hour drive from Scone in the Upper Hunter Valley, one is immersed into a whole new ecosystem.
The Barrington Tops flora ranges from subtropical to alpine and includes everything in-between. The annual rainfall is between 30 and 80 inches (750-2000mm). Snow does fall on the mountain peaks throughout the winter sometimes enough to close roads. The Snow Gum, a Eucalyptus tree, is well adapt to the freezing temperatures and is flexible to withstand snow load.
This image shows the dense growth of the rainforest and one of my favorite plants, the Tree Fern. This easy to walk and pretty trail wound through the forest to a grand view called Thunderbolts lookout (first image in the post). The Gowanda Rainforest may be 300-400 million years old and was thought to be made by volcanic activity prior to the Gowanda split.
This is the Laughing Kookaburra a unique and very well known Australian bird which is part of the Kingfisher family. They have been known to grow as big as a pound and live as long as 20 years. They make their home in the Gum Trees and are well known for their distinct laughter-like calls which they tend to make morning and evening also coining them the bushman's clock.
A grove of Mountain Gum trees near the Thunderbolts Lookout.
Feral horses are not a desirable part of the rainforest ecosystem as they are not a native species and do damage to the ancient plant and animal structure. A vast difference in living conditions to the wild horses of the Nevada Desert, these wild brumbies have plenty of food resources and dense underbrush to navigate. Wild horses in Australia have been roaming the lands for over a century and heavy debate exists over their place in the ecosystem as they have become an important symbol of culture. An interesting book about the Australian Brumby can be found by following this link.
This is part of the PolBlue Swamp Walking Track which takes a hiker around the subalpine terrain and wetlands via dirt path and boardwalks. The chance to see wildlife here is pretty good including many varieties of bird and marsupials.
This is a swamp wallaby in amongst the marshy grasses. It is also known as the black wallaby or black pademelon and it lives in the dense understorey of rainforests, woodlands and dry sclerophyll forest along eastern Australia and the Barrington Tops. This unique Australian macropod has a dark black-grey coat with a distinctive light-colored cheek stripe and cute rounded ears. I am thrilled it stopped and gave me a good look.
Visit the Barrington Tops National Park Service Page for more information.
