The northern end of Kosciuszko National Park is very different from its more frequented southern regions. Here the landscape comprises woodland hill-tops and broad, undulating grassy plains. An abundance of limestone has resulted in karst landforms, with narrow gorges, cave systems, vanishing creeks and spring-fed waterholes. The best way to see all of this is by spending a few days at Blue Waterholes, with its serene campground. Moreover, there are a couple of great shorter walks in the area with multiple stream crossings, gorges and caves to explore - a great place for younger children to enjoy the high country.

A little later, we turned off on to the Blue Waterholes Road and arrived at Cooleman Mountain campsite, our home for the next three nights. With school holidays and reduced numbers due to Covid, we hadn't been able to book a campsite at Blue Waterholes itself, but this was only a few kilometres further away and, with plenty of open space surrounded by some superb forest, it was ideal.

We set up camp, enjoyed a tasty meal that the fair Nello had provided and readied ourselves for two days of wonderful high country walking.

The morning of our first walk dawned near-perfectly, with clear blue skies and a pleasant temperature. It was only a short drive from Cooleman Mountain to Blue Waterholes past the old 19th century Coolamine Homestead, a reminder that this was once summer grazing country before becoming a National Park (note to self - we'll stop here and check it out tomorrow).

Soon we were at the carpark, checking our gear and putting on our day-packs - the one critical item not to forget, neoprene waterboots. Blue Waterhole, itself, is spring-fed and the icy subterranean water flows out of the pool and down the stony bed of Cave Creek. This was our route through Clarke Gorge and, with eight crossings of cold creek waters ahead, purpose-designed footwear was a necessity, not a luxury.

Leaving the carpark, we quickly descended the grassy slope, past several dead burnt bushes (the spotting in this area was as far as the big fires of January had come and, while areas of burnt trees could be seen on the plateau to the east, the gorge itself had been spared). We soon reached the first creek crossing, the water clear and cold with a bluish tinge from the dissolved limestone. We changed into our waterboots and set out - a line of stepping stones marked the crossing, but it is probably better to cross just upstream from these in the shin deep water, as the rocks can be very slippery and some are unstable.

The sheer walls of Clarke Gorge

The narrow entry to the gorge lay just ahead, inviting us in and, after a third creek-crossing, we entered it. It was spectacular surrounded by almost sheer 40m high limestone cliffs, as we crossed Cave Creek three more times to find the walkable edge.

Looking back into the gorge

On reaching a small set of rapids, the gorge opened up and we wandered across a flatter area of snow gum woodland. Cave Creek was never far away though and two more crossings in succession brought us to another low limestone cliff.

View down Cave Creek below the falls

The sound of tumbling water told us that we had reached our destination, Cooleman Falls. Suddenly, the creek dropped over a sharp edge and beyond, a lower gorge wound its way down to the Goodradigbee River.

The top of Cooleman Falls

Cooleman Falls and plunge pool

Although only a 15m drop, Cooleman Falls are one of the most aesthetically pleasing waterfalls that I have seen. We admired the multiple strands of the falls, sparkling in the sunshine as they tumbled down the uneven rockface and into a deep green plunge pool at the base. From the plunge pool, Cave Creek continued on, to cascade down its steep winding course into the wilderness country beyond.

We picked our way carefully down the side of the falls to reach the plunge pool, a beautiful spot to stop and enjoy this wild landscape. The day was beginning to warm up and the grand-kids were keen on a swim - a jump from the large pool-side boulder, a splash, a squeal and a quick retreat. This water was icy!

Icy water never stops children from having fun and soon they were jumping in and out with squeally delight. My daughter followed and, not wishing to be the wussy grandpa, so did I, for a very short but very refreshing dip.

Cave Creek below the falls

It was hard to turn back and retrace our steps, but the journey seemed very different as Clarke Gorge took on new aspects as we headed west through it.

For a while the kids headed up stream on a longer creek wade, at one time under the watchful eye of a water dragon. Clouds of small butterflies sucking up the moisture from the muddy river's edge flitted about as we passed. For children, this place is full of adventure.

Wading up Cave Creek

On reaching, the first (or on the return journey) last crossing, we followed the steam further westward, instead of climbing directly up to the cars - our destination The Blue Waterhole itself. A shallow, spring-fed pool, the clear water definitely has a bluish tinge, and backed by a limestone cliff and small cave to explore, lies in a lovely setting. With a healthy population of water weed, it was less inviting than the falls plunge pool and this time I didn't join the others for a swim. Sometimes its nicer to just watch others enjoying themselves.

All too soon, it was time to head back up to the car and drive back to our campsite at Cooleman Mountain. This is a short walk, but packs more spectacular scenery into it than many longer walks that I have done. It is the perfect walk to share with young children and show them the wonders of our natural landscapes.

We made a short detour on the way down to Blue Waterholes for our second walk, to visit Coolamine Homestead. Set on the edge of a grassy plain, this property was owned by the Campbell family and used for summer grazing. It has been nicely restored and is well worth a visit to see how the original settlers lived. In fact, one of these was George Southwell, who lived here and managed Coolamine for the Campbells from 1892 to 1909, helping to build the main homestead in 1892. My three grand-children were quite chuffed to learn that this was in fact great-great-great-grand-uncle George. The fair Nello's family, the Browns, have lived in the Canberra region since 1835, and if you have been there that long, you invariably connect up to the Southwells, the largest of the early pioneering families in this area. It may be distant, but it was nice to have that family connection to Coolamine and the Blue Waterholes area.

Then it was on to the Blue Waterholes carpark for our walk. Today we would be heading west, first following a 4WD service road down the hill to twice cross Cave Creek, as it wound its way across the snow grass flat a few hundred metres upstream from the Blue Waterhole. What a difference that short distance made, as here the stony bed of the creek was bone dry .... any water was flowing below the surface ready to bubble up into the spring-fed waterhole downstream.

Just before a third crossing, we left the road to follow a well-formed and well-signed foot track along the thick grassy verge of the dry creek bed. Around us, the low winding cliffs that formed Nichols Gorge shaped the direction of the track.

The entrance to Cooleman Cave

Soon, we arrived at the entrance to Coolamine Cave ..... a cavernous entry into the limestone rock wall on the north side of the creek. We crossed over and climbed into the cavern .... our first caving adventure was about to begin, so we reached in to our packs, took out our headlamps, ducked our heads and entered the low passage to our left.

Lina and Aisha inside the cavernous entrance

Family sihouette from inside Cooleman Cave

Entering the main passage of Cooleman Cave

Not much further on, we emerged into a larger space, where we could stand up and admire the way water has created the curious rock shapes as it flowed through this erstwhile underground river course. The cave was also an active one, with the smooth calcite on the ceiling tipped with translucent droplets of water.

A second low passageway led us deeper into the cave system to reach a smaller standing-up space. From this point, it became the realm of seriously-equipped cavers, so we returned to the opening cavern and, after a quick visit to the shorter right-hand passage, finished our caving.

A tighter squeeze

The day was heating up, even here, and the cavern entrance proved a pleasant place to stop for a snack in the shade, while cooled by a gentle breeze. From Coolamine Cave, we followed the river system, winding through the low-walled gorge, sometimes on the dry stony bed of the creek, sometimes through the dense mat of grass and herbs that lined it. The landscape here was very open, with no trees, so it was a bit of a relief to come across a small waterhole in the creekbed - an opportunity for the kids to have a wade in the cold water and spot the tadpoles that called it home.

The entrance to Murray Cave

A pair of speleos ready to explore

It wasn't far from the waterhole to the second cave. The entry to Murray Cave is a narrow vertical slot in the cliff-face, but behind it lies a large cavernous chamber and the air drafting out through this slot was deliciously cool.

Formations in Murray Cave (cave interior photos: Robyn Briese)

To the left of the chamber, our headlamps showed up a narrow passage - narrow, but high, so no ducking or crawling required for almost all of our exploration. This passage wound its way some 200 m into the limestone rock to reach a siphon, where you could look down on to a small pond that blocked further exploration. This was the visible part of a vast underground water system.

The water siphon blocking further exploration

Looking out from Murray Cave entrance

Narrow passage way deep in the cave

Along the way, we passed by some superb if fairly young formations - the ceiling and walls in sections covered with lots of tiny dripping calcite tubes, the occasional larger shawl and walls embedded with brachiopod and crinoid fossils. The photos here tell the story. Sadly, a lot of the more substantial features of this cave were pillaged in the 19th century by early visitors (I hope that it wasn't g-g-g-grand-uncle George).

The cave was a good lunch spot, as afterwards we climbed up the steep slope beside the cliff onto the snow grass plateau above. Here the open vistas of the Cooleman Plains surrounded us, as we walked through patches of white and yellow paper paper daisies, skirted a couple of sink holes and passed copses of snow gums, all the time surrounded by the distant wooded slopes of the Gurrangorambla Range.

This is brumby country and my grand-daughters had hoped to see some of these wild horses. Unfortunately, they had to be satisfied with the regular piles of horse buns, where brumby mobs had marked their territories.

It was quite warm crossing the open snow grass, but, after dropping back down on to the creek system, we found a small (and warmer) waterhole where the kids could cool off. Energy levels recharged, we followed Cave Creek down to its junction with a smaller tributary. It was now time to head north across the undulating open grasslands to reach Magpie Flat Camping Area and the road, where a final short descent brought us back to Blue Waterholes and the car.

Billy buttons in bloom

The last part of the walk had been quite hot and the idea of a swim in the lower section of Cave Creek began to take hold. The wide pool to the east of Blue Waterhole proved the ideal spot, despite its 14°C temperature. A quick dip here, beneath the limestone cliffs was a fitting end to an adventurous walk in this high country landscape. The chance to explore a couple of fascinating caves was a bonus.

And to complete the trip, as we drove back out the next day along the Long Plain, my grand-daughters got to see their brumbies, a group of three heading off up a side-valley, closely followed by a yearling .... cute, but sadly one more feral horse for the National Park.

Thanks for sharing this trip, Robyn, Aisha, Lina and Leo. It was a great couple of days in a unique part of our high country.