We awoke to a tranquil morning, enjoying songbirds and the peaceful forest, grassy expanse and watching young kangaroos play.
After a slow breakfast, we checked in, since we had arrived after closing time yesterday, this was becoming a routine, especially being we have kept our body clocks to good old Queensland time. We also booked our cave experiences.
The National Parks Service run this area and provide experienced guides, so for the 1pm and 2.30pm guided cave explorations, our party of eight were the only ones in attendance, so it provided a very personal experience.
There is Figtree Cave, which is a self guided tour that takes you through the heart of the shadowing mountain. So we chose the three cave adventure pack, being Wondondilly Cave, Junction Cave and the bonus of Figtree Cave. Each on there own is a little pricey, for example the cheaper Figtree Cave is $15pp, but within this package, it works out to be just $7 while the other caves are also discounted. At a cost of $75 for a family of 4, that package was worth it, but it made for a huge day and it was about to get even bigger.
Time management now became the focal point after such a slow start. With the guided cave tours being at 1pm and 2.30pm, and lunch to think about, we immediately set off for Figtree cave, which takes about an hour. This was our second time to the caves but for our travelling companions, it was their first. And seeing Figtree Cave first is best, which is not what we did on our first visit. It provides an awe and the use of lots of your camera’s memory card before you get into the spectacular caves.
Being self guided and being the only party in the cave, made it very special. Unlike the ‘touristy’ Jenolan Caves, this was very exciting, like a personal adventure. This cave has movement sensors that turn on recorded information and choreographed lighting. It took us just under an hour to meander through this cave.
That got us back to camp just before 12noon, to grab a quick bite, then the 20 minute hike up to the meeting point for Wondondilly Cave. We met our guide, ‘Mango’ who seemed to be in high spirits. Mango is an interesting guide and provided, what one could only state as, a very unique and personal insight into the caves.
Wondondilly Cave starts at a locked door. After the briefing by Mango, you step just inside this door to then face the task of climbing down two long, old, steel ladders, all damp and intriguing. These are not the last of the ladders to climb. Mango explained that there are five levels to this cave, but we can’t do the fifth because you need diving gear as it is underwater.
As this was our second time here, and I had photographed it in detail last time, I did not intend taking many photo’s. However, the wonder of this cave and the lighting, I caved in and took more than I expected. I have shared some below.
This cave takes you about 80m below your starting point, and you exit slightly below the area where you entered. It took just over 1 ½ hours to hike through, listen to the geology and history of the cave by Mango and look into cave features to see things like the shape of a full sized elephant, opera house sized auditoriums with pipe organs and even theatre boxes up on the side wall to the stage area. Your imagination runs wild in here, then you start to wonder how the fresh air makes it in, perhaps you are hypoxic J But with so many ‘entrances’ into the caves, the air is fresh and sweet.
We exited to adjust our eyes to daylight and our bodies to the warm day, as it is a constant 17 degrees in the cave.
After a short break and time for Mango to organise himself, as well as ensure there are no other participants in the next tour, we headed off on our 1 1/12 kilometre hike to the next cave entrance, Junction Cave. Again it was just our party of eight.
This cave is different. While it has some of the usual features, what it is known for though is the flowstone, spectacular formations of white marble flowing down through tubes in the cave. This cave also has ‘bentwing bats’ and we saw a few flying around as lights were turned on and off. This cave takes you 100 metres down into the cave, and again over a number of levels, starting yet again with a long ladder climb down. This exploration took just over an hour. One of the things you note is that while there is a specific path tailored, there are many offshoots that have been explored and thought about, but to keep the guided tour manageable, they have been excluded, so there is more to explore here than just what you are shown.
On exiting, Mango advised us if a free cave that we can explore that takes us through another hill to a lookout into a huge marble canyon. So, with daylight still to burn, we set off down on a very little used track, across a ravine and up to the side of the adjacent hill where we found the cave entrance.
This is Mares Cave and there is a timed push-in button light switch, to get you through the cave to the lookout. But seeing the beautiful crystal clear waters flowing through the bottom of this marble walled canyon had us quickly returning to the cave entrance and hiking down the narrow path to the floor of this canyon.
It didn’t take the kids long to be in the icy water, swimming and paddling, and for me soaking my tired feet. Then the images started to appear that needed capturing on film, so I went about doing my best to capture the magic of this spot.
We spent about an hour here, before taking the track back up the hill and returning to camp to sit by the fire to recapture the tales of the day and for some reason, deciding to cook a camp oven roast. We didn’t eat until 9pm Qld time, being 10pm NSW DST. An awesome day was followed by sound sleep, for tomorrow it was up into the Alpine regions of Mount Kosciouszko.
Camp: Wobeyan Caves
Wildlife: Bent Winged Bats.
Down in the Wondondilly Cave with our travelling companions
A Shawl - the lighting makes it magic
Making our way down, down, down, ladders and steps.......
Out at the Marble Gorge
Camp: Wombeyan Caves Cost: $140 included 2 nights camping, Family Pass to explore 2 guided caves and the 1 self guided Fig Tree Cave was $85 if I recall correct, making each night about $27.50 for a family to camp.
Elevation: 600m
GPS 34 18' 10.68"S
149 58' 19.74"E
Wildlife: Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Wallaby’s, Magies, Currawongs.
