Moonan Flat

Moonan Flat is a small town west of the Polblue Honeysuckle section of Barrington Tops National Park but in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales. For the purposes of this article, Moonan Flat also covers the locality of Moonan Brook, which is a small hamlet that includes fringes of Barrington Tops National Park.

Understand

The town is the closest settlement to the Polblue Honeysuckle section of Barrington Tops – this has turned it into a somewhat more popular stopover relative to other towns of its size. However, although relatively well-known within New South Wales, the Polblue Honeysuckle section is much less visited than the other two sections (Gloucester Tops and Central Barrington Tops), so it's still quite underdeveloped as of 2023.

Get in

There are only three roads into Moonan Flat, though only two of them are used on a regular basis.

The main road into Moonan Flat is Hunter Road (or Gundy Rd west of Gundy) from just north of the New England Highway exit to Scone. This is also the only sealed road into the town. Hunter Road then continues north unsealed to Nundle.

The other road to Moonan Flat is Barrington Tops Forest Road (Tourist Drive 29) from the Polblue Honeysuckle section of Barrington Tops National Park, which in turn is connected to Gloucester. The route east of the park's eastern end is sealed, but the road through the park and the descent down to Moonan Flat until the intersection with Hunter Road is unsealed.

It is not recommended to drive on unsealed roads outside a 4WD – the roads are simply too poorly maintained for that.

See and do

Being primarily a stopover town, there is not much to see or do in Moonan Flat.

• Barrington Tops Forest Road (Tourist Drive 29) may be the connecting road between Moonan Flat and the park, but the views from the road are incredible, especially if you're travelling downhill (i.e. east–west). The unpaved nature of the road and unfenced stock can both make driving the road difficult (just don't exceed 60 km/h), but the views are incredible from the passenger seats. If you are further up and are travelling west between 30–75 minutes before sunset during the colder months, the sun usually perfectly aligns with the road – good for taking passenger seat photos!

Eat

• 1 Red Dog Cafe and Restaurant, 4 Mitchell St. W–Su noon–2:30PM, 6:30–9PM. The only decent restaurant in town – the menu is largely restricted to burgers, pies and wraps, but what can you expect from a place of this size? (updated Sep 2023)

Sleep

• 1 Moonan Brook Cottage, 455 Moonan Brook Rd, ☏ +61 411 347 396, moonancottage@gmail.com. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 11AM. A small cottage – it's about 1.2 km from the main route to and from Barrington Tops, making it secluded from an already secluded area. (updated Sep 2023)
• 2 Victoria Hotel Moonan Flat, 4–6 Mitchell St, ☏ +61 2 6546 3165. It's a very small hotel, containing two private rooms (able to house two guests each), one family room (max 3 people) and 3 bunkhouse rooms (max 6 people). Bathrooms are shared; contains free Wi-Fi. (updated Sep 2023)