The oldest area of the National Park, Fern Tree Gully offers a diverse range of activities including walking, bike riding, picnicking, nature observation and car touring. It even boasts a playground for the children.

Things to see and do
A network of walking tracks gives access to most parts
of the park. With the guidance of this Park Note you
can spend an hour or a day discovering the forest.
Some suggested walks:

1. Living Bush Nature Walk
3km, 1.5 hour loop. Grade: Moderate to steep.
Starting at the footbridge next to the playground at
Fern Tree Gully Picnic Ground, this pleasant walk
introduces you to the wonders of the bush that you
may not have been aware of before. A self-guided
Park Note describing features of interest along the
track is available at the start of the walk.

2. 1000 Steps and Kokoda Trail
5km, 2 hours return. Grade: Steep.
This track leads from the Fern Tree Gully Picnic
Ground to One Tree Hill. Fine examples of Tree Ferns,
Manna Gum and Blackwood can be seen towards the
top of the hill. The track is very steep and consists of
the famous 1000 Steps. Along the way there are
plaques depicting the lives of the men who fought and
died on the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea during
World War II.

3. Lyrebird Track
1.5km, 45 minutes one way. Grade: Steep
Situated on the hill, west of Fern Tree Gully Creek, this
track offers an alternative route to One Tree Hill. Few
eucalypt trees exist on the upper half of this track as
most were killed in successive bushfires and little
regeneration has since occurred. In their place are
understorey species such as Dogwood, Hazel
Pomaderris and Musk Daisy-bush . The track is very
steep and slippery when wet.

4. Circumnavigate One Tree Hill
3.7km, 1.5 hour loop. Grade: Moderate.
This round trip takes you through attractive peppermint
and stringybark forest and in springtime, flowering pea
shrubs add to the beauty of the area. The route starts
at One Tree Hill and follows Ramu Avenue to the
fiveway intersection, then north along Macedon Track,
before weaving around to Tysons Track on the north
side of One Tree Hill, and back to the picnic ground.

Fern Tree Gully is home to a variety of native birds
and animals. If you are lucky you may spot an echidna
or an antechinus, a small native mouse, scurrying
across the forest floor.

The area also has a diverse mammal population, most
of which are only active at night. They include
possums, Yellow-bellied, Sugar and Greater Gliders.
The Fan-tailed Cuckoo with its call sounding like a lazy
postman’s whistle, can be heard by the keen observer.
Goulds Wattle Bat, Chocolate Wattle Bat and Lesser
Longeared Bat may also be spotted feeding on insects
at dusk.