Cobark Picnic Area
A covered table and cold, clean air on the Barrington Tops crossing. The right place to break the drive in or out of the valley.
Visit tara hill
Highlights
- Covered tables set back from the road in dense eucalypt forest.
- A proper halfway point on the Gloucester to Scone crossing.
- Thunderbolts lookout five minutes on, Devils Hole twenty.
- Lyrebirds, king parrots and crimson rosellas, and koalas if you look up.
- 2WD access on a mix of sealed and unsealed road.
Where: Barrington Tops Forest Road, northern Barrington Tops National Park, near Gloucester NSW 2422
On the route: The plateau crossing between Gloucester and Scone.
Opening Hours: Always open and free. Barrington Tops is not a fee-collecting park.
Facilities: Covered picnic tables, gravel car park. No toilets and no drinking water
From Tara Hill: About 1 hour and 50 minutes via Dungog and Gloucester.
What is at Cobark Park picnic area?
Cobark Park picnic area is a shaded roadside stop at the northern entrance to Barrington Tops National Park, about an hour from Gloucester on Barrington Tops Forest Road. It has covered picnic tables and a gravel car park, no toilets and no drinking water, and it sits at the point where the plateau crossing tops out.
Bring everything. Water, lunch, a warm layer even in summer, and a full tank from Gloucester or Scone.
Break the drive here
If you are coming to Tara Hill Farm from Scone, Muswellbrook or the New England side, the Barrington Tops Forest Road crossing brings you over the plateau and down into Gloucester, and Cobark is the natural place to stop and eat. Leaving northbound, it works the same way in reverse.
Guests with a free day at the end of a stay sometimes drive up through Gloucester, cross the plateau and come out at Scone, which turns a departure into the best drive of the week.
- Check the NSW National Parks alerts page the morning you travel. This road has been cut by storm damage before, sections close for weather, fire and pest control, and there is no signage telling you at the Gloucester end. Ten seconds on your phone saves a two-hour backtrack. Never plan the crossing as your arrival route if you have a check-in time to meet.
Where to break the drive
Thunderbolts lookout
The plateau view, and the reason to stop at all
5 min
Honeysuckle picnic area
Toilets and a short forest track
10 min
Devils Hole lookout
Lookout walk and a second picnic area
20 min
Polblue campground
Toilets, camping and Polblue Swamp track
25 min
Take the toilet stops in that order, and the crossing works with children in the car. Skip them, and you will be improvising in a national park with nothing either side for twenty minutes. Feral horses move through Polblue, so keep your distance and stay near the vehicle if you meet them on the track.
Give yourself ten minutes at the table before you get back in. King parrots and crimson rosellas move through in bright flashes, lyrebirds mimic whatever they have heard lately, and koalas turn up in the canopy for anyone who thinks to look up.
Questions before you go
Is Cobark Park on the way to Tara Hill?
Only from the north and west. Cobark Park sits on the Barrington Tops Forest Road crossing between Scone and Gloucester, so it suits guests travelling to or from the Upper Hunter or New England.
Is Cobark Park picnic area suitable for a 2WD car?
Yes. NSW National Parks rates Cobark Park picnic area as accessible to 2WD vehicles in all weather, on a mix of sealed and unsealed roads. Drive to the surface rather than the speed limit on the gravel, and check alerts before you set out, because storm damage has closed this road in the past.
Are there toilets at Cobark Park?
No. There are no toilets or drinking water at Cobark Park picnic area. The nearest are at Honeysuckle picnic area, about ten minutes further along Barrington Tops Forest Road, and Devils Hole picnic area, about 20 minutes on. Plan the stop into the drive rather than discovering it on arrival.
Does it snow up there?
It can. The plateau sits high enough for snow and ice to affect the road in winter, and the temperature at the top runs well below what you left in the valley. Carry a warm layer and a raincoat in any season, and check the forecast for Barrington Tops rather than for Gloucester.
The best part of the drive is where it ends
Coming in from the Upper Hunter, tell us, and we will send the crossing notes with your booking confirmation. Coming up from Sydney or Newcastle, save the plateau for a free day and take it at your own pace.
Either way, the drive finishes at Tara Hill: 25 acres above the valley with a private pool, a fire pit and a veranda facing the last of the light. Arrive, put the keys down, and enjoy your stay at a breathtaking countryside property.