Tooloom lookout
Tooloom National Park
Overview
It’s a short, easy walk to magnificent scenic views across World Heritage Tooloom Scrub and out to Great Dividing Range from Tooloom lookout.
- Type
- Lookouts
- Where
- Tooloom National Park in Country NSW
- Accessibility
- Medium
- What to
bring - Hat, sunscreen, drinking water
- Please note
- Remember to take your binoculars if you want to birdwatch.
- There is limited/no mobile reception in this park.
Tooloom lookout offers extensive scenic views of the deep green canopy of World Heritage Tooloom Scrub and west across farmland and forested hills out to Great Dividing Range. It’s only a short stroll from Tooloom picnic area to the ridge top through tall eucalypt forest, with a yellow understorey of blady and kangaroo grasses, and acacia scrub.
Along the way, keep an eye out for southern angle-headed dragons basking in the warming sun clinging to the side of a stump, sapling, or tree buttress. You’ll have to look carefully because they’re experts in camouflage. If one sees you first, it’s likely to slide silently from view rather than dash for cover. You’re also likely to see at least one of the 10 different species of wallabies and kangaroos on your way to the lookout. Black-striped wallabies, also known as scrub wallabies, have a distinct dark stripe running from neck to rump.
Map
Map legend
Local alerts
For the latest updates on fires, closures and other alerts in this area, see https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/lookouts/tooloom-lookout/local-alerts
General enquiries
- National Parks Contact Centre
- 7am to 7pm daily
- 1300 072 757 (13000 PARKS) for the cost of a local call within Australia excluding mobiles
- parks.info@environment.nsw.gov.au
Park info
- in Tooloom National Park in the Country NSW region
Tooloom National Park is always open but may have to close at times due to poor weather or fire danger.
Visitor info
All the practical information you need to know about Tooloom lookout.
Getting there and parking
On entering Tooloom National Park, Tooloom lookout is signposted from Tooloom picnic area.
Road quality
- Sealed roads
Vehicle access
- 2WD vehicles
Weather restrictions
- All weather
Parking
Parking is available on Tooloom Road, a short walk from Tooloom lookout.
Best times to visit
There are lots of great things waiting for you in Tooloom National Park. Here are some of the highlights.
Autumn
Listen out for calls of pied currawongs signifying the return of colder weather as you find a sunny spot to enjoy a bite to eat or stroll through the rainforest.
Spring
Brilliant new leaf shoots adorn red cedar trees on the upper slopes of the rainforest. In the early morning or following prolonged rain, carpet pythons can be seen basking in the warming spring sun along the entrance road.
Winter
Photograph or simply gaze at the spectacular view when, on a clear winter's day, the farming valley is usually filled with morning mist.
Weather, temperature and rainfall
Summer temperature
Average
16°C and 28°C
Highest recorded
39°C
Winter temperature
Average
3.5°C and 18°C
Lowest recorded
7.3°C
Rainfall
Wettest month
February
Driest month
August
The area’s highest recorded rainfall in one day
210mm
Facilities
The nearest toilets are at Tooloom picnic area, a short walk away.
Step-free access
This area is flat and step-free, and you can reach the lookout from Tooloom Road or from the picnic area along a short walking track.
Seats and resting points
There's a timber bench with a backrest at the lookout.
Maps and downloads
Accessibility
Disability access level - medium
- Tooloom lookout is flat and step-free, with a short walking track that leads from Tooloom Road and the picnic area to the ridge top where you can see the view.
- People with reduced mobility may need assistance on the hard-packed ground walking track surface.
- There's a bench seat at the lookout where you can rest.
Prohibited
Pets
Pets and domestic animals (other than certified assistance animals) are not permitted. Find out which regional parks allow dog walking and see the pets in parks policy for more information.
Smoking
NSW national parks are no smoking areas.
Learn more
Tooloom lookout is in Tooloom National Park. Here are just some of the reasons why this park is special:
A good scrub
The rainforests of Tooloom Scrub are part of Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area, which used to be known as Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves. Tooloom is one of the few areas on Earth in which plants and animals have remained relatively unchanged from their ancestors.
- Tooloom lookout It’s a short, easy walk to magnificent scenic views across World Heritage Tooloom Scrub and out to Great Dividing Range from Tooloom lookout.
- Tooloom walking track Tooloom walking track is a short, easy stroll through World Heritage rainforest of Tooloom National Park, with plenty of opportunities for birdwatching and picnicking during your hike.
A thriving ecosystem
Feast your eyes on Tooloom’s magnificent forest communities. Subtropical rainforest, with vines stretching from the soft forest floor to the towering green canopy, are dominated by black booyong. Bird’s nest and staghorn ferns decorate broad trunks, live and dead. Hoop pines break through the canopy of dry rainforest on the upper western slopes. In the wet sclerophyll forests old tallowwood and Sydney blue gums grow. Other forest types include forest red gum, New England blackbutt, grey gum and grey iron bark.
- Tooloom walking track Tooloom walking track is a short, easy stroll through World Heritage rainforest of Tooloom National Park, with plenty of opportunities for birdwatching and picnicking during your hike.
Full of life
Although there are as many as 13 species of snake, 10 species of macropod (things that hop) and three other species of mammals in Tooloom, they’ve got nothing on the birds. So far, 214 species of bird have been recorded, including paradise riflebirds, wompoo fuit-doves, regent bowerbirds, yellow-tailed black cockatoos, scarlet honeyeaters, endangered black-breasted button quail, and Coxen’s fig-parrot. Endangered animals inhabiting Tooloom are Fleay’s barred frog, and black-striped wallaby.
- Tooloom lookout It’s a short, easy walk to magnificent scenic views across World Heritage Tooloom Scrub and out to Great Dividing Range from Tooloom lookout.
- Tooloom walking track Tooloom walking track is a short, easy stroll through World Heritage rainforest of Tooloom National Park, with plenty of opportunities for birdwatching and picnicking during your hike.
Traditional land of the Githabul people
Tooloom National Park is an Aboriginal place and the traditional land of the Githabul people. For thousands of years, these forests provided shelter, food, medicine and tools. Certain features in and around Tooloom remain deeply significant, such as Bandahngan Aboriginal Area (Tooloom Falls), which is 13km east of the park. The Aboriginal word for ‘Tooloom’ is ‘Dooloomi’, which means ‘head lice’ and relates to the story of these falls.