As we drove along the rocky road toward Barokee Campsite, we had our fingers (and toes) crossed that there would be a campsite left for us to roll out the swag.

A few days earlier, a local from Coffs told me, “It’s the long weekend, good luck finding a spot there, mate.”

On an overcast day, we drove through the trees to find one guy camped beside his car (who could have easily been mistaken for Jesus, if it weren’t for the doobie he were smoking).

We parked up the car, put the kettle on to pour ourselves a cuppa, made a sandwich, and headed straight for the start of the walking trail to tackle the Cathedral Rock Summit.

Summiting Cathedral Rock – 3hrs Return

The Cathedral Rock hiking trail is actually a loop track, and you can go one of two ways to the summit. We chose to turn left at the Y intersection (and returned the same way), but I’m sure the other way is just as nice.

The pathway is a pretty smooth, rocky surface, with a few steps every few hundred metres, and a few rocks to step over. But the trail really doesn’t become all that difficult until you reach the bottom of the boulders.

When you get to the bottom of the boulders, you’ll have to climb up the steep rocks (watch your footing), following the orange arrows, until you get to the first big boulder, where we grabbed hold of the tree, and hoisted ourselves up to scramble to the summit.

When you get closer to the summit, you’ll see chains. Grab a good hold of those chains, let your shoes get a good grip of the boulder, and enjoy the views from the top of Cathedral Rock.

When we reached the top, we chilled out for a good hour or so, munching on an apple, drinking a bit of water, and chatting away.

It was really quiet the weekend we were there, and a tad overcast, too. But, that’s a good thing.

I’ve heard a fair few people suggest climbing up there for sunrise, or sunset. To do this, I’d suggest leaving Barokee campground 1.5hrs before the sun rises or sets.

Barokee Campsite

When we got back from the hike, we started a fire (in the fire pit), and started heating up the camp oven for pork crackling, and roast pork.

Turns out, we didn’t put enough heat on the top of the camp oven. So we had soggy pork crackling.

If you’ve got a cracker of a pork crackling (camp oven) recipe, PLEASE SHARE.

Where We Stayed:

• We camped at Barokee Campsite.
• Tight turns in the loop for the campsite, which isn’t ideal for fourbies towing camper-trailers.
• Firewood supplied. Wasn’t much there when we arrived, so you’ll need to bring some along.
• One drop toilet – it was pretty smelly. But that’ll do the trick.
• Peaceful and quiet – the way camping should be.

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