Yarrangobilly Aboriginal culture tour

Yarrangobilly area in Kosciuszko National Park

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Overview

Join an Aboriginal Discovery ranger for a hands-on cultural learning experience at Yarrangobilly Caves in Kosciuszko National Park. This accessible tour is suitable for both children and adults.

When
  • Friday, 2, 9, 16 and 23 January 2026
  • Friday, 10 and 17 April 2026

Tour times: 10am to 11am

Accessibility
Easy
Grade
Easy. Suitable for all ages. Suitable for adults and children 5 years and over. You’ll walk short distances on mostly level ground.
Price

Adult $20 per person. Child (5-12 years) $12 per person. Concession $12 per person. Family $50 (up to 2 adults and 2 children).

Entry fees
Park entry fees apply
Meeting point
Yarrangobilly Caves picnic area
What to
bring
Drinking water, sunscreen, sturdy shoes, hat, clothes for all weather conditions
Bookings
Bookings required. Phone 1300 072 757 for more information or book online.
Availability
Available on request. Group tours available on request. For more information contact Tumut Visitor Centre
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Discover the history and heritage of traditional owners at Yarrangobilly Caves on our Yarrangobilly Aboriginal culture tour, designed for all ages.

You’ll learn about the history of the traditional owners, which is significant as Aboriginal people have the oldest living culture in the world, dating back 65,000 years.

Join us to discover new skills, explore artefacts, learn traditional techniques and knowledge of the local area. Try your hand at throwing a boomerang and learn about the traditional uses of local plants. You will also learn stories passed down and how to create your own piece of string/rope to keep.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Current alerts in this area

There are no current alerts in this area.

Local alerts

For the latest updates on fires, closures and other alerts in this area, see https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/guided-tours/yarrangobilly-aboriginal-culture-tour/local-alerts

Operated by

Image of: NSW National Parks logo
  • NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service

Park info

See more visitor info

Visitor info

All the practical information you need to know about Yarrangobilly Aboriginal culture tour.

Getting there and parking

To get to Yarrangobilly Caves in Kosciuszko National Park:

From Cooma:

  • Travel south through Cooma for around 7km
  • Turn right onto Snowy Mountains Highway and continue for approximately 110km
  • Turn left into Yarrangobilly Caves Entrance Road
  • Follow the one-way unsealed road for approximately 6km to Yarrangobilly Caves.
  • From Yarrangobilly Caves Visitor Centre it's a short walk to the picnic areas. 

From the Hume Highway:

  • At Gundagai, take the Tumut exit and follow Gocup Road to Tumut
  • Turn left onto Snowy Mountains Highway and head south for approximately 75km
  • Turn right into Yarrangobilly Caves Entrance Road
  • Follow the one-way unsealed road for approximately 6km to Yarrangobilly Caves.

Road quality

  • Yarrangobilly Caves entrance and exit roads are graded gravel. They're suitable for 2WD and 4WD vehicles up to 12.5m in length, however the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) advise that the roads are unsuitable for caravans.
  • RMS recommends snow chains are carried by all vehicles driving in the park in winter, including 4WD and AWD, in case of extreme weather. Visit the Life Traffic website for road conditions.

Parking

Parking is available next to the picnic hut and also at Yarrangobilly Caves Visitor Centre.

Park entry fees apply for vehicles without a Kosciuszko National Park day pass or NPWS All Parks annual pass.

Maps and downloads

Accessibility

Disability access level - easy

  • While the terrain is generally smooth, minimal assistance may be required in some areas.
  • There are no steps or steep inclines
  • The picnic area begins a short distance from the car park, making access easy for most visitors.
  • The path follows a flat and firm surface of dirt and grass, suitable for wheelchairs, prams, and mobility aids.
  • Mobility of arms will be needed to throw boomerangs and grinding stones.
  • A support person is recommended if needed.

 

Easy access is free of obstacles such as steps, rough terrain or significant slopes, and may have ramps or boardwalks.

Visitor centre

Learn more

Yarrangobilly Aboriginal culture tour is in Yarrangobilly area. Here are just some of the reasons why this park is special:

Unique landscapes

Jersey Cave decorations, at Yarrangobilly Caves in Kosciuszko National Park. Photo: E Sheargold/OEH

Yarrangobilly’s karst landscapes were created from a belt of limestone laid down about 440 million years ago. Almost all cave formations can be seen here, from stalactites and stalagmites, hollow straws and delicate helictites, to shawls, cave coral, and massive flowstones. Karst environments are nature’s time capsules, preserving evidence of climate change, floods, droughts, fires, animal and human activity. Over the years, Yarrangobilly's caves have hosted researchers from universities, nuclear science organisations and the Snowy Hydro. You can now visit Harrie Wood Cave, which was closed from 2006-2016, to learn how stalagmites have growth rings, and find out about about climate change monitoring.

  • Castle Cave Navigate by torchlight through a genuine adventure cave on this exciting 3 hour guided tour to Castle Cave. You'll get to view secluded, unlit underground caverns rarely seen by visitors to Yarrangobilly Caves.
  • Jersey Cave Step back in time on a guided tour of Jersey Cave. You’ll be awed by some of the most colourful and diverse decorations at Yarrangobilly Caves in Kosciuszko National Park.
  • Jillabenan Cave Take a fascinating guided tour of Jillabenan Cave. It's the smallest and most accessible of the Yarrangobilly Caves in Kosciuszko National Park, but it's packed with incredibly delicate formations.
  • North Glory Cave North Glory Cave tours run on a limited schedule, generally aligned with NSW school holidays and some long weekends. If you’d like to visit this cave, please check tour availability using the ‘Book Now’ button.
  • South Glory Cave Take a leisurely self-guided tour through the lofty chambers of South Glory Cave at Yarrangobilly, near Tumut. It never fails to astonish. 
  • Yarrangobilly Aboriginal culture tour Join an Aboriginal Discovery ranger for a hands-on cultural learning experience at Yarrangobilly Caves in Kosciuszko National Park. This accessible tour is suitable for both children and adults.
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Explore above and below ground

Yarrangobilly Caves Visitor Centre, Kosciuszko National Park. Photo: Elinor Sheargold/OEH

No visit to Yarrangobilly is complete without a visit to its marvellous caves, so stop by the Yarrangobilly Caves Visitor Centre to get your tickets and tour times. The largest, South Glory Cave, allows you to explore at your own pace on a self-guided tour. Jersey and Jillabenan Caves offer guided tours that run 3 or 4 times daily - Jillabenan even boasts wheelchair-access. The visitor centre can also help with tours of other caves, meetings, weddings, custom tours for groups or students from 10 to 100 people. With caves, tours, walks, and the natural mineral waters of the thermal pool to tempt you, you’ll need to stay a few days. Book your own lovingly restored wing or a great-value room at Caves House. Enjoy the creature comforts of Lyrebird Cottage, or set up camp at Yarrangobilly Village campground, just off the Snowy Mountains Highway.

  • Yarrangobilly Caves thermal pool walk Take the short Yarrangobilly Caves thermal pool walk and enjoy a swim in the spring-fed natural pool. It's easily combined with a picnic, bushwalk or cave tour in the Yarrangobilly area of Kosciuszko National Park.
  • Yarrangobilly Caves Visitor Centre Yarrangobilly Caves Visitor Centre is your one stop destination for information on cave tours and tickets, and top tips on where to stay and what to do in the Yarrangobilly and northern areas of Kosciuszko National Park.

A wonderland for wildlife

The endangered smoky mouse. Photo: Linda Broome/OEH

Karst environments are complex ecosystems containing highly specialised plants, animals and micro-organisms. The dense shrubs around Yarrangobilly River provide protection for the endangered smoky mouse, as well as being great for bird watching. At night you might be lucky to see a possum or sugar glider, forest bats, tawny frogmouth owl or even an endangered sooty owl. Don’t be put off if you see algae or even springtime tadpoles in the thermal pool. Algae and weed provide a breeding site for eastern banjo frogs, aka pobblebonks, because of their banjo-like ‘plonk’ or ‘bonk’, meaning the water is clean and healthy. School students can learn more about Kosciuszko National Park’s ecosystems and important biodiversity on a school excursion.

  • Yarrangobilly Aboriginal culture tour Join an Aboriginal Discovery ranger for a hands-on cultural learning experience at Yarrangobilly Caves in Kosciuszko National Park. This accessible tour is suitable for both children and adults.

Discover Aboriginal culture

Learning about Aboriginal culture from NPWS rangers, Birrimal Waga Amphitheatre, Tumut. Photo: Murray Vanderveer/NPWS

Yarrangobilly is the perfect place to experience the rich Aboriginal culture of the Wolgalu People. Join a NPWS Aboriginal ranger to see the tools and techniques of the Traditional Owners of this unique landscape. Take part in hands-on activities like string making, or learn how to start a fire without matches. Wolgalu culture tours run on select dates during school holidays, and start from the picnic area near Yarrangobilly Caves Visitor Centre (bookings essential).

  • Yarrangobilly Aboriginal culture tour Join an Aboriginal Discovery ranger for a hands-on cultural learning experience at Yarrangobilly Caves in Kosciuszko National Park. This accessible tour is suitable for both children and adults.

Plants and animals protected in this park

Animals

  • Bare-nosed wombat. Photo: Keith Gillett

    Bare-nosed wombat (Vombatus ursinus)

    A large, squat marsupial, the Australian bare-nosed wombat is a burrowing mammal found in coastal forests and mountain ranges across NSW and Victoria. The only other remaining species of wombat in NSW, the endangered southern hairy-nosed wombat, was considered extinct until relatively recently.

  • Eastern water dragon. Photo: Rosie Nicolai

    Eastern water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii lesueurii)

    The eastern water dragon is a subaquatic lizard found in healthy waterways along eastern NSW, from Nowra to halfway up the Cape York Pensinsula. It’s believed to be one of the oldest of Australian reptiles, remaining virtually unchanged for over 20 million years.

  • A juvenile platypus saved by National Parks and Wildlife staff. Photo: M Bannerman/OEH

    Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

    One of the most fascinating and unusual Australian animals, the duck-billed platypus, along with the echidna, are the only known monotremes, or egg-laying mammals, in existence. The platypus is generally found in permanent river systems and lakes in southern and eastern NSW and east and west of the Great Dividing Range.

  • Superb fairy wren. Photo: Rosie Nicolai

    Superb fairy wren (Malurus cyaneus)

    The striking blue and black plumage of the adult male superb fairy wren makes for colourful bird watching across south-eastern Australia. The sociable superb fairy wrens, or blue wrens, are Australian birds living in groups consisting of a dominant male, mouse-brown female ‘jenny wrens’ and several tawny-brown juveniles.

  •  Superb lyrebird, Minnamurra Rainforest, Budderoo National Park. Photo: David Finnegan

    Superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)

    With a complex mimicking call and an elaborate courtship dance to match, the superb lyrebird is one of the most spectacular Australian animals. A bird watching must-see, the superb lyrebird can be found in rainforests and wet woodlands across eastern NSW and Victoria.

  • Swamp wallaby in Murramarang National Park. Photo: David Finnegan

    Swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)

    The swamp wallaby, also known as the black wallaby or black pademelon, lives in the dense understorey of rainforests, woodlands and dry sclerophyll forest along eastern Australia. This unique Australian macropod has a dark black-grey coat with a distinctive light-coloured cheek stripe.

Plants

  • Billy Button flowers at Peery Lake picnic area. Photo: Dinitee Haskard OEH

    Billy buttons (Craspedia spp. )

    Billy buttons are attractive Australian native plants that are widespread throughout eastern NSW in dry forest, grassland and alpine regions such as Kosciuszko National Park. The golden-yellow globe-shaped flowers are also known as woollyheads. Related to the daisy, billy buttons are an erect herb growing to a height of 50cm.

Environments in this area