Bungonia.

For my second freelance article with the magazine Go Camping Australia, I covered the volunteer campground host program in national parks.  I traveled to a couple of parks to interview the hosts.  Bungonia State Conservation Area is about a 2-hour drive southwest of Sydney.  I camped there overnight to have more time to check out the area.

Bungonia is known for its limestone caves, among the deepest on mainland Australia.  Bordering the park is a limestone mine, which provides more than half of the raw materials for cement in NSW.  It is used to produce iconic buildings such as the Sydney Opera House.  The mine can be spotted from many lookout points.  Because it’s a bit of an eyesore, I decided not to include it in my vista photo below.

As I mentioned, Bungonia has caves.  Adventure-seekers come for caving, abseiling, rock climbing, canyoning, and canoeing.  The caves are also occupied by large bent-wing bats.  The bats use different caves for different purposes (breeding, hibernating, etc.), so depending on the time of year certain caves might be closed to the human public.  Below is the entrance to the Grill cave.

Because I was there to conduct an interview, I didn't have time (nor proper equipment) to explore the caves.  However, it is definitely something to try if I make another trip out there.  I did have some time to do some bushwalking.  The morning before I left, I happened up some kangaroos.  I was very excited to finally be close enough to see (and photograph) a joey poking out of the pouch.

I also found this spider – a golden orb weaving spider.  The female spiders are quite large; this one was maybe 3 inches in length with the legs bent.  The small red spider above is the male, waiting for an opportunity to mate.  The webs are quite strong as well; they are known to catch birds and bats, which the spider will wrap up and eat.  Fortunately, they are a low risk to humans.