Bruxner Park Flora Reserve, managed by Forests NSW, consists of 407ha of dense rainforest and eucalypt forest in Orara East State Forest. Just a 10-minute drive west of the city of Coffs Harbour, Bruxner Park is one of Coffs Coast’s most accessible and popular reserves.
Thanks to its proximity to urban areas and its range of walking trails, scenic lookout points, picnic shelters and barbecue facilities, the park attracts around 200,000 people per year.
You can drive up to The Gap through banana plantations and avocado groves, park the car and start one of several walking trails. Drive 2km further to Sealy Lookout where more parking, barbecues, picnic shelters and toilets are provided.
At an elevation of 310m, Sealy Lookout provides excellent views over Coffs Coast. A new viewing platform was built and provides visitors a spectacular new vantage point over the city of Coffs Harbour, the Solitary Islands Marine Park and about 100km of coastline along Coffs Coast. The platform is elevated 15 metres above ground at the iconic lookout point and consist of a 21-metre long suspended walkway.
The Bruxner Park area was the scene of regular logging operations from the 1880s until 1914 when the British Australian Timber (BAT) Company’s sawmill at the Coffs Harbour Jetty burnt down. A logging tramline wound its way down from just past The Gap in Bruxner Park to the Jetty, along the route that is now Bruxner Park Road, the access road to the reserve.
In 1933, the Minister for Forests and local Member, the Hon. Roy Vincent MLA, was sympathetic to local voices wishing to preserve the luxuriant forest types of the area and exclude it from future logging. He directed that a reserve should be established and named ‘Bruxner Park’ after Lt. Col. The Hon. M.F. Bruxner MLA, then Deputy Premier of NSW. Due to procedural delays and then the war, the declaration of the Flora Reserve wasn’t actually officially finalised until 1958.
In 1961, the Hon. R.S. Vincent himself was honoured for his role in creating the reserve, when a large Flooded Gum along Bruxner Park Road was named after him. At a height of 65m and a diameter at breast height of 2.27m, the “Vincent Tree” is one of the biggest trees in New South Wales.
In 1970, H.M. Queen Elizabeth II and members of the Royal Family visited the Flora Reserve and Sealy Lookout as part of the Bicentenary Celebrations’ Royal Visit to Australia.
Bruxner Park was declared a Flora Reserve because of its abundance of contrasting forest types and to permanently conserve its flora and fauna. The park’s vegetation ranges from the flooded gum, blackbutt, blue gum, tallowwood, forest oak and turpentine of the eucalypt forest, to the booyong, yellow carabeen, crabapple, birds-nests, elk-horns and vines of the rainforest.
Things to see and do
- Bushwalking: The Rainforest Walk (1.6km/45min loop) and Creek Trail (20min one way) are two easy walking trails that join at Halfway Creek picnic area. The Rainforest Walk, with interpretive signs along the trail, starts at The Gap while the Creek Walk follows Bucca Bucca Creek to Swans Road. Pick up a map from the Coffs Coast Visitor Information Centre or Forests NSW.
- Picnic & barbecue: Pause for a picnic or barbecue at Sealy Lookout, Halfway Creek or Swans Road Crossing.
- Forest drive: Take a self-guided tour through the Flora Reserve along Bruxner Park Road. Pause to marvel at the Vincent Tree, a 65m high Flooded Gum close to the road and an example of the majestic vegetation found in the reserve.
- Lookout points: Admire the sweeping panoramas north and south along the coast and out to sea from lookout points at Sealy Lookout and Korora Lookout.
- Bird watching: The rainforest is a food source for bowerbirds, cuckoos, fruit bats and fruit pigeons, while boobook owls make their nests in the hollows of large eucalypts. Listen for the distinctive calls of other rainforest birds including the catbird and the whip bird.
Getting There
Turn west off the Pacific Highway 5 km north of Coffs Harbour. Follow the winding road as it climbs through banana plantations to The Gap. Turn left to Sealy Lookout or proceed straight ahead on the Reserve Road. Please take extra care when driving on narrow gravel roads.
Enquiries
For further information about Bruxner Park Flora Reserve and Sealy Lookout, contact Forests NSW on (02) 6652 0111 or visit the
State Forest information page. Alternatively you can contact the Coffs Coast National Parks and Wildlife Service on (02) 6652 0900 or visit the
National Park information page.
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