EVERY day, tourists travel to the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains, one of NSW’s top attractions, to see the spectacular Three Sister rock formation and to ride on the Scenic Railway, the steepest passenger railway in the world.
They soak up the fresh air, get cosy near the fire at one of the area’s many luxury hotels and take photos of the swathes of eucalypts. Few realise, however, that there’s a huge secret cave hiding close by.
Described as a “natural sandstone cathedral”, the 25 metres high Hat Cave, near the village of Bell, is about as big as a six-storey building.
Set amid towering escarpments, the cave has natural acoustics as good — if not better — than the Sydney Opera House, says its owner Mark O’Carrigan, who stumbled upon the cave one day about 35 years ago when he was out chasing wild goats.
“I reckon I was the third white fella to have seen the cave, which is on the traditional land of the Gundungurra people,” he said.
“Two other guys were cutting timber in the district, they cut a tree from out the front of it.
“If it had been found back in the early 1900s it would have been in the railway guidebooks, and then in the 1950s there were lots of bushing clubs up here and in the 1980s rock climbers starting coming up, but they didn’t know about it.”
If you walk deep into the cave, often home to wallabies, possums, quolls, bush mice and the odd snake, you can find mysterious paintings on the ancient rocks.
“There are children’s hand prints in the back of the cave,” Mr O’Carrigan says.
“It’s not a sacred site as there’s no way in the world kids would be there.”
Using minimal impact construction techniques, the cave has been decked out with solar powered lights, candles “for intimacy”, a kitchen sink with a rainwater tap, sleeping bags and mats, a composting toilet and a gas BBQ.
Mr O’Carrigan’s eight-acre retreat, Hatters Hideout, also features a mountain lodge and takes group bookings of up to 20 people.
“You get a feeling of timelessness when you sleep in the cave, like time is totally bloody irrelevant,” he says.
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