Hastings - Places to See

Newdegate Cave
Newdegate Cave is about a 5 minute walk from the car park through particularly beautiful rainforest. The Department of Lands Parks and Wildlife have produced a brochure (it is available from a box at the beginning of the walk) which, when combined with the markers at various points along the walk, allows the visitor to get some idea of the hardships of the early timber cutters. There is an old logging platform where logs were hauled from the surrounding forest and loaded onto trolleys which ran along tram tracks to the sawmill in Hastings where it was cut and prepared for export.

On one level Newdegate Cave is not particularly special however there is one area of the cave (Titania's Palace) which is simply breathtaking. Located at the end of a large, and fairly ordinary, cavern, Titania's Palace is a genuine wonderland of stalagmites and stalactites which has earned Newdegate Cave a reputation as one of the most beautiful caves in the country.

Inspections of the cave are held at 11.15 a.m., 1.15 p.m., 2.15 p.m., 3.15 p.m. and 4.15 p.m.

The Forest and the Trees
Further along the walk are stumps of trees which were cut down and, by some accident or oversight, there is a huge stringy bark which is 68.7 m high and estimated to be 450 years old.

The brochure also offers a guide to the flora of the area and the visitor can easily identify the tree ferns, kangaroo ferns, musk, silky fan ferns and myrtle which grow in abundance on either side of the track.

The Thermal Pool
A couple of kilometres from Newdegate Cave is the Thermal Pool. The authorities have gone to a lot of trouble to make the Hastings Caves Thermal Pool at attraction for visitors. Set in bushland the pools, which remain at a constant 28-30?C throughout the year, are surrounded by lawns, good seating and modern picnic facilities. The swimming area is positively inviting.