May 11, 2010

Wellington Caves, NSW

We had an early start for this extended excursion  to Wellington NSW. We caught the Dubbo XPT train which left Sydney at 7.10am (You must pre-book seats). We bought some morning tea on the train, from the buffet car, and arrived in Wellington about 1pm.

Wellington, which is about 360Kms NW of Sydney, is a commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural area. Swift Street, which runs from the station, led us to the Mitchell Highway. We bought some lunch and found Cameron Park, across the road, was a pleasant place to eat it. After lunch we bought all the food for our stay from a nearby supermarket.
Hint: Include drinking water in your grocery purchases in Wellington. The Caves Kiosk sold some cooked food, but not much in the way of groceries other than milk.

The Wellington Caves are located on Caves Road, about 8km from Wellington on the Mitchell Highway.

You could describe this as a 'public transport adventure'. We caught a taxi from the town [131 008] to the Wellington Caves Caravan Park which adjoins the Caves. The taxi's boot was not large, so it was fortunate we didn’t take too much luggage, which gave enough room for the groceries.
We stayed in a self contained unit which looked out to the adjoining golf course. This was an average motel room setup, except that we had to hire the linen. It also had a basic kitchen.




We went on the Cathedral Cave and the Phosphate Mine tours and recommend both. The Cathedral Cave entrance is almost hidden, but in the cave you can see what is said to be the world's largest stalagmite.





Across the road from the caves there are also the Osawano Japanese gardens which were worth a visit.










Our return XPT left early afternoon so we walked along Lee Street (Mitchell Highway) to the Macquarie River and took some photos before going to the station.


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