Amble In Kwiambal

A Little-known Treasure Trove in the Northern Reaches of NSW

- Kev Smith

KWIAMBAL National Park is located in a secluded area in northern NSW, at a spot where the aboriginal people of nearby Ashford once called home, with plenty of food, water and shelter. White man’s history goes back to the turn of the century when tobacco was grown at nearby Ashford; nowadays all that remains are dilapidated tobacco sheds.

Getting to Kwiambal NP is an adventure in itself. Ours started at the quiet town of Ashford, where driving around the streets exposes plenty of old buildings – some are closed, like the old theatre and Ashford Motors, but others are still open, like the chemist, which is where you can buy souvenir tea towels. Country life, eh?

Some locals in Ashford recommended we drop by the nearby Limestone Caves, which have been a real drawcard to the area for years. The caves are located just inside Kwiambal NP’s boundary sign, so finding them is easy enough. It’s a 300m walk to the cave entrance and day picnic area, where you’ll find toilets, day shelters, a few tables and plenty of open paddocks where the kids can let off steam. There’s information at the cave entrance, including Allan Cunningham’s 1827 travels, the history of the caves, and the mining of bat poo for fertiliser (there was so much, a small rail track and trolleys were used to cart it out of the caves).