The thermometer in the van read 7°C when we woke this morning; the coldest we'd seen on this trip, but a nice blue sky suggested it would be a nice day.

Wellington was the only stop on our 315km leg from Coolah to Cowra today. We stopped to refuel in Wellington itself and then drove a further 8km South to the Wellington Caves. In the 1830s fossil bones of both a diprotodon and a giant kangaroo were found in the caves, and digs continue today in search of fossils. Phosphate mining was also done here from 1914 to 1918.

Three tours are available: Cathedral Cave, Gaden Cave and Fossil and Phosphate Mine. We chose to do the 11am Cathedral tour given our available time and the tour schedule. 

 

There are 150 steps down into the Cathedral Cave system (and of course 150 steps to get back out!) It is quite a dry cave, particularly so give the current drought, but the formations were still spectacular and overall some of largest caverns we've been in. The Altar (a 15m tall stalagmite) and the acoustics in Thunder Cave were highlights.

 

After the cave tour we walked around the Osawano Japanese Gardens, adjacent to the caves complex. The gardens were constructed between February and November 1999, with project funding being a gift donated by the Town Council of Osawano, Wellington's Japanese sister city. Design and construction of the gardens was undertaken by Wellington Council. The fish in the garden's reflection pool and a 4.5 meter stone lantern tower, donated by firms in Osawano, were highlights.

We did have to stop one more time on our run down to Cowra and that was to give way to a flock of sheep being moved from a paddock on one side of the road to one on the other side of the road. While there was a farmer on a quad bike there, it was pretty obvious that the two sheep dogs were the ones directing the sheep!

We hadn't booked the Cowra Van Park, thinking it would be pretty quiet, but we had to queue at checkin and were surprised how busy it was, however there wasn't a problem obtaining a site which would suit us for a couple of nights. Again we stretched our legs after a long drive with a walk from the caravan park up and down Cowra's shopping strip. On return we had a cup of tea with the last of our Weber baked soda water scones, topped with jam and cream. Those scones will be a highlight of this trip!

Dinner was the remainder of the sweet chilli chicken tenders with steamed vegetables. Dessert was banana and ice-cream, finished of with a cuppa.