Where

Kings Plains National Park in Country NSW

Accessibility

No wheelchair access

Distance

3km return

Time suggested

2hrs 30min - 3hrs 30min

Grade

Grade 5

Trip Intention Form

It's a good idea to let someone know where you're going. Fill in a trip intention form to send important details about your trip to your emergency contact.

What to
bring

Hat, sunscreen, drinking water, sturdy shoes

Please note

Please be aware there’s limited mobile reception in this park.

Kings Plains Creek walking track is ideal for experienced bushwalkers looking for a bit of a challenge. Starting at Kings Plains campground, the track follows the creek to the park’s biggest attraction, Kings Plains Falls. The track is unmarked, and you’ll need to do a bit of rock-hopping in some areas, but it’s worth it to see this seasonal waterfall.

The falls aren’t the only highlight though, as Kings Plains National Park protects a rare patch of bushland in an area mostly cleared for farmland. While you walk, enjoy the mature ironbarks and towering kurrajongs that line the creek banks. Watch and listen for some of the 140 species of birds that call the park home, including white-browed babblers, crested bellbirds, diamond firetails and the rare varied sitella.

After your walk, take a break and enjoy a picnic at Kings Plains campground. If you’re up for more adventure, you can explore the 15km of firetrails through impressive woodlands of blackbutt, stringybutt and iron bark trees.

As the falls only run when there is significant creek flow, it’s best to visit after rain. The wettest months are usually in summer, but winter provides the most comfortable walking temperatures. If you visit in late winter or early spring you can see abundant wildflower displays, including white teatree, pink kunzeas and beautiful boronias.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Getting there and parking

Facilities

Maps and downloads

Learn more

All creatures, great and small

Wildlife is abundant in the park, and most easily spotted at dawn or dusk. Keep your eyes peeled for eastern grey kangaroos, wallaroos, swamp wallabies, red-neck wallabies and koalas. The shy platypus also lives along the creek. The park is home to more than 80 species of birds, from beautiful king parrots and yellow-tailed black cockatoos to wedge-tailed eagles and the rare peregrine falcon. Near the rivers, look for cormorants, tall white-faced herons and azure kingfishers. Stands of ironbark, cypress pine and yellow box all feature in the open woodland of Kings Plains National Park. There's even a rare patch of McKie's stringybark, a tall tree that flowers white between March and May. You'll also find uncommon and rare plant species - the grey guinea flower and the yellow-flowering Kings Plain homoranthus - in the park's heath areas. Wildflowers are at their best during spring.

Ancient cultures

Kings Plains National Park is part of the traditional land of the Ngarrabul Aboriginal people, whose tribal totem is the koala, which they call 'boor-bee'. An Aboriginal person's totem is an animal or plant with a powerful spiritual connection and is never killed or eaten by that person, since it could be an ancestor. For thousands of years, this tradition has ensured koalas were conserved in this area.

Fascinating recent history

When he rode through the region in 1827, explorer and botanist Allan Cunningham found the first European settlers working the land. Kings Plains National Park was once part of the vast King Plains Station, established in 1838, and for many years an important cattle-grazing property. Today, you can still find evidence of early grazing and mining activity throughout the park, including the remains of huts, mining pits and mullock heaps.