Day 2 – Nangar NP to Wellington Caves

Brrrrr it was freezing overnight at Nangar NP however we were all cozy and warm in our beds. Our little buddy woke us at 6.30am but we all stayed in bed for another half an hour before getting up. By then the motorhome had warmed up a little with the gas alight to heat up the kettle. Not enough power to use the diesel heater!

We enjoyed a pancake breakfast before setting off on a walk along the creek. What a lovely campground it is at Terarra Creek. Victor had lots of fun crossing the little creek and looking for fish. We came across a couple of young ladies and their Landcruiser with a flat tyre. Fortunately a good Samaritan from another camp was there helping them. Those Landcruiser tyres are heavy!

It was with quite a bit of trepidation we set off. I kept waiting for the Check Engine light to come on again however we made it all the way to Wellington without that happening. Yay!

We’d made an online booking to do a tour of Cathedral Cave at 1.30pm and we made it to Wellington Caves around 11am. Plenty of time to cook some toasties for our lunch and enjoy a cuppa. We called in to the Visitors Centre to check on our tour and check what time we could check in to the caravan park which is right next door. I also changed our booking from an unpowered site to a powered site as it was only $5 more. $35 for a powered site with our Seniors discount. We couldn’t check in until after 12 so we decided to wander over to the Japanese Gardens and explore those.

Victor loved the beautiful Koi in the pond. Although it was a winter garden we were looking at it was still lovely with lots of evergreens for interest. I even enjoy seeing the bare branches of the deciduous trees. It would be a lovely garden to visit in Spring. The garden is situated on a slight slope and the little stream and pond that has been constructed to follow the slope of the land makes for an interesting garden design.

We followed our walk around the Japanese Gardens with a visit to the exhibition inside the Visitors Centre. Although it’s only small it is a very informative exhibition with a spectacular skeleton of a Diprotodon in centre position. They were really huge 3000kg marsupials. Much like a giant Wombat.

We picked up a leaflet at the visitors centre and followed the orange signs to to the Fossil Trail. The short loop takes you up and around a rocky hill with 10 stops along the way. Each stop showcases the various types of fossils found in the rocks around the area. The fossils date back to a time when the whole area was once a shallow sea. The fossil shells and corals predate the dinosaurs!

One initiative I really liked was a scavenger hunt for kids. You pick up the paper from the visitors centre. It has 20 photographs of things around the centre or on the tour that the kids have to find and tick off. Some of them were easy such as the photo of the giant Diprotodon statue that is right outside the entrance to the centre. Others were a bit harder. Victor did enjoy this activity and during the course of the afternoon he managed to find all the objects.

Back at the Visitors Centre we waited for our tour to start. Our guide Paul introduced himself and then we were all directed outside to collect hard hats to wear (Victor wore his bike helmet) followed by a safety talk. Paul explained the consequences of causing any damage to the caves. Even the oils in our hands can cause discolouration to the formations so we were to keep our hands inside the handrails.

The Cathedral Cave tour went for an hour and there were about 150 steps down and, of course, 150 to get back up. Our guide had a great wealth of knowledge about the caves and the creatures that have been found in them. He also told daggy dad jokes that Victor thought pretty funny. At one point Paul turned off all the lights and it was so dark we couldn’t see each other.

Following the tour we checked into the caravan park and were allocated site 23. We found this to be a lovely grassy site with a concrete slab. We quickly set up camp and looked forward to having the AC on heat so we’d be lovely and warm.

Victor spent the next couple of hours scootering around the roads and paths near the playground while we enjoyed a cuppa sitting in the lovely afternoon sun. That didn’t last though because as soon as the sun dipped behind the hills the temperature dropped rapidly so we packed up and went indoors.

Our dinner was another of Victor’s choices. He calls it ‘pillow pasta with white sauce’. In other words Ravioli with Carbonara Sauce. It was very tasty. The boys followed that up with banana splits for dessert!

We asked Victor during dinner what has been his favourite things so far and he replied ‘sitting by the campfire last night and the cave tour’. I love how sitting around the campfire was the first thing he thought of.

The motorhome was toasty warm and after dinner Pa and Victor settled on our bed to watch a movie. While I wrote this up they were engrossed in Boss Baby! Day 2 was a great day.