In her book Australia’s Best National Parks: a Visitor’s Guide, author Lee Atkinson says the four-hour Washpool walk, situated on the Great Dividing Range between Glen Innes and Grafton, is one of her favourite short walks in the country - and Washpool National Park is the only NSW park in her top five.

“Australia is a wild-at-heart continent with one of the largest and most comprehensive national park networks in the world, protecting and conserving a staggering 67 million hectares of beautiful and pristine country in more than 7000 designated parks, nature reserves, conservation areas and marine parks,” she writes.

“Australia’s ... landscape is so diverse you could spend years exploring it and still discover something new. I had trouble picking just 150 for my book. So narrowing the choice down to five was even harder.”

Ms Atkinson said the Washpool walk is a mini-wilderness trek through “gorgeous rainforest, following the twisting path of beautiful creeks, past lush ferns and some of the least-disturbed forest in NSW, including the world’s largest stand of coachwood trees and beautiful specimens of old-growth red cedar.”

Steve Toms, National Parks and Wildlife Service area manager, and also Glen Innes Severn mayor, said the inclusion of the walk in the author’s top five was not surprising.

“It is a World Heritage area and is significant in terms of its location, vegetation types and natural beauty. It’s great its been recognised because it truly is unique - I’m sure there are many locals who don’t appreciate that something so special is at their back door,” he said.

And Ms Atkinson’s other four? Wilsons Promontory, Victoria; Kalbarri National Park Western Australia; Bay of Fires and Mt William National Park Tasmania, and Carnarvon Gorge, Carnarvon National Park, central Queensland.

Australia’s Best National Parks: a Visitor’s Guide, by Lee Atkinson is published by New Holland.