Tooloom picnic area

Tooloom National Park

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Overview

Tooloom picnic area is nestled in a small clearing surrounded by lush Tooloom Scrub in Tooloom National Park. A walking track and scenic lookout can be accessed from here.

Type
Picnic areas
Accessibility
Medium
What to
bring
Drinking water
Please note
  • Remember to take your binoculars if you want to birdwatch.
  • There is limited/no mobile reception in this park.
  • Bring your own cooking water.

Whether you’re on a road trip, cycling tour, or based in a nearby town, Tooloom picnic area is a great place to visit. Set in a small clearing within the lush subtropical rainforest of Tooloom Scrub, the picnic area gives you a taster of what’s to come if you decide to explore further on Tooloom walking track. Tooloom lookout, set in a eucalypt forest with sweeping scenic views, is also accessible from the picnic area.

As you enjoy a barbecue lunch with friends, family, or by yourself, listen out for the call of wompoo fruit-doves, which have a deep, resonant ‘wollack-a-woo’ or sometimes just ‘boo’ call. See if you can catch sight of one of these strikingly beautiful large doves, which are predominantly purple, yellow, and green. In summer, look out for the bright red fruit of walking stick palms in the rainforest surrounding the picnic area. In spring, the red tips of new leaves will decorate red cedars, and lime-green shoots can be seen on white cedars.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Map


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Current alerts in this area

There are no current alerts in this area.

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/picnic-areas/tooloom-picnic-area/local-alerts

General enquiries

Park info

See more visitor info

Visitor info

All the practical information you need to know about the Tooloom picnic area.

Getting there and parking

On entering Tooloom National Park, you’ll see 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 picnic area.

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

Toilets

Picnic tables

Barbecue facilities

You are encouraged to bring gas or fuel stoves, especially in summer during the fire season.

  • Wood barbecues (bring your own firewood)

Carpark

Step-free access

The picnic area is flat and step-free, but there are no pathways. You'll need to cross over grass to reach the single picnic table and toilets.

Maps and downloads

Safety messages

Bushwalking safety

If you're keen to head out on a longer walk or a backpack camp, always be prepared. Read these bushwalking safety tips before you set off on a walking adventure in national parks.

If you’re bushwalking in this park, it’s a good idea to bring a topographic map and compass, or a GPS.

Fire safety

During periods of fire weather, the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service may declare a total fire ban for particular NSW fire areas, or statewide. Learn more about total fire bans and fire safety.

Mobile safety

Dial Triple Zero (000) in an emergency. Download the Emergency Plus app before you visit, it helps emergency services locate you using your smartphone's GPS. Please note there is limited mobile phone reception in this park and you’ll need mobile reception to call Triple Zero (000).

Accessibility

Disability access level - medium

Tooloom picnic area is flat and step-free, but there are no pathways. You'll need to cross over grass to reach the facilities. 

There's an accessible non-flush toilet at the picnic area.

Prohibited

Gathering firewood

Firewood is not supplied and may not be collected from the park.

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 picnic area is in Tooloom National Park. Here are just some of the reasons why this park is special:

A good scrub

Looking up into the forest, Tooloom National Park. Photo: David Young

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

Tooloom National Park. Photo: David Young

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

Mosses,  Tooloom National Park. Photo: David Young

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

The mountains of Tooloom National Park. Photo: David Young

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.

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