Well I had a fantastic weekend with the kids. If you are in NSW and want an excellent campsite, check out Wombeyan Caves Campground! There were kangaroos everywhere! There was a river to play in, fire pits, a giant natural arch and many caves! For the hikers reading this, the cave tour lasted about an hour and a half and was an excellent underground hike.

The three and a half hour drive from Sydney wasn’t too taxing. We stopped at the Big Merino in Goulburn for lunch then drove along dirt roads and a very poor stretch of narrow paved road until we reached the campground.

The first day we just relaxed and enjoyed the river and the kangaroos and campfire. The visitors centre had a little room with caving artefacts so we checked that out but the kids were most impressed by a vending machine that dispensed chicken soup! I spent a lot of money in that machine!

The kids slept in the car camper (we converted our Yaris – a project the kids led so it’s up on their channel : Yaris Car Camper Conversion Video) and I slept in my hiking tent. The campsite next to us had a loud snorer so we woke up frequently.

In the morning we had breakfast and packed up then made our way to the meeting point for the cave tour.

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We all waited on Wattle Hill for the guide. When he arrived he tried to impact a bit of realism into the parents that had brought along toddler age kids. The ladders inside the cave were long and the steps not all made for kid sized legs. He laid down a number of rules such as : parents to descend the ladder ahead of the kids, kids to ascend ahead of the parents, and the usual don’t touch the formations (they become discoloured).

We made our way into the cave. It was nice and cool. We were among the first inside so got to take lots of pictures. Those with little ones took some time to descend and a few decided not to proceed. That was wise I think as the ladders were a little bit wet as well as long.

The first room was amazing, but of course it was nothing compared to the rest of the complex. The pictures below will show you the variety.

The first chambers and passages had many stalagmites and stalactites. (Stalactites cling tight to the ceiling, stalagmites just might reach the roof!). The next chamber was huge and the guide turned out the lights at this point and lit a candle to show us what the first explorer (Charlie Chalker) would have experienced. It was so dim, I wondered if he appreciated it in the same way. He would barely have seen the other side of a chamber so could not have taken it all in the same way our bright lighting allows today.

After this we moved on to an even larger room with a central rubble pile that fell thousands of years ago. This was the cathedral room. There was a couple of formations originally called the Angel and the Dove, but modern Aussies called it the Icecream and the Cockatoo! Indeed every kid shouted “look at the ice cream cone !”

There was a formation that looked like a strip of bacon, which was a very popular photo spot.

After this we descend a way and found ourselves in a very narrow passage. This had been cut to allow tourists though but the original cavers would have been crawling. I kinda wanted that experience. I might have to do some adventure caving in the future! There was a lot of crouching and squeezing though. There was a little crystal pool still active, and lots of active stalactites dripping onto their partner stalagmite.

The air was quite dry. I kept drinking water. I wasn’t sure if it was the air or whether it was dust but I must have drunk a good litre.

Each chamber was more spectacular than the next. As we climbed back up I watched one of the toddlers do their climb and he was loving every second of it! He just ploughed through all the difficulties. There was another that wouldn’t stop crying the poor thing.

We were allowed to climb out of the final chambers on our own (they were spectacular too) and were soon back in the light.

That was a brilliant tour! I highly recommend a visit. The whole campsite was just brilliant. I noticed a sign pointing to a limestone gorge, I noted this for next time!

This was a spontaneous little weekend trip and it turned out to be as good as any holiday. There was no arguing amongst the kids as there was always something to do or see. The campsite was amazing and we will definitely return one day.