In June 1823, explorer and botanist Alan Cunningham stood at the western end of Coolah Tops and looked out to the northwest, over the Liverpool Plains.
He saw "A most beautiful and extensive view of the country, level open forest and a long backed range, exceedingly hummocky and pointed."
He was looking at the Warrumbungles. Coolah Tops is a narrow plateau, where the Great Divide, Liverpool and Warrumbungle Ranges meet.
Cunningham's brief was to find a northern passage over this wall of mountains, to open up much needed farming land for the expanding colony.
The spot where he stood and made his observation, now marked by a memorial plaque, he called Pandora's Pass. He must have been worried that he would not make it. He chose the name because finding the pass was "like hope at the bottom of a box."
Coolah Tops National Park (12,117 ha) was dedicated in 1996. It's remarkable for several reasons.
Its rich basalt soils and unusually high rainfall create the right conditions for some magnificent eucalypt forests. The park has several stands of huge snow gums - the largest known tree of the species was recorded here - plus silvertop stringybarks, ribbon gums, mountain gums and black sally.
Giant grass trees and tea tree (in some swampy areas) are also a feature of the park.
The concentration of tall eucalypts also supports a population of rare greater gliders, which are dependent upon mature forest trees for their survival.
Kangaroos, wallabies and wombats are common. The magnificent yellow tailed back cockatoo, rare species of owls and bats also inhabit the park.
Coolah Tops has several beautiful camping areas, none of which at present attracts a fee. Great views over the Liverpool Plains can be seen from a series of lookouts on the northern rim of the plateau, while bushwalking tracks are also provided in the northwestern section.
The majority of tracks, and camping areas, in Coolah Tops are accessible by a conventional sedan. However there are some 4WD only tracks in the park, notably Jemmy's Creek Trail, the eastern access route from Merriwa.
The park's high altitude - about 1200 metres - means that it gets pretty cold in winter, when snowfalls can occur. At any time of the year, you need to bring warm clothing, particularly if you're camping.
Note that the main access route into the park, Forest Road and Jemmy's Creek 4WD track, can be closed in wet weather to prevent damage. Check with the NPWS beforehand if you're planning a trip up to Coolah Tops. You need to bring your own water if you're camping. Collection of firewood is allowed, but not encouraged. Chainsaws are prohibited.
Forest Road
The Forest Road runs east from Coolah, climbing the range to the Pandora's Pass memorial, before entering the tall dark forests in the park itself.
It's a 30 km drive across the park on Forest Road.
The first turn to the right takes you a short distance to Norfolk Falls, where a one kilometre return walk from the carpark/picnic area, through a stand of tall silvertop stringybarks, takes you to the waterfall on Norfolk Island Creek.
Back on Forest Road, a left turn on to Pinnacle Road provides access to Cox's Creek Falls camping area, which has individual sites well separated from each other and spread out along the pretty, sheltered Cox's Creek. Toilets, tables and barbecues are provided.
Barrack's camping area
On the other side of Pinnacle Road is Barrack's camping area, which has an information bay, sites for caravans as well as the usual facilities. It is the most popular camping area in the park.
Just 600 metres from Barracks camping area is the main stand of grass trees, many of which are centuries old and three metres tall.
Prior to the First World War, the resin from some of these trees was used in explosives. Some was sold to Germany, later to be returned in destructive fashion.
At the end of Pinnacles Road is the lookout of the same name, which has a spectacular view from the top of a sheer basalt outcrop across the plains to the Warrumbungles.
A steep, difficult track leads from the lookout, around the escarpment, to several lava caves.
The Pines
The third camping area - the Pines - is a quiet, open spot which is often used by groups. Toilets and barbecues are provided.
The Pines is accessed from Hildegard Road, which is also the route to Bracken's Hut.
The hut, built in 1937 as an outstation of the Tuwinga grazing property, has been restored by the NPWS according to traditional methods and materials of the time. It sits beside Norfolk Swamp, where the sheep used to spend the summer feeding on good pastures.
If you don't want to camp, you can hire the hut, which has a few basic beds, (bring your own everything) a cooking hearth/fireplace and a water tank.
After the Hildegard Road turnoff, Forest Road becomes a bit more rugged. Its red dirt surface is OK for cars in dry weather, but a 4WD is better.
On the right is the Talbragar River Road, a 4WD-only track that leads down to Talbragar Falls. At the time of writing, though, the last section of the track was closed.
On the middle section of the Forest Road drive, you'll see many stands of black sallees.
You also need to keep an eye out for wombats, which, once they decide which way they want to go, tend to be pretty single minded about getting there. We came around a corner to find an old bloke coming straight up the track towards us. It wasn't until he was within a few metres that he decided we were bigger than him and he'd better go to plan B.
Gemini Loop Track
At the eastern end of the park, the Gemini Loop Track provides access to an old sleeper cutter's hut. Stringybark sleepers were extracted from Coolah Tops in the first half of the 20th century. Sleeper cutters received two shillings for a squareback, or one shilling and three pence for a roundback.
In the 1950s, the railways administration decided that ironbark sleepers were more durable, so the practice died out in Coolah Tops. However some saw logging continued until 1996.
This section of the park is also where most of the snow gums are found. The largest is just near the hut, a few hundred metres into the bush.
At the eastern extremity, Breeza Lookout gives you a vast panorama over the Breeza Plains, one of the states most productive wheatfields.
Jemmy's Creek 4WD Trail
Jemmy's Creek 4WD Trail starts at Breeza Lookout. It involves a steep, twisting descent, then a rutted, rough section with a few gates as it crosses some private land to join up with Pembroke Road and the Golden Highway, 20 km west of Merriwa.
Driving time from Breeza Lookout to Merriwa is about one hour.
Coolah Tops National Park is fairly remote, so it's one of those places where you can really go bush and get away from everything and everyone. The eucalypt forests are spectacularly beautiful and very imposing in their sheer density and height.
It's a sad fact of life that, when you look over the plains as Cunningham did in 1823, virtually all of the forest that used to cover them is now gone. Parks like Coolah Tops are now, unfortunately, all that remains.
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