Day 4 – Wombeyan Caves

Wow! what a storm we had last night! It pelted down rain. For us Griffith-ites it was amazing to hear that heavy rain. It’s not often we hear that out our way!

We woke to a bright sunny morning though. The sun was shining and our new solar panels were already working to top up the batteries. Following breakfast in the motorhome we set off walking to the Visitors Centre. First we had to cross the little creek in front of where we are camped. Yesterday the creek bed was just dry stones and pebbles but this morning it was a running creek with a couple of inches of crystal clear water flowing. So we had to carefully use stepping stones to cross then walk across the South End non-powered camp area. In the centre of that area is a large circle fire pit area. The circle is defined by huge rectangular limestone blocks arranged around the circle and then inside the large circle is three smaller circles each with a fire pit. There’s also a large fire pit in the centre.

The people we shared our fire with were still camped nearby in their Explorer motorhome. Lots of kangaroos and wallabies were out and about eating the green grass. We commented that the rangers wouldn’t have to mow very often as the Roos keep the grass neat and even. It must be a good year for the Roos and many of them had joeys in their pouches, sometimes with last year’s joey alongside as well.

Once we arrived at the Visitors Centre we asked about which tours were available that day and we were lucky to find that a guided tour of Wollondilly Cave was going to be held at 1pm. We could do the self-guided tour of Fig Tree Cave and the Victoria Arch in the morning. We paid the 2 cave price for Seniors of $30 each. We were given a receipt and a token to be used to enter Fig Tree Cave.

From the Visitors Centre you cross the creek over a new looking substantial bridge and follow a well made gravel path up to the top of Wattle Hill. It’s about 500m to the top and the path is quite steep. Halfway up there’s a cantilevered lookout down to the valley below. The valley is so pretty.

At the top we had a brief rest on the chairs while taking in the gorgeous bush views. Who should come along? Amanda and Allan from the other motorhome. They had done the same caves tours yesterday that we were going to do and they decided to do the Mares Forest Walk today. We said farewell and safe travels and headed off to the entrance of Fig Tree Cave. At the locked door you put your token in the slot to open the door and gain entrance inside. Once inside the door closes and there’s no going back!

As you make your way in Fig Tree Cave lights come on ahead of you so you can follow them. I was surprised to see all new-looking stainless steel handrails in place to aid your walk. In a couple of spots along the way a recorded commentary comes on and tells you a bout the features of the cave in that area. It is very well done. Fig Tree Cave is full of beautiful cave decorations including stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone etc. It took us about an hour to make our way through Fig Tree Cave and we came out inside the Victoria Arch. The Victoria Arch was once a cave that had collapsed and is now open to the sky. It is huge!

After our tour of Fig Tree Cave and Victoria Arch we wandered back through the campground and had a well earned late morning tea back at camp.

We had to be back at the top of Wattle Hill by 1pm for the start of the next tour of Wollondilly Cave so we set off about 12.20. On the way up we spotted lots of different birds and also a large Goanna who had crawled into an ants next. It was not in a hurry to move on but eventually came out and made its way down the steep hill.

We arrived at the top by 12.45 and were enjoying the rest before the ranger came along. He introduced himself as Robert and we learnt we were the only ones on the tour. We had a very personalised tour. We spent the next 2 hours going up and down steps and ladders and it felt like we were doing spirals underground. It was fascinating. Some of the formations in the cave are stunning. Robert was a great guide with a wealth of knowledge of the geology and topography of the cave.

We enjoyed the tour very much and would recommend it to anyone coming to Wombeyan Caves although you need to have a good degree of mobility to tour Wollondilly Cave as some of the steps are very steep with high risers and some of the steel ladders are very long and steep. There are lots of places where you have duck under rocks and walk along bent over to avoid hitting your head.

Back at camp we filled up our water tanks from the tap across the road and emptied our grey water into the bush away from the creek using our buckets. Chores done and the rest of the afternoon was spent reading and writing.

We had a quiet evening around the campfire and had home made hamburgers for dinner.