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Discover the unique landscapes and wildlife of NSW

Our national parks protect the most amazing diversity of plants and wildlife, including many fragile environments and rare and threatened species.

Some things are easy to see, but there’s so much to discover if you look a little closer, stay a little longer, explore a little further.

Discovery tours are an excellent way to get the inside story of our protected areas – specialist guides help you uncover the secrets and wonders of the state’s national parks, with walks, talks and tours covering bugs and beetles to wildflower walks to night-time spotlight walks and a whole host of other topics in between. Tours run throughout the year – check the website for opportunities coming up near you!

Little Llangothlin Nature Reserve

Don’t forget your binoculars when you visit this little piece of bird-watching paradise. Little Llangothlin is a small, high-altitude wetland that provides an important stop-over for migrating birds and there’s excellent bird-watching to be had on the southern shores of the lagoon.
Where: Little Llangothlin Nature Reserve is 60km north of Armidale in the New England Tablelands region of NSW.

Myall Lakes National Park

Try not to hurt your neck as you marvel at the Grandis – a flooded gum in Myall Lakes National Park and one of the tallest trees in the state. At a whopping 76 metres high, it’s nearly 10 metres taller than the Sydney Opera House!
Where: Myall Lakes National Park is 35km south of Forster on the mid-north coast of NSW.

Montague Island Nature Reserve

Galapagos too far? Check out this little adventure closer to home - from the end of winter to early December, hundreds of seals move in on Montague Island. It’s also a breeding ground for 15 bird species including some 8000 pairs of penguins. You can visit the island and its fascinating residents – and explore the historic lighthouse and buildings – on an adventure tour from Narooma.
Where: Montague Island Nature Reserve is 9km offshore from Narooma on the far south coast of NSW.

Kosciuszko National Park

Welcome the arrival of warmer weather in the Snowys with a visit during the summer wildflower season, when silver snow daisies, billy-buttons, bluebells and other wildflowers carpet the alpine slopes. If you’re lucky, you may see the snow gums displaying their beautiful sweet-scented white flowers.
Where: Kosciuszko National Park is 460-600km south-west of Sydney in the southern highlands of NSW.

Sturt National Park

Ready for a real Outback experience? Sturt National Park in the north-west corner of the state is an awe-inspiring landscape of space and solitude, where rolling red-sand dunes give way to surprising wetlands and flat-topped mesas ‘jump up’ out of the plains. Self-guided loop drives give access to an astonishing national park you won’t soon forget.
Where: Sturt National Park is 335km north of Broken Hill in Outback NSW.

Pilliga Forest

A place of great natural and cultural significance, the Pilliga Forest – about the size of Belgium – is the largest remaining native forest on the Australian continent. Pilliga is also a bird lovers’ delight, protecting hundreds of bird species including barking owls and turquoise parrots, which you can have a go at spotting on the Pilliga bird route.
Where: Pilliga Forest is between Narrabri and Coonabarabran in Central NSW.

Watagans National Park

There’s something ancient and mysterious about rainforests and you’ll feel the slowing of time when you visit Watagans National Park, with its magnificent red cedar and Illawarra flame trees, creek-side rainforest walks and extraordinary Moss Wall – a natural artwork that’s sure to impress.
Where: Watagans National Park is 30km south-west of Newcastle in NSW’s Hunter region.

Gardens of Stone National Park

Nature captures the imagination in this park, where erosion has sculpted unusual ‘pagoda’ rock formations. Banksias, dwarf casuarinas and other wind-pruned heathland plants give the area a garden-like appearance – imbuing the place with a sense of fantasy and other-wordliness.
Where: Gardens of Stone National Park is 160-175km north-west of Sydney.