The view from Carey's Peak extends over the wilderness area of Barrington Tops National Park to Maitland and beyond.

Gloucester Tops, a one-and-a-half hour drive over mostly gravel road from the town of Gloucester, is one of the most accessible locations in the World Heritage Area. Here you can experience the majesty of the beech forest, tread alpine paths through meadows and woodlands and watch fast-flowing streams slip over moss-lined rocks and become waterfalls.

A series of excellent walks begin at the end of Gloucester Tops Road. (For the intrepid bushwalker, Gloucester Tops is the start for a comprehensive three-day walk across 'the Tops'. After reaching Carey's Peak via the Link Trail, a return walk to Mount Barrington can be included before descending to Lagoon Pinch from Carey's Peak.) The Antarctic beech forest walk can be completed as a short loop walk among the giant beech trees, or as a longer walk following a lively mountain stream. The short walk is suitable for just about any walker of any age, and for many children it is the
antithesis of what the man-made, modern world often has to offer them.

Animals you may be lucky enough to see in these subalpine woodlands include grey kangaroos, swamp wallabies, pademelons, common wombats, and red-necked wallabies. The rare and endangered eastern native cat is sometimes seen in similar habitats. Birds most commonly observed include the raucous yellow-tailed black cockatoo, the endearing scarlet robin, spotted pardalote and eastern whipbird.