Saturday 3 June 2023

The campsite

Around the campfire

Footwear ready to cross the river

The cold morning crossing of the Shoalhaven

The valley view

The Big Hole

“that is a big hole”

Donna posing for a photo at the Marble Arch cavern

And another one

Not praying, just putting the camera away!

Martin leading the way through the slotted canyon

Traversing those slippery rocks

Stalagmites or stalactites (I never know which) in the Marble Arch cavern

Enjoying lunch after the climb back up the hill from Reedy Creek

Karen and Donna

On the way back through the dwarf casuarina heath

Photos from Helen, Karen McL, Rob, Mary and Peter

Our weekend walk destination,  ‘The Big Hole and Marble Arch’ is in the Deua National Park, 40km out of Braidwood. Most walkers camped the night before at Berlang Campground at the trailhead beside the upper Shoalhaven River.

It was an icy start to the walk the next morning as we waded across the river – calf height only – and strapped on our boots for the gentle uphill climb through dwarf casuarina heath (Allocasuarina nana) to The Big Hole. The hole is certainly big and caused by geological forces beyond my comprehension, but involving fault lines, sandstone rock and limestone sinkholes. It’s an incredible sight, with sheer vertical sandstone sides plunging to a fern filled floor.

The walk then descends to a fairly flat and occasionally swampy landscape where we found the remains of an old eucalyptus distillery camp based in the forests of Narrow Leafed Peppermint of the area. Eventually the track descends steeply down steps to Reedy Creek and the opening to Marble Arch. The Arch is a huge cavern guarded by a rock stuck in its apex. Inside are slabs of marble on the cavern floor and the beginnings of stalactites on the walls.

Walking through the cavern we ducked under the low rock exit towards the light and to the start of the narrow slot canyon. Several walkers explored the wet, slippery canyon before returning through the cavern and back to the track.

The return journey was back the way we came, up the hills, through the nana heath in late afternoon light with views of the distant mountains, and one last icy crossing of the Shoalhaven River to the campground.

Karen McL