Wonga Walk

Moderate

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A 1.5–2hr rainforest loop from the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre past Crystal Shower Falls and Tristania Falls, recently upgraded with a $1.1 million NPWS project.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

4.93 km

Est. time

1 hr 39 min

Elevation gain

233 m

Route type

Loop

✦ Plan route

Steepest stretch: +37m over ~300m (around the 4.3km mark)

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Dorrigo National Park, Dorrigo, NSW. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

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Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Milky SilkpodDocumented on this trail

Parsonsia dorrigoensis

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NSW: Vulnerable▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NSW: Vulnerable

Parsonsia dorrigoensis is a species of vine in the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is endemic to New South Wales.

How to spot it

It is a climber, a woody vine capable of growing up to 6 metres in height. It has dry, dehiscent fruit as well as narrowly triangular or widely ovate leaves. It flowers from November to February with fruits recorded in January and February. The flowers are white cream or yellow orange. It grows as a perennial.

Family Apocynaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Parsonsia dorrigoensis

Coachwood

Ceratopetalum apetalum

Defines Washpool's Gondwana rainforest canopy▾

Defines Washpool's Gondwana rainforest canopy

Washpool National Park protects the world's largest stand of coachwood trees, a defining feature of the coachwood-sassafras rainforest community that characterises NSW's Gondwana Rainforests World Heritage reserves.

How to spot it

Smooth, greyish, fragrant bark marked with distinctive horizontal scars encircling the trunk; grows to around 25m (exceptional specimens to 40m) with pale pink to pinkish-brown timber that carries a caramel-like scent when cut. Common canopy associate of sassafras in cool, moist rainforest gullies.

Family Cunoniaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Ceratopetalum apetalum; NSW National Parks — Washpool National Park

Photo: Poyt448 (Peter Woodard) (Public domain) via Wikimedia Commons

Sassafras

Doryphora sassafras

Coachwood's rainforest partner species▾

Coachwood's rainforest partner species

A common mid-to-upper storey tree of NSW's Gondwana Rainforests, pairing with coachwood to form the coachwood-sassafras rainforest community found across the state's northern escarpment reserves. All parts of the tree carry a spicy smell but contain a poisonous alkaloid, so it's for smelling, not chewing.

How to spot it

Opposite, glossy, toothed leaves 30-110mm long; white six-tepalled flowers from May to October. Grows on basalt and sedimentary soils in temperate rainforest gullies, typically found growing alongside coachwood.

Family Atherospermataceae · Source: Wikipedia: Doryphora sassafras

Photo: Murray Fagg (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Red Cedar

Toona ciliata

"Red gold" — logged to commercial extinction▾

"Red gold" — logged to commercial extinction

Colonial timber-getters called it "red gold" for its prized cabinet timber, and 19th-century logging was so intensive that large wild red cedars are now essentially commercially extinct. Surviving specimens are landmark trees — Washpool NP protects extraordinary specimens of giant red cedar, and both Border Ranges and Dorrigo name walking tracks after the species.

How to spot it

One of Australia's few native deciduous trees, dropping leaves in autumn and flushing reddish-pink new growth in spring. Long compound leaves to 90cm with 10-14 pairs of leaflets; small white tubular flowers give way to star-shaped brown seed capsules.

Family Meliaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Toona ciliata; NSW National Parks — Washpool, Border Ranges & Dorrigo National Parks

Photo: Forest & Kim Starr (CC BY 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Sphagnum Frog

Philoria sphagnicolus

Vulnerable — AUS: Vulnerable, NSW: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — AUS: Vulnerable, NSW: Vulnerable

The sphagnum frog is a frog in the family Limnodynastidae. The species was first described by John Alexander Moore in 1958. Its natural habitats are subtropical moist upland forests, subtropical moist montane forests, and streams. They vary in colour from shades of yellow and orange. They usually have irregular black spots that range all over their body. Their main source of diet comes from small insects, usually ants. This species was classified as endangered in 2004, and was subsequently downlisted to vulnerable in 2023. It is threatened by climate change pathogens and habitat loss. It is endemic to Australia. There have been other recommendations by scientist and other groups made to protect this species. Some of these recommendations are exclude logging around breeding areas, prevent pollution of streams and wetlands, and maintain vegetation and deep-leaf litter around streams.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Dorrigo National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 1992) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Limnodynastidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Sphagnum Frog

Moritz's Leaf-Tailed Gecko

Saltuarius moritzi

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NSW: Endangered▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NSW: Endangered

Saltuarius moritzi, also known commonly as the New England leaf-tailed gecko or Moritz's leaf-tailed gecko, is a species of lizard in the family Carphodactylidae. The species is native to Australia.

How to spot it

Adults of Saltuarius moritzi usually have a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about 11 cm (4.3 in). The rostral contacts the nostrils. There are large spinose tubercles on the upper surface of the digits. The coloration is extremely variable.

Family Carphodactylidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Saltuarius moritzi

Spotted Harrier

Circus assimilis

Vulnerable — NSW: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — NSW: Vulnerable

The spotted harrier also known as the smoke hawk, is a large Australasian bird of prey belonging to the family Accipitridae.

How to spot it

The spotted harrier is a medium-sized, slender bird of prey with adult females reaching 58–61 cm. Both adults and juvenile birds have an owl-like facial ruff that creates the appearance of a short, broad head as well as long yellow legs. The spotted harrier's wings feature prominent black tips and the tail is prominently barred and slightly wedge shaped. Adult males are much smaller than the females only growing to 50–55 cm. Adult birds have blue to grey upper parts with a chestnut face and unde

Family Accipitridae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Circus assimilis

Laced Fritillary

Argynnis hyperbius

Endangered — NSW: Endangered▾

Endangered — NSW: Endangered

The Indian fritillary is a species of butterfly of the nymphalid or brush-footed family. It is usually found from south and southeast Asia to Australia.

How to spot it

Male: Upperside: forewing rich orange yellow, hindwing paler yellow, with the following black markings: Forewing: cell with a basal short transverse streak, a medial broad oval loop, its outer margin sinuous; a broad transverse streak beyond cell not reaching the median nervure; a broad streak along the discocellulars; a zigzag discal series of large spots, angulated outwardly in interspace 4, inwardly in interspace 2, a minute spot at base of interspace 1; a somewhat diffuse large postdiscal sp

Family Nymphalidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Argynnis hyperbius

Powerful owl

Ninox strenua

Vulnerable (NSW & Vic); IUCN Least Concern▾

Vulnerable (NSW & Vic); IUCN Least Concern

The powerful owl is Australia's largest owl, an apex forest predator of south-eastern Australia that feeds mostly on tree-dwelling possums and gliders. Though secure globally, it's listed as vulnerable in New South Wales and Victoria because it depends on large, hollow-bearing old-growth trees for nesting, which logging and land clearing keep removing.

How to spot it

A big owl, 45-65cm long with a wingspan over a metre, dark grey-brown above with bold white V-shaped barring below and a hawk-like long-tailed silhouette in flight. Listen at dusk for the male's slow, far-carrying double hoot ('whoo-hooo'); by day it roosts quietly in tall forest trees, sometimes with the remains of a possum cached on a branch below.

Family Strigidae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Lace monitor

Varanus varius

IUCN Least Concern — common eastern forest goanna▾

IUCN Least Concern — common eastern forest goanna

The lace monitor is one of Australia's largest and most familiar goannas, a highly arboreal predator and scavenger found throughout the forests of eastern Australia from Cape York to south-eastern South Australia.

How to spot it

A big goanna (up to 2m, occasionally more) — most commonly dark grey-black with cream spots and a banded tail, though some individuals ('Bell's phase') show broad yellow-and-black bands instead. Confident and inquisitive around campsites and picnic areas, where it will readily investigate food; often seen climbing tree trunks head-first when approached, active mainly between September and May.

Family Varanidae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Bidgee (CC BY-SA 3.0 Australia) via Wikimedia Commons