Where the Wombeyan experience begins

The Wombeyan Caves, nestled in a leafy valley in the NSW Southern Tablelands, offers cave tours and idyllic camping. Allan Whiting left town for a two-day escape

The Wombeyan Caves experience begins in the NSW Southern Highlands town of Mittagong, which is an ideal spot to top up fuel and supplies. The turnoff to Wombeyan Caves is on the Old Hume Highway, just west of the town.

The first stage of the trip crosses a pastoral plateau on bitumen, but the character changes shortly after the dirt road section begins. Steep, tree-covered hillsides are the order of the day and only the degree of steepness varies for the whole trip.

The highlight of the downhill run is the hand-cut Bullio road tunnel through a rock ridge saddle. It's worth a stop to stretch your legs, but make sure you park well off the narrow dirt road.

The run down to the Wollondilly River is a real 'shoe-lace' series of switchbacks with hairpins, so extreme caution is necessary. Trucks use this road, hauling road base, so try Channel 8 on 27Meg or Channel 40 or 9 on UHF to see if there are any on the road when you're travelling.

Goodmans Ford makes an excellent lunch or reviver stop, or an overnight camp if you want to play in the refreshing river waters. Wollondilly River Station can be contacted on (02) 4888 9207.

Where the Wombeyan experience begins

The Wombeyan Caves, nestled in a leafy valley in the NSW Southern Tablelands, offers cave tours and idyllic camping. Allan Whiting left town for a two-day escape

The Wombeyan Caves experience begins in the NSW Southern Highlands town of Mittagong, which is an ideal spot to top up fuel and supplies. The turnoff to Wombeyan Caves is on the Old Hume Highway, just west of the town.

The first stage of the trip crosses a pastoral plateau on bitumen, but the character changes shortly after the dirt road section begins. Steep, tree-covered hillsides are the order of the day and only the degree of steepness varies for the whole trip.

The highlight of the downhill run is the hand-cut Bullio road tunnel through a rock ridge saddle. It's worth a stop to stretch your legs, but make sure you park well off the narrow dirt road.

The run down to the Wollondilly River is a real 'shoe-lace' series of switchbacks with hairpins, so extreme caution is necessary. Trucks use this road, hauling road base, so try Channel 8 on 27Meg or Channel 40 or 9 on UHF to see if there are any on the road when you're travelling.

Goodmans Ford makes an excellent lunch or reviver stop, or an overnight camp if you want to play in the refreshing river waters. Wollondilly River Station can be contacted on (02) 4888 9207.

Wombeyan Caves

The uphill climb from the Wollondilly River is similar to the first leg, but the trees open up in many places, giving magnificent views of the Blue Mountains to the north. From the hill top intersection with Laings Road, Wombeyan Caves Road drops downhill into the Caves valley.

Five caves at Wombeyan have been developed for public visits and are easily accessible via graded pathways. One of the caves can be visited on a self-guided tour. Tours through the wild caves can be arranged through the Caves Reserve Trust. Cave tour bookings can be organised by phoning (02) 4843 5976. The tours can be quite expensive: even the self-guided cave tour is $14 per adult.

There is bushwalking in the 345ha reserve, leading not only to the bush, but also to waterfalls, mountain lookouts and a spectacular limestone canyon that is ideal for swimming.

There is ample camping space, plus a kiosk, barbecue facilities and an abundance of flora and fauna. The rangers ensure there's a supply of firewood at the individual fire sites. Kangaroos graze during the day and rock wallabies come out to feed at dusk.

You can make a loop drive from Wombeyan by continuing west from the Caves. The road winds out of the valley, heading for Goulburn and becomes bitumen before Richlands. The Mittagong-Wombeyan Caves-Goulburn road distance is 142km.

There's a comprehensive Tourism Southern Highlands office in the main street as you enter Mittagong that can be contacted on (02) 4871 2888.

Wombeyan's history

The Wombeyan Caves area was known to the indigenous people long before European settlement. Many of the show caves and visitor facilities today have names which are adaptations of Aboriginal words: 'Wombeyan' means 'grassy valley between mountains'.

The first official report of the existence of caves at Wombeyan was recorded by the Surveyor General of New South Wales, John Oxley, in 1828. Oxley had been appointed to lead an expedition to search for grazing land for John MacArthur, the pioneer of the Australian wool industry.

After five days travel on horse from Berrima, the party reached the Wombeyan Valley and set up camp near an archway (now known as Victoria Arch). During the course of the night, their horses strayed into the arch where they were found the next morning.

A clergyman by the name of Denning probed the dark sections of the caves in 1842. Then, in 1865, a section of land was set aside for the protection of the caves and a caretaker, Charles Nicholas Chalker, was appointed. Chalker is credited with many of the cave discoveries and the improvements to allow for visitors. A guest house was built in 1900, but was burnt down in 1934, destroying most of the documented history of the area.

The caravan park was opened in 1972 and two years later a communal kitchen was built. More recently, a large dining room, dormitories, new visitor amenities and a bore to provide a reliable water supply were added to the reserve.

Visitors to the reserve notice a sharp contrast between the natural eucalypt bushland that can be found in the surrounding area and the varied exotic tree species on the Wombeyan flats.

Australian Caravan & RV magazine, Winter 2009.