Chasing Waterfalls! Wonga Walk in Dorrigo National Park

By Roberto – (Updated Jan 23)

⏱ 3 min

On our 6th day of our epic 5-weeks Sydney to Cairns road trip, we needed a bit of calm. We decided to do a short hike in the morning to have free time in the evening. After 6 non-stop days of visiting new places, and with more than 30 days left, we needed a lazy day. That’s why Wonga Walk in Dorrigo National Park seemed the perfect option for us.

We headed Dorrigo National Park via Waterfall Way. This road is 190 km long and it’s (according to Lonely Planet) the cutest road in NSW. It crosses many big natural parks and it’s green everywhere. Definitely nicer than the infinite road joining Albany to Esperance.

Wonga Walk at Dorrigo National Park

One of the most famous walks in this natural park is the Wonga Walk. It’s an easy-level paved hike and highly accessible, including amenities. Find the official map here (second page).

• Location: Dorrigo National Park 
• Distance: 6 km 
• Duration: 2-3 h
• Elevation gain: 222 m
• Difficulty: Easy
• How to go: Take the Waterfall Way towards Dorrigo. Turn right at the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre where you can park. 

The hike starts going down, crossing multiple species of trees, some of which are marked to give you some information about them. All the air feels fresh and everything is green. Mostly all the trail is paved and unless you go fast, you won’t sweat. Moreover, there are benches to rest, so it’s a good option for people of all ages and families. One of our favourite animals of Australia, the bush turkey, can also be found here. 😁

Looking for the waterfalls at Wonga Walk in

After approximately 1 hour, you will get the first waterfall, Tristania Falls, which is ehm… well, nothing spectacular. You can use this place to have a break and head to the Hardwood Lookout in the next 300 m. From here, the path goes up 200 m non-stop. Don’t be like us, and make stops!

After a couple of kilometers, we reached Crystal Shower Falls, which are the main attraction due to their size, and the fact that you can go behind them! It was hard to get a decent photo because there were literally people having a short picnic behind the waterfall.

Once we were done in this area, we started to get hungry and this time we didn’t pack any sandwiches 😣. The way back seemed quite long despite being only another 2 km to the rest area. It was a lot of up-hill. Right at Dorrigo Rainforest Centre, there is a restaurant where we had lunch that was decent quality/priced, and got ready for our drive back to Coffs Harbour.

On this day of the road trip, we only discovered this area, because I needed some free time to do nothing. As our friend Winnie The Pooh says: “Don’t underestimate the power of doing nothing. Doing Nothing Often Leads to the Very Best Something”.

Further Reading..

Enjoy hiking as much as us and want to discover more of our recommendations? See below for some more great hikes around Queensland!