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7 Caves to Add to Your South West Edge Bucket List

Are you looking for an underground adventure as you travel along The Edge? The South West Edge has an incredible number of caves and experiences to suit everyone. From wheelchair and pram accessible caves, to caves with viewing platforms and adrenaline pumping tours for the thrill seekers – there’s a cave experience to suit everyone!

Here are some of our favourites along The Edge, including underwater, above, and below ground caves! Admire the stalactites and stalagmites under incredible lighting (sometimes just from the light filtering in through the earth) and explore these magical caverns. Most of the caves have a cool stable temperature of around 20 degrees, making this the perfect activity to tick off all year round. Here’s 7 of the best to add to your must-do bucket list.

Porpoise Bay Caves, Rottnest Island

We’re starting our list with an underwater cave, so divers, this one is for you. Towards the end of Rottnest Island, directly out of Porpoise Bay you’ll find the Porpoise Bay Caves. Whilst you may associate a swim at Rotto with the summer months, thanks to the Leeuwin current, the water temperature is only a few degrees different in winter. Wear your wetsuit and enjoy the amazing water clarity at this time of year. Expect to see some incredible sea life including sea turtles, leafy sea dragons, and fire fish as you explore the caves. The best way to experience this underwater dive is to start on the southern end of the reef and work your way around the exciting array of caves. If you’re into underwater photography, these caves have incredible photo opportunities with the sea life surrounding you.

A portrait image of the inside of a cave to show ancient landscapes on The South West Edge road trip
Lake Cave, Margaret River

Most of the caves have a cool stable temperature of around 20 degrees, making this the perfect activity to tick off all year round!

Ngilgi Cave, Yallingup

Ngilgi Cave was the first cave to open to tourists in Western Australia and has a rich history of Aboriginal significance. Located on Caves Rock in Yallingup, the cave is known for its large number of naturally-formed shawls, some of which date back over 386,000 years ago! If you’re wanting to experience the cave on your own terms join a semi-guided tour to explore the cave’s formations from a viewing platform. If you’re looking for a thrill-seeking experience, book an ‘Ancient Riverbend’ or ‘Explorer Adventure’ which both provide a unique, up-close-and-personal experience through some of the deepest structures of the cave otherwise unseen by the public, and sometimes in complete darkness!

Ngilgi Cave is named after one of the Wardandi Aboriginal people’s ‘dreamtime’ spirits. The story Ngilgi was a good spirit who lived in the ocean, while Wolgine was a bad spirit that once lived in the cave. If you want to learn more about the cultural side of the cave’s history, journey into the cave with Koomal Dreaming and be mesmerised by a live didgeridoo performance, storytelling and traditional fire making.

Giants Cave, Margaret River

Hidden within the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park sits Giants Cave. This huge, immersive cave experience is the deepest cave located within the national park. Featuring tight crevasses, vertical ladders to climb and dim lighting, this is one for the adrenaline seekers wanting to adventure along The Edge. You’ll find yourself 86 metres underground whilst inside the cave, so this caving experience is not recommended for everyone unless you are prepared for what’s to come, and for this reason children under 6 years of age are not permitted.

Mammoth Cave, Margaret River

As you can probably imagine from the name, the first chamber of Mammoth Cave really is mammoth! Pick up your self-guided audio tour and walk at your own pace, as you enter the cave through the surrounding bushland. Make your way onto the gently sloping boardwalk as you descend underground. At one time, over 10,000 fossils had accumulated inside Mammoth Cave, and after excavating, many were found to be remains of Australian Megafauna (giant animals) that became extinct around 46,000 years ago! If that’s not impressive enough, there is a jawbone of a 50,000-year-old ‘zygomaturus’ embedded into one of the caves walls! Situated 15 minutes from Margaret River, Mammoth Cave is the most easily accessible cave in the region, with wheelchair access into the first chamber.

If you visit Mammoth Cave in winter, you will see a stream flowing through the cave which is stained red from natural tannins.

Lake Cave, Margaret River

Make your way through a sunken Karri forest and complete the 350-step decent into the crystal chamber of Lake Cave. The cave gets its name from the permanent lake situated inside it and is home to a unique ‘suspended table’ illusion that hangs from the ceiling above the lakes water. You will be taken on a fully guided tour here, which includes an underground ambiance experience where your guide will alter the lighting in the cave to provide incredible, rare views of the formations surrounding you. Finish your cave experience in the Interpretive Centre to brush up on your cave knowledge.

Jewel Cave, Augusta

Boasting three massive chambers, Jewel Cave in Augusta is the largest of the show caves in the state and is often recognised as one of the world’s most spectacular tourist caves, so make sure this one is on your South West Edge bucket list! The three massive chambers of the cave are ‘decorated’ with gleaming crystals, ornaments, helictites, cave coral, flowstone and more, and is also home to a few fossilised Tasmanian Tiger remains.

A guided tour is the best way to experience the cave, allowing you to get up close with one of the longest straw stalactites found in any tourist cave in the country at five and a half metres long!

Mulka’s Cave, Hyden

On your way back through the Wheatbelt region, stop through Hyden to marvel at Wave Rock, then head to its neighbour, Mulka’s Cave. Unlike the previous caves, this one is situated at ground level. As you enter the cave, take a few moments for your eyes to adjust to the new lighting, and look at the walls to note the many hand stencils drawn on the walls, believed to represent children and adults. Mulka’s Cave is a protected area and has strong Aboriginal significance, with the name Mulka coming from an Aboriginal legend associated with the cave.

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A landscape image of the inside of a cave illuminated with light to show ancient landscapes on The South West Edge road trip
Lake Cave, Margaret River

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