Where

Sherwood Nature Reserve in North Coast

Distance

3.6km return

Time suggested

1hr 30min - 2hrs 30min

Grade

Grade 3

Opening times

Access to the walking track is through Woolgoolga Creek picnic area. This area is closed at sunset and reopens at sunrise.

What to
bring

Hat, sunscreen

Please note

• The weather in this area can be extreme and unpredictable, so please ensure you’re well-prepared for your visit.
• Remember to take your binoculars if you want to go birdwatching

Starting at Woolgoolga Creek picnic area, this easy walk meanders alongside Woolgoolga Creek to Woolgoolga Creek Falls. Stroll through subtropical rainforest and admire cascading vines, bangalow palm and magnificent stands of blue quandong. There are several creek crossings to navigate, so while your shoes will get wet, you and the kids will love the adventure.

Along the way, you’ll see a myriad of wildlife such as goannas, pythons and butterflies and might hear the sounds of the threatened giant-barred frog. With over 50 bird species recorded in the Woolgoolga Creek rainforest, this is also a great place for birdwatching. Keep your binoculars handy to spot wompoo pigeons, rose-crowned fruit-doves, brush turkeys and grey-headed flying foxes. 

If you want to learn more, why not take a ranger-guided discovery tour? It’s a great way to explore Woolgoolga Creek and get some local knowledge. After your walk, explore more of Sherwood Nature Reserve along Sherwood Forest drive.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Getting there and parking

Best times to visit

Weather, temperature and rainfall

Facilities

Maps and downloads

Learn more

Aboriginal culture

The landforms, creatures and plants of Sherwood continue to have cultural significance for the Gumbaynggir People. Plants found in the rainforest such as figs, rosella leaves, tamarinds, ginger fruit and wombat berries are important for local cultural knowledge. There are also many special Aboriginal sites in the reserve, like Woolgoolga Creek, which is important for Gumbaynggir Women. This gives visitors a fascinating insight into Aboriginal culture and heritage.

Bird watching paradise

Birdwatchers will find an incredible diversity of birdlife at Sherwood. Wander through the rainforest on a spring or summer morning and you’ll see and hear up to 30 different species. It’s home to white-eared monarch and other common species like yellow-throated scrub wren, rufous fantail, little shrike thrush, noisy pita and log runner. It’s also an important place for threatened migratory pigeons such as the rose-crowned fruit dove and wompoo fruit dove.

Changing landscapes

Early settlers began logging here in the 1800s, and this continued right up to 1961, when it was prohibited. In 1907, they built a tramline to take timber to the mill in Woolgoolga. In the early 1900s, banana plantations were established and from the 1960s, parts of the rainforest were cleared for plantations of flooded gums and bunya pines, some of which you can still see today. Along Falls walking track, you may also see remnants of a pipeline, built in 1966 to take water from Woolgoolga Creek Falls to Woolgoolga township.

Precious plant life

Sherwood Nature Reserve protects one of the few subtropical lowland floodplain rainforests remaining on the NSW North Coast, as well as dry and warm temperate rainforest and old-growth forest. A highlight is the magnificent stand of blue quandong around Woolgoolga Creek, with its whitish trunk covered in lichen and large buttresses. You might also spot the giant climbing orchid, the only known climbing orchid in Australia.