Billy’s Creek Caves

May 27th: Day 21

The nights are cold and the olive oil has turned to a solid.

Left: Wild Woodgas camp stove, Right: Raman upending a solidified bottle of olive oil.

The stove uses small twigs and fine fuel that are readily available. I am very happy with it as an alternative to the liquid and gas fuel stove alternatives.

Unloaded the bikes and rode around to Mt Armour. Hiked uphill and down dale and through thick scrub and vines toward Billy’s Creek caves.

This time there was no track on a map to follow. If there was a path to follow on the ground we never found it.

After and hour and a half of bush bashing and struggling our way through vines, we arrived at the spot on the 1:250k map where the caves symbol was(thanks to the GPS for locating us). We then had to find the caves. There were out crops of metamorphosed limestone on both sides of the stream.

Hard work in the scrub and vines

The first limestone outcrop and a view down to Billy’s creek. Again, very steep! Thats my foot in the shot.

Chemical weathering of the limestone

Kurrajong thriving on the limestone outcrop. Their roots drink from the moist air in the caves underneath.  The limestone it self dates from about 410 million years ago (the Silurian period I believe).

We began to search. After only ten minutes I found the entrance to a tiny “cave” which had a small plaque on it stating BC2.

BC2 (Billy’s Creek 2 presumably)

Assuming the main entrance was near by, we continued hunting. I eventually found BC4 which was equally tiny. I don’t think it would be possible to fit a human inside the openings. I am not sure how they know these little openings are part if the bigger Billy’s Creek cave system.

After hunting for nearly 2 hours, Raman and I sat at the entrance of bc2 taking stock. There is an inevitable sense of disappointment when you don’t find what you are looking for but we had both had a great time scouting and the views have been fantastic.

The climb back to the bikes, perched high on a trail above us, was hard work.

We found a better way back that brought us out on top of the first limestone outcrop, yielding an amazing view of the valley.

The escarpments visible around Mt Armour are brilliant.

View of Mt Armour (centre) and a Kurrajong (left) contrasted against the eucalyptus bush that surrounds.

Looking directly back to BC2

It was getting dark when we reached the bikes. Riding out to this point was a tough choice.

Another tough and enjoyable day.

What an adventure this all is.

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