An easy scenic drive from Wingham on the Barrington Coast of NSW, with a wet-feet walk to a waterfall, a rusty old steam engine, and a nice steep hill climb (I love hills) to a big sky lookout. While most of the route is on tame 2WD gravel roads, spice it up a bit with a rougher descent on Rowleys Track.
First a side trip to Potoroo Falls. Park at the river crossing, where there is also a picnic table. The walk begins on the other side, and you will get wet feet with a number of river crossings before you arrive at the pool and waterfall. Look out for the large water gum (Tristaniopsis laurina).
Back on the main route, continue to Dingo Tops, in Tapin Tops National Park. This is Birpai country, “tapin” means dingo. There is a lovely campground in the site of an old logging camp, with a steam engine to admire. There are also two forest walks from the campsite.
Travel along Knodingbul Road to the turnoff to Rowleys Rock lookout. It’s a steep climb up, but the view makes it all worthwhile. The rock outcrop at the top is called “Head and shoulders” If you continue along Knodingbul Road you come to Blue Knob, another panoramic lookout (see our Cells trail for more detail). Its high up here, over 1000 metres above sea level!
From Rowleys Rock, we took advice from a couple of friendly motorcycle riders, descending on Rowleys Forest Track to cross Caparra Creek, where there is an old hut used by local paddlers. We then followed Tallowwood Flat Road (steep, not flat!) back to Dingo Tops Road.
