Coronavirus, fires, floods hold caves in Blue Mountains closed, hurting tourism

The Blue Mountains’ ancient limestone cave systems have had an unprecedented year of bush fires, floods, and coronavirus restrictions keeping visitors away.

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But now that things are back to normal, the communities that rely on tourism say they have been left in the dark as to why some of the caves continue to remain closed.

The Wombeyan Caves usually attract more than 100,000 visitors a year, but have been closed to visitors since early 2020 as urgent maintenance and safety improvements continue.

The campsite in the caves reopened in December, but the nearby business owners and local council say the area no longer exists and the main landmark is locked away.

Ina Casburn of Wollindilly River Station says the Wombeyan Caves are a popular attraction for their visitors. (ABC News: Hugh Hogan)

Nearby, campsite owner Wollindilly River Station, Ina Casburn, said the caves were a popular attraction for their guests.

“The caves are a major tourist attraction in the area and people who want to visit the caves choose not to come,” she said.

“People want to travel around the state as local tourists and are looking for new places to visit, so they should reopen as soon as possible.

Ms. Casburn says she was forced to put up a sign to alert visitors to the closings. (ABC News: Hugh Hogan)

Ms. Casburn was also concerned that there were no signs on the narrow, winding road between Mittagong and Wombeyan informing the public that the caves were closed.

“People asked about the caves a lot, so I had to put a handwritten sign on a post outside my campsite to let people know they weren’t open,” she said.

“If there were more advertisements and signs on the streets letting people know that the caves are closed it would save them the trip.”

Taralga shopkeeper Chrissie O’Neill says the caves usually attract a lot of tourists to the village. (ABC News: Hugh Hogan)

Communities “left in the dark”

Taralga village is a popular stop for tourists looking to visit the 400 million year old Wombeyan Caves.

“We’ve missed the visitors who come to town very much since last year, and it’s had a huge impact,” said Chrissie O’Neill, gift shop owner.

“Over the past few years, 3,000 people have visited the caves over Easter, but since they no longer come we don’t see any of them.”

The Wombeyan Caves bring thousands of tourists to the nearby village of Taralga. (ABC News: Hugh Hogan)

Ms. O’Neill said she was frustrated with the lack of information being made available to the community as to when the caves would reopen.

“We have people in our stores who want to know when the caves will reopen and we don’t know what to tell them because it feels like we’re being left in the dark,” she said.

Upper Lachlan Shire Council Mayor John Stafford said his council was trying to figure out when the Wombeyan Caves would reopen.

“The caves are vital to the region. They are a link between Oberon and Goulburn and it is disappointing not to have them open to visitors,” he said.

“We haven’t seen or heard anything about when the caves might reopen.”

Abercrombie Caves north of Crookwell will remain closed due to COVID-19 restrictions and the risk of falling rocks. (ABC News: Hugh Hogan)

“Closed environment” makes tours difficult

For the first time since the 19th century, the Jenolan Caves were closed to visitors due to bush fires, flooding and restrictions from the coronavirus.

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They too closed from January 2020 to October last year when some of the popular tourist attractions reopened.

Jenolan Caves deputy director Cameron Chaffey said five of the nine show caves have reopened to the public and tours are 40 percent full to meet social distancing requirements.

“The caves are an enclosed environment so we are working hard to meet public health guidelines so that people are not too close together,” said Chaffey.

“We clean the caves, including the handrails, every day, we encourage our visitors to wear masks, and there is hand sanitizer at the entrances.”

Mr Chaffey said visitors enjoyed the lower number of people inside the caves and visitor crowd numbers may never return to pre-pandemic levels.

“Before COVID, we got up to 2,000 people through the caves in a busy day,” he said.

“At the moment our maximum would not be more than 800.”

Extensive damage leads to patience

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services said they could not set a schedule for the Wombeyan Caves to reopen.

“While it is primarily the social distancing restrictions of COVID-19 that are keeping the caves closed, there are a number of factors that have caused infrastructure and damage in the EU [Wombeyan] Caves themselves, “said Blue Mountains National Park Director David Crust.

“There was a lot of sediment and material washed into them after the flood earlier last year, and that meant people had to go in with buckets and shovels to clean it up.

“We also found traces of asbestos pipelines that were affected by fire, while the lighting system in the caves was also damaged by floods.”

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The New South Wales government allocated US $ 9.6 million to modernize the Wombeyan Caves last August.

The upgrades included four-year plans to improve the accommodation and visitor facilities, while a $ 2.5 million grant was awarded by the federal government Improving road access in the region, which has also been affected by fires and floods.

“We’re working as hard as we can to make the cave tours work again … but I can’t set a date when visitors can go back to the caves,” said Crust.

“People have to be patient. It’s a big job and the impact has been so significant, but we are taking advantage of this situation to revitalize the site in the years to come.”