Further into the Countryside - Taralga and Wombeyan Caves

Yesterday we had visited Crookwell and had a nice chat with the lady in the tourist information centre. She gave us a few leaflets and pointed out that a trip to Taralga (with its history) was a good idea, as it was on the way to the Wombeyan caves that we wanted to visit. 

Taralga is about 45 km from Goulburn going north east, while Crookwell had been more towards north-west. This also is a lovely scenic road which appears to be much more travelled as there was plenty of evidence of road kill, both kangaroos and wombats. This was originally a private village for the Macarthur family and their employees. It is another one of those one street towns, most likely a little smaller than Crookwell. The road passes through the town and you can see the stone houses that are a part of the heritage advertised in the tourist brochures. 

We drove into the village and parked outside the Taralga Hotel. This seemed to be the meeting place for men, as it has a pub and a hotel with rooms to let as well. The reason I clarify this point is that in Australia hotel is generally a place that has a bar and serves food. It may or may not have rooms to let. When you see the side of the hotel, it is beautiful stone wall with various colours in the stones. The local tourist information is in a small shop selling knickknacks. The lady was helpful and a friend of the one in Crookwell! She gave us a leaflet about what to see in the town, the buildings that still exist and what they were in the old days. We walked down the road and saw no one about. Then we passed a café where some ladies were sitting with a pram or two, visiting. Maybe this as the ladies gathering place? 

We wandered round a small one way lane next to this café to look for the local church – Christ the King Catholic Church. The altar is made of beautiful marble which was mined from around the Wombeyan cave region, so we had been told to go and see it specially. Must say the dogs are pretty noisy in this lane. The houses seem fairly large with big gardens.

After seeing the church we walked back the other way round and saw a couple of people near the local store. Then, we went back to that café for a hot chocolate. The cakes looked inviting and so ended up with a slice of brownie and a slice of raspberry and pear cake. Both were delicious but that brownie was very heavy. Thank God I had refused the addition of cream or ice cream to that. Looked at the map to see which houses were marked it as ones of interest. Looking closely one realised that all these houses were made of stone and that some had front verandas or porches added which changed the façade and thus did not show the stone walls right away. Why would a small place like this have needed 3 banks? Yes this is a farming area with good soil and cattle; maybe they were rich in the past.

Then we were back in the car, driving off to Wombeyan Karst Conservation Reserve which was another 70 off kilometers. Once we turned off the main road and started down into the reserve we saw a sign that said ‘gravelly road 15 km’. Now our car is small and so started rattling and shuddering when we hit the hardened tire marks of large vehicles, in the ruts left behind. If you moved out of the ruts then there was flying gravel! I must say that chocolate brownie felt like lead in my tummy right then. There is no one about, just this single narrow road going on and on in the forest, Mares Forest Road it is called. The trees are pretty thick, many old dried up and fallen over, there is some fern too and real bit termite mounds. We passed one car on the way which 2 guys were trying to repair I guess, since one was under the car. 

Eventually we reached the camping grounds and the caves admin block, after the last 4 km of downhill windy but tarred road. Parked the car and got ourselves ticket for self-guided tour which is around the Fig Tree caves. There is a good 10 mins walk up the hill to the cave entrance, must be for them athletic mountaineers…. I took double that time and with no rest at all since the Sun was glaring down. According to the leaflet common bent wing bats live around here. Once you get into the caves, the area is lit up through movement sensors. Also a short commentary comes on at every viewing point as you move along the caves. There is little moisture in the air and I did not actually see any stalactites dripping. The marble is coloured with various minerals like iron compounds and also there is grey which is caused by the ashes of various bush fires. The path is narrow and often low but there is good railing to hold on to. I did take a few photographs but they were no good as I did not adjust the camera for low lighting. Silly me!

After the caves it was time to sit and have a nice long cold drink to rehydrate and ice cream. We sat in the veranda of the admin office and watched the birds – little superb Fairywrens (small brown birds about 2 inches long body with another 2 inches of tail standing up more or less at right angles to the body is the female of the species. The male has bright blue head and is pretty attractive) and crimson rosellas flying about. As I walked back from the toilets I saw this big lizard by the hedge and shouted to my husband to bring the camera and to see this big iguana. Well it led us a little dance as by the time I focused the camera, it moved through the hedge to the other side. We rushed back on to the veranda to get a picture there and yes.. it moved right back outside again. However, we did manage to get a photo and the ranger there said it was a Goanna and not an Iguana. As we were leaving we saw a couple of bikers who just parked looking at this tree and taking photos. When we walked over it was the goanna on the tree trunk. Actually for the first time we really took in its real length which was a good 2 meters. The tail was so thin and long that we had not estimated its length while it was on the ground.

Well that was a nice farewell from the caves. Off to judder along the 15 km of gravelly road again. I decided that my legs and arms were too tired for the strength needed to keep the car going on this road. Once we were on to tarmac, I took over the driving and enjoyed the long drive back to Goulburn.