Barokee Campground, Cathedral Rock National Park, NSW.

Once again, we chose a nice shady site to get some relief from the hot weather. Each site had plenty of room, a table and fireplace.  

Barokee Campground.

Our site backed onto natural bushland and a small creek. We could sit in our campsite and see plenty of birds.

Scarlet Robin

Brown Thornbill

Red-necked Wallabies grazed in the campground in the afternoons.

Red-necked Wallaby

Cathedral Rock Loop Walk: Grade 4, 5.2 km. Extension to the summit: Grade 5, 800 m return. Another option is to walk from Barokee Campground to the summit and return:  Grade 4 and 5, 4.2 km. The last 400 m to the summit involves scrambling over boulders and jumping over crevices. I've been a bit wary of rock hopping since breaking my ankle so we decided to do the loop walk around Cathedral Rock without doing the extension to the summit. Instead, we planned on climbing to the top of Woolpack Rocks when we moved to Native Dog Campground. We set off in a clockwise direction early in the morning and surprised a wallaby and a lyrebird with our presence.

Superb Lyrebird

The loop walk will disappoint those looking for great views of Cathedral Rock as the best it offers are glimpses through the trees. However, it's a great wildlife walk and covers a variety of habitats from swampland to granite rocks and Manna Gum forest. Lots of eucalypts were in flower which attracted a variety of birds.

Cathedral Rock is in there somewhere.

Common Brown Butterfly

Whites Skink Liopholis whitii

Eastern Grey Kangaroos

Red Wattlebirds

Wildlife: Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red-necked Wallaby, Swamp Wallaby, Sugar Glider, White's Skink.
Bird List: Wedge-tailed Eagle, White-winged Chough, Pied Currawong, Crow, Superb Fairy-wren, Grey Fantail, New Holland Honeyeater, Stripped Honeyeater, Laughing Kookaburra, Superb Lyrebird, Australian Magpie, Eastern Yellow Robin, Flame Robin, Scarlet Robin, Crimson Rosella, Grey Shrike-thrush, Brown Thornbill, Russet-tailed Thrush, Red-browed Treecreeper, White-throated Treecreeper, Red Wattlebird.

Details for Barokee Campground:
Where: 82 km east of Armidale or 123 km south-west of Coff's Harbour. 5 km west of Ebor, turn off the Waterfall Way onto Round Mountain Road.
Access: 8 km of unsealed, narrow road. 2WD suitable in dry conditions. 4WD in the wet. This road can be quite rough.
Sites: Suitable for tents, camping beside your vehicle and camper trailers.
Booking & Fees: No bookings. Self-registration. $6 per adult, $3.50 per child per night.
Facilities: Tables, fire places, wood supplied, non-flush toilet, walks. No bins. No water.
Prohibitions: No pets. No smoking.