Wollondilly Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Wombeyan Caves. From Mittagong: Old Hume Highway 17 towards Berrima, turn right on Wombeyan Caves Road. From Goulburn: Taralga Road north through Taralga, turn right on Wombeyan Caves Road. From the ticket office 800 m / 15 minutes walk. (-34.309690, 149.966310)
Open:	Wombeyan Caves office: All year daily 9-16:30. Wollondilly Cave: All year Mon-Fri 13, Sat, Sun 10:30, 13. Closed 24-DEC, 25-DEC. [2022]
Fee:	Wollondilly Cave: Adults AUD 24, Children (5-16) AUD 19, Seniors AUD 22, Families (2+) AUD 60. Discovery Pass (Fig Tree+1 guided tour): Adults AUD 30, Children (5-16) AUD 23, Seniors AUD 28, Families (2+) AUD 75. Explorer Pass (Fig Tree+2 guided tour2): Adults AUD 40, Children (5-16) AUD 30, Seniors AUD 35, Families (2+*) AUD 90. [2022]
Classification:	Karst cave cave system, river cave.
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	L=800 m, St=520, D=1.5 h.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	H Jane Dyson (ed) et al. (1982): Wombeyan Caves, SSS Occasional Paper No 8. Published 1982. SSS.
Address:	Wombeyan Caves, P.O. Box 18, Taralga NSW 2580. Wombeyan Karst Conservation Reserve, 41 Victoria Arch Drive, Wombeyan Caves NSW 2580, Tel: +61-48-43-5976. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1865	discovered by Charles Chalker, the first caretaker appointed by the government.
1875	opened for public inspection.
1928	electric light.

Description

The most beautiful and interesting features in Wollondilly cave are the Pine Forests and Fortifications. Fortifications are their metaphor for Speleothem rimstone pools with 20-30 cm high rims. In the water of the pools formed Pine Forests, calcite crystals looking like 5 cm high Christmas trees.

The cave was recently refurbished and is now the most modern show cave at Wombeyan. The cave is entered down a spectacular ladder. The electric light was modernized and is now very decent and almost invisible. To avoid destruction of speleothems, the electric wires are hidden in the railing of the trail. Where possible, groups of stalactites within reach of visitors have been left unlit so that their attention is drawn elsewhere. This is applied psychology. The Pine Forests and Fortifications are located in a very low passage. To develop it for visitors a trench was dug in the middle, but it is still necessary to stoop. In the hope that visitors refrain from touching the speleothems, the guide shows a stalagmite to the visitors at the biginning of the tour. They get the chance to touch it and to feel their surface.

Wollondilly Cave is the longest and most varied cave in the Wombeyan Caves network and has five levels. The tour through five chambers shows numerous speleothems.