Bush bash hiking to a secret Aboriginal art cave!

Well, I’ve done another hike for which I can’t actually tell you where it is! This hike is in a national park north of Sydney, that’s all I can say! It isn’t on the main National Park maps because it takes us to a cave filled with historic aboriginal art, and it’s quite a special place, so I’d like to protect it as much as possible. That said there is plenty of freely available information out there arm and it wouldn’t take much to track down the location if you were really interested in going.

I set out for the day not knowing exactly how far I would walk. I knew I wanted to see the cave, but I also had a plan to carry on and see some other features in the area. It was quite hot, and I decided I would see the cave and then see how I feel about going further.

I found the beginnings of the trail that would take me down, and fortunately it look like it had been cleared very recently by the fire department to help fight bushfires. It was steep, though, and I knew that coming back would be a little bit tiring.

I was getting into the swing of things when all of a sudden the trail ran out! I could see a couple of possible ways forward, but it looked like I needed to descend a cliff, and there was no clear way down that would not require bush bashing.

There were two options. I could clamber down some rocks to the right, or I could see it the trail (which looped back up) offered a way down on the left. I chose left. Unfortunately I had now stumbled on to private land so I turned around. Somehow I found yet another little trail that was between the private one and the cliff. I was a bit confused but after a bit of walking back up hill I found myself standing below the cliff. There wasn’t a clear way to carry on.

I now realised that my only way forward was to bush bash. I found a likely way through the bushes to the right of me and headed on in. I spotted a clearing and what I thought was path. There was no path. There was, however, a way forward. I just had to follow the gps track that other walkers had provided. There were little paths made by animals or water flows or just simply gaps between trees that allowed me to progress. I spotted a rocky area and headed for that and the way forward became much easier.

I emerged onto a large set of sandstone boulders with a lovely view. I took a pause here to appreciate where I was. I also realised that the rocks were likely part of the system that held the cave. After a short break I followed a pathway (it was more path than scrub) down and around the rocks. I found an amazing little cave that looked like a throat! I felt the urge to climb up and see inside but resisted and carried on as it looked a bit fragile.

And then I was there. Oh, it was well worth the effort!

The cave itself looked like a little wave. In its curl, I saw the shape of a wallaby drawn with charcoal. Moving into the cave, I could see red outlines of some sort of bird, perhaps a water bird, then I saw a Goanna (lace monitor) and the more I looked the more I could see. There were more wallabies (I don’t think they were kangaroos), more birds, possibly a possum. It was amazing!

There was a wide, low rock that you could sit on and be perfectly positioned to take in the view of the walls of the cave. I sat there for quite some time, and as I looked closer, I could see there were also white outlines of animals. I could see a kangaroo or wallaby and many more birds in the white lines.

I imagined what it would’ve been like back in the day. What would this cave have been used for? I imagined parents teaching their children how to recognise animals and how to hunt for the first time, perhaps. The cave itself, almost felt like it was a hide for hunting. You could hide down below the rock seat and watch the bushland ahead of you, and maybe there was hunting done directly on that spot, who knows.

It felt incredibly special to be there, and I knew that I didn’t need to go on and do any more walking in the area as this was satisfying enough. I also knew that I had to do my bit to protect the location as much as possible, so I have removed any specific location information from any of my posts.

The trip out was easier, but also a little bit more eventful than the way in. First up my phone died (!) so I didn’t have the GPS track to take me out of the bush all the way. Fortunately, on the way in, I’d taken notice of the large trees and the ridge lines and landscape around me and made enough of a mental note to be able to plot the way out.

As I was pushing through the bush, though, there was one bit that I couldn’t properly get around, and somehow my hiking poles got caught, and then my foot got caught, and I took a tumble. I landed flat on my knee, just to the right of a rock. It hurt like hell but I knew right then that it would’ve hurt a heck of a lot more if I’d landed on that rock. Over the next couple of days the bruise became quite big and it’s still painful even a week later, as I write this.

I knew, on the way out, that I had to keep a small hill or mountain on my left, and I knew that I needed to climb upwards towards the ridge line. Just before my phone died had taken a look at the map and I was directly on the GPS track so that was reassuring. I found the first tree that I remembered. It was a big tree with a flower next to it. I then found a rock that looked like a turtle shell that I had stepped beside earlier, so I kept going in that direction. Then I found another huge tree that was half open like Australian gum trees are, and I knew I was almost out. I felt like I was essentially, walking in the exact footsteps that I had gone before. In fact, I even saw a couple of twigs that were broken, and I fantasised that they were broken by me as I walked through earlier. I thought I was an ace tracker!

Soon enough, I was at the cliff, and I needed to decide how to get back up. I had two choices. One was to follow the trail, which somehow led back onto private property, and the other choice was to climb up a gap between two rocks and make my way along the cliff side until I was back at the top. I chose the second option partly because I felt bad about going onto private land, but also it kinda looked fun! I took it slow and soon enough, I was back at the top. Of course, from the top I could see that if I had just walked further along around the rocks I was climbing between, I probably would’ve been able to get up a lot easier. Ho-hum. Then I was back on the trail that lead pretty much straight up to the car. It was very steep, and there was one point where I was taking about five steps, then stopping for breath, then taking five more and stopping for more breath.

Before long, I was back at the car, feeling a little bit sore, but also incredibly satisfied. It had been an amazing experience with more of a bush bash that I had expected, but in hindsight, there had been enough warning from other walkers that the path would run out. It’s been a great little adventure, thanks for reading everyone. I have made a little YouTube video and the link is here if you’d like to see it, and some photos.