Description

The "Australian Wildlife Walkabout Park" was founded by former Minister for the Environment, Barry Cohen, as "Calga Springs Sanctuary", but now has new owners, Tassin and Gerald Barnard, who have renamed it. Just an hour north of Sydney on the F3 freeway, it makes a pleasant outing for both kids and adults, with plenty of wildlife, entertaining guides, and some lovely rock art.

There are three rock art sites in the park:

• The Red Hands cave, shown above. Note how the little finger is missing from some hands - presumably the result of an initiation ceremony.
  
  
• An engraving of a crescent and a wallaby, surrounded by many cup-marks and cup-and-ring marks, which are almost certainly man-made, but whose purpose remains unknown. Perhaps they are related to the thousands of cup marks found at the Elvina site?
  
  
• An emu with a spear in its back on a rock ledge with a fantastic view to the West.

To get there

Phone the Park before you leave on (02) 43751100 to check that they're open, and ask about opening times, admission prices, etc.

Take the F3 out of Sydney, and take the Peats Ridge exit which is signposted to the Australian Wildlife Walkabout Park. Follow the signs to the Park.

For more information

• Australian Wildlife Walkabout Park website

Image Gallery

Click on thumbnail on left to see full-sized image

	Map showing location of site
	Diagram of the site.
	The red hands cave
	The crescent - a moon or a boomerang?
	The wallaby.
	The emu - oblique view.
	The emu - vertical view
	One of the many distinctive cup-and-ring marks found at this site. This picture has the strange property that your eye may see it either as a raised ring or a grooved ring. The actual rock has a grooved ring with a raised bump in the centre. If you don't see it like that, try staring at it until your eye flips it into that position.
	Another cup and ring mark. Again, don't be fooled - this is a depression in the rock with a central raised mound, not a volcano-shaped protuberance!
	One of the other attractions at Calga Springs - the wildlife. Pademelons like these regularly come out to feed, just metres from visitors