Wollemi National Park

Wollemi covers around half a million hectares north of the Blue Mountains, part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, and most of it is trackless sandstone plateau cut by canyons that are difficult to enter and easy to get lost in. In 1994 a park officer abseiling into one of those canyons found a stand of unfamiliar conifers, later identified as Wollemia nobilis, a genus known only from fossils tens of millions of years old and thought long extinct. Fewer than a hundred mature trees exist in the wild and the location is kept secret and protected. For visitors, the park offers canyoning, the Glow Worm Tunnel near Newnes, remote camping and long walks in genuine wilderness.

History

Aboriginal peoples, mainly the Wiradjuri, Darkinjung, Dharug, Wonnarua and Yuin nations, have cared for this country for tens of thousands of years, leaving rock art, engravings, grinding grooves and stone tools, and the name is believed to come from a phrase meaning watch out, or look around you. Early European settlers largely avoided the steep, dense country in the 1800s, with timber getting, grazing and mining only on its edges, and the national park was established in 1979, and in 1994 a remote canyon revealed the Wollemi pine, a tree unknown to science (Wikipedia, Wollemi National Park).

What's there

• The Glow Worm Tunnel - a disused rail tunnel near Newnes lit by glow worms.
• The canyon country - slot canyons and sandstone plateau across the park.
• The Wollemi pine story - the living fossil found here, though not visitable.
• The Newnes ruins - remains of the shale oil works in the Wolgan Valley.

When to go

April to November for canyoning and walking; summer brings extreme fire danger and park closures. Canyons run cold and require wetsuits even in summer. Access roads are unsealed and become impassable after rain.

What to expect

The wild Wollemi pines cannot be visited; their location is protected and unauthorised approach risks introducing disease. Most of the park is wilderness requiring navigation skills. Phone coverage is absent almost everywhere.

Nearby

Lithgow and the Blue Mountains lie south; Rylstone and Mudgee are north.

Key facts