The coast of northern New South Wales is famous for beaches, but a few hours inland the land climbs into a different world of ridges, gorges and old rainforest. Willi Willi National Park lies in the hills behind Kempsey and Port Macquarie, in country that belongs to the Dunghutti people, and it protects a patch of that wilder landscape. The region is part of the broad belt of rainforest and wet eucalypt forest that runs up the Great Dividing Range, the remnants of an ancient forest that once covered the supercontinent of Gondwana.
What you find here depends on the elevation. Lower slopes have tall eucalypts, blackbutt and flooded gum, with ferns and vines underneath. Higher up, the forest becomes cooler and wetter, with giant tree ferns, moss-covered trunks and strangler figs. Wildlife is secretive but varied: koalas, quolls, gliders, wallabies, lyrebirds and an enormous number of frogs after rain. Leeches are a fact of life in wet weather, and the humid smell of leaf litter after a storm is unforgettable. There are also limestone caves in the area that give the park its fame among cavers.
Riding here is a mixture of sealed roads and gravel. The main roads from Kempsey climb into the hills with long curves, but the park's own roads can be rough, and heavy rain can wash out sections or close them. Check with the national parks service before you go. Mist and low cloud are common, so visibility can drop quickly, and wet leaves on the road are as slippery as ice. Logging trucks use some of the tracks, and kangaroos and wallabies come out at dusk, so avoid riding after dark.
There are no sizeable towns near the park, so fill the tank in Kempsey or Wauchope before you head up, and carry water and food. Small villages in the foothills sometimes have a general store, but hours are short. Autumn and spring are the best seasons, when the weather is mild and the roads are mostly dry. Summer can be hot and stormy, and winter nights can be cold at altitude. In the early morning the sound of birds is overwhelming, and the light through the canopy is green and gold.