Byaduk Caves, Mt Napier State Park - July 2019

Bridge Cave

Byaduk Caves are in a fairly undeveloped area in Mt Napier State Park. I’d been here before many years ago with Sam and came way a little under whelmed on that visit. Twenty years later I was in the area again with a couple of hours to spare, so I decided to head back in and check things out again. Getting to the start of this walk requires a little detective work, the signposting in the area can be a little hit or miss, still after following a fairly nondescript dirt road for around 4 kilometres I successfully managed to arrive at the deserted Byaduk Caves Carpark.

Things are fairly low key at Byaduk Caves.

Grabbing my pack I locked the ute and set off into the park along an old walking track. Actually everything in the park is a little on the old side, from the walking infrastructure to the geology. Byaduk Caves are lava tubes that date back around 7000 years to when this part of Victoria was very volcanically active. In the spots where the roof of the lava tubes has collapsed it not only allows access but also allows for walkers to peer down into the caves. While access into the caves is possible in a few spots Parks Vic don’t want you dropping in as the caves are home to Bent Wing Bats, as well as being fairly fossil rich with the bones of Tasmanian Tigers having been found in them.

Typical lava fields scenery. 

Harman No. 1 Cave

Heading south on the grassy walking track I arrived at the lookouts above Herman No1 and No2 Caves before heading east for a couple of minutes to the lookout over Bridge Cave. Bridge Cave was where I left the short tourist track and headed off through the scrub to the south in search of more caves. With limited scrub and not much in the way of hills to negotiate you’d think off track walking would be pretty good here - but it’s not. What scrub that is there can be incredibly scratchy and even though there was no great variations in altitude the ground is covered in razor sharp volcanic rocks that are hidden in the long grass for a lot of the way, all in all this place still wasn’t doing a lot for my Feral mojo!

Harman No. 2 Cave

The formed walking track only heads into the park as far as Bridge Cave.

After following an old stone fence I checked out Church Cave and then swung east with the fence line to check out Bathtub Sinkhole. I’m thinking I missed quite a few caves along here as my heart just wasn’t in it. Obviously with the caves just being holes in the ground they are a little hard to spot until you are right on top of them (or falling into them if you are not careful!) and with my shins copping a thrashing by the nasty scrub I decided that it was time to start heading back. Once again I used another dry stone fence line to guide me back towards Bridge Cave where I’d pick up the track again, this time the fence was on the eastern side of the park. Actually to be truthful the dry stone fences here were of more interest than the lava caves I think - may I be struck down by Vulcan!

I kept to the left of this dry stone fence as I headed further south into the park.

I'm thinking that this is Church Cave (although that's a Feral fact).

Church Cave

Church Cave

With no track it requires a little detective work to find all the caves.

There were a few Wallabies out and about.

Heading back up towards Bridge Cave I started to come across quite a few feral goats, well I smelt them first and then saw them. The goats appear to be moving in and out of the park through a break in the dry stone fence and they only really added to my sense of melancholy this afternoon. The lookout platform above Bridge Cave helped to guide me the last hundred metres or so back onto the walking track. On meeting the track again I continued on around the short tourist loop back to the carpark.

This is about the spot where I started to head back towards the ute.

There had been a little rain last night and the country was looking very lush indeed.

Unfortunately there is a large population of feral goats in the park.

Heading back up to the ute I followed another dry stone fence.

Pushing through this stuff wasn't a lot of fun.

The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked 3 kilometres and climbed 28 metres on this easy walk (I did say that there wasn’t much in the way of hills here). As you can probably tell from my lukewarm write up, this place didn’t exactly fill me with joy, unfortunately this spot suffers from a lack of love I think. With some decent signage and more information, some feral weed and animal eradication and a walking track that accesses more of the caves, then this spot has would have the potential to draw walkers in, for now though it’s only really for people with an interest in volcanology, I think. I used notes and a mud map out of one of Tyrone Thomas’ books for this walk.

Relevant Posts.
Mt Eccles Lava Tubes, Budj Bim National Park, 2019.
Mt Napier Circuit Walk, Mt Napier State Park, 2019.
Mt Noorat, 2017.

Approaching Bridge Cave again.

Bridge Cave

Back on the formed walking track and heading for the carpark.