Werrikimbe National Park, Nature reserve in Kempsey Shire Council, Australia
Werrikimbe National Park is a nature reserve in New South Wales featuring ancient rainforests, tall eucalypt forests, rivers, and waterfalls set in mountainous terrain. The park encompasses different elevation zones with steep escarpments and diverse forest types.
Settlers grazed blocks at Mooraback in the 1850s, giving the park names such as Bishops Swamp, Cleghorns Creek and Careys Trail. Manganese was mined within today's park in the 1950s. The Hastings River catchment was gazetted as Werrikimbe National Park in 1975, and its rainforests joined the Gondwana Rainforests World Heritage Area in 1986.
More than 120 bird species live in the park's forests, including lyrebirds and rare olive whistlers that visitors can hear and spot among the trees.
All access roads are gravel, winding and steep in places, and unsuitable for caravans. Beyond Mooraback Road, a low-range 4WD track leads to Youdales Hut; the locked gate key is available from National Parks and Wildlife Service or Apsley Motors in Walcha. There are five visitor areas with basic facilities: three on the eastern escarpment edge and two on the western plateau.
The elevation changes create distinct temperature zones throughout the park, allowing different animal and plant species to exist side by side in different areas. This natural variation makes each part of the landscape home to its own community of living things.
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