Wombeyan Caves
The drive from Mittagong to Wombeyan caves is scenic, but also rather
windy (a sign at the caves says "not suitable for semi-trailers", but any
kind of caravan or truck would have problems). We saw two wedge-tailed
eagles soaring overhead on the way.
The caves at Wombeyan are as nice as those at Jenolan, but get far
fewer visitors.
For accomodation, there are only a few cottages, some eight or so cabins,
and a camping ground with amenities blocks.
The caves are in a sheltered valley around the (dry) Wombeyan Creek.
We arrived at around 5pm, only to find no key in our cabin door (as
promised) and no one in the visitors' centre... so we had to get the
neighbour to ring them up. The guy who came out to clean up the cabin
for us ended up being our guide the following day - there are only a
handful of people working in the valley.
Victoria Arch
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The following morning we walked up to the one chamber Tinted Cave (open
access), looked into Mares Forest Creek and did the self-guided
walk through Fig Tree cave. After eating lunch in very slight drizzle,
we walked up via the Arch track to the start of the Wollondilly Cave tour,
which was followed pretty much immediately by the Junction Cave tour.
It was very quiet, it being a weekday in winter, and there were only
ten people on the first tour and six on the second.
The caves were lovely, though they all blur together in memory. It was
the driest in the memory of anyone there - some forty years! - so the
formations were not as spectacular as they are when there's water on them.
As well as the caves we did, there are two other show caves. But even
without the caves, Wombeyan Caves would be a nice place to spend a day
- there's a network of short trails (including a couple we didn't do)
and it's a really peaceful place.
There were kangaroos and wallabies grazing all over the place, tame
enough that you could walk to within a few metres. And there were lots
of birds: magpies, satin bowerbirds, currawongs, noisy miners, rosellas,
honeyeaters, and several of birds we couldn't identify. We also saw a
group of feral goats in the distance. We went out looking for wombats
during our second night at the Caves - there's one in the valley,
apparently - but without success.
Camilla checks for an infant wombat
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The following morning, however, on our way to Taralga, we saw a dead
wombat by the side of the road, which was rather sad.
Next: Cowra Japanese Garden
Previous: a Shoalhaven walk
Up: Touring Central NSW
