Braidwood Off the Beaten Path Tips by tiabunna

The Deua National Park is a huge area of forests in the south eastern corner of New South Wales. Access to most of it is very limited, but the Berlang Camping Ground south of Braidwood provides an easy start.

Head south from Braidwood on the sealed road toward Cooma for a distance of about 42km, following the Shoalhaven River. On the left, if you look carefully, you will see the Gundillion cemetery and a sign to the Berlang Camping Ground. Turn left onto the unsealed road to the camping ground.

Take your time on the short access road to the camping ground and look around you: particularly if it is late afternoon, there is an excellent chance you will see many kangaroos, as we did as we departed. Once you leave your vehicle, the bank of the Shoalhaven River is less than a hundred metres walk.

The river is suitable for swimming (photo 1) or you can ford (photo 2) it to continue to the destinations in the next two tips. The good news is that this section of the park is accessible to everyone, no matter how fit or energetic (or the opposite) you may be!

Rather than create a separate ‘accommodation’ tip, let’s cover the few details about the camping ground here. It has barbecues and toilets, but apart from that it’s a matter of ‘take everything’. It is unstaffed, but there is a charge to stay (honour system payment) of $3A for adults and $2A for children aged 5 to 15. We saw nobody else here during our visit, but it can become busy during summer school holidays.

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The email from Vter iandsmith asked if I had any details on The Marble Arch and ”Also, is the Big Hole worth a visit?”. I had visited The Big Hole many years ago, but getting there had involved wading thigh-deep through the chilly waters of the Shoalhaven River, and time had precluded going further to Marble Arch: what’s more I hadn’t a camera with me at the time. The opportunity to revisit was too much to pass, so I warned Ian about the river crossing and told him to count me in for a walk.

As you’ll know from the photos in my Deua tip #1 above, the river crossing is now easy. Drought has dropped the water level, National Parks have kindly added a row of stepping stones, and Ian is still laughing at me. Our gumboots barely became wet: take note if you go though, that prior rainfall could mean some wading if the river is up a little.

Once across the river, follow the well-worn path which rises through changing vegetation, including areas of heathland, with excellent views back northward up the valley toward Braidwood (photo 4): the return trip is 3.5km of moderately easy walking which shouldn’t challenge most people. Eventually the lookout (new since my previous visit) appears as you round the hill (photo 1). Be prepared to be impressed!

The Big Hole was formed by the relatively recent collapse (in geological terms) of giant caverns maybe hundreds of million years old. It is 90 metres deep, with sheer sides and maybe 25 metres across. Think of the inverted negative image of an average skyscraper, as if it had been taken from the ground leaving just a hole, which at depth becomes quite dark (photo 2). At the bottom tiny shrubs are visible: those are treeferns some two metres high! (photo 3).

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This walk is slightly more challenging than for The Big Hole, partly because the return distance is 12km return from the Berlang Camping Ground and also because a stiff climb is involved in each direction. The National Parks sign suggests a five hours return time, although we did it in slightly less including a lunch stop. A cautionary note here: check before starting to ensure your walking partner is not also a long distance bicycle racer – I allowed Ian to think that I was allowing him past on the hills so that I could spend more time admiring the surrounding environment! Continue on from The Big Hole on a path which is much less defined, with occasional marker posts to indicate the direction (most of which have ‘3.5km’ scratched onto them). A series of wooden ‘stepping stones’ has been placed in one gully, presumably somewhat wetter when there is no drought (photo 4).

Eventually, after a steepish descent (with 1,583,796 steps – trust me) you come to the gorge cut by Reedy Creek and, shortly after, find yourself entering the cavern it has cut through the rocks. We had no torches and yes, it becomes very dark inside! This is ‘The Marble Arch’. I took a photo with flash and, sure enough, the rock is indeed marble (photo 3).

The cavern is only short, leading to a narrow gorge some 25 metres deep, carved into the rock (photo 1). Be careful in this area, as the rocks are smooth, mossy and slippery: in a wet season, there would be more water and footings could become treacherous (photo 2). Both of us had shoes with insufficient grip for such an area and we found that we could cover only a few hundred metres of the kilometre length of the gorge.

So yes, if you are moderately fit, (preferably) carry a small torch and have shoes which will give a good grip on slippery rock, the Marble Arch is well worth a visit. I have added more photos from it in a separate travelogue.

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Most Australians probably are familiar with “ant nests”. This large earthen structure was built by insects. Although they are called “ant nests’, the insects which build them as homes really are not ants, they are termites. The pile of mud is somewhat like an insect skyscraper, full of passages and corridors and (I am told) with a quite stable internal climate and housing countless termites. In the appropriate season, for purposes of mating and forming new colonies, the termites take wing (I told you they were different from ants) and swarm across the skies in the evening. The problem is that they eat timber, so termites taking residence in buildings can be a source of real concern.

On the walk to the Big Hole, you will pass several of these “ant nests”. For a general idea of scale, the older boy alongside this one is nearly six years old.

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