Caves Rock near Widgemooltha
by admin · June 14, 2018
Location Details
Scroll to bottom of page for images and posts
Out in the middle of nowhere is sometimes the best for astrophotography. Caves Rock near the small town of Widgemooltha is great for both camping, nightscapes and astrophotography. Caves Rock is a large rock formation that can be climbed easily - I could carry my telescope up to the top (though not recommended). From the top one has views over the landscape which is very flat unfortunately. But it is a great view never-the-less.
Caves Rock also has some interesting places for nightscape shots.
Summary Info
CATEGORY: Landscaqpen (rock)
RATING: Good
ACCESS: 4wd, dirt track.
FEATURES: Large but walkable rock. Small rock pool / lake east side. Interesting rock formations.
CONSTRAINTS: Don't go when windy
SUMMARY: Multiple scenes for nightscapes, and dark skies for telescope astronomy. What's not to like. Lots of wild donkey's around for some reason. And bats...
Google Maps
Part-way up the southern side of the rocks is a large rock pool / dam. I can see this being a feature in nightscapes, with the stars above reflecting off the still waters below.
I was concentrating on using my telescope when I went so I didn't take advantage of this opportunity at the time.
There are also an interesting rock formation on the west side of Caves Rock. Its like a mini version of Wave Rock.
To reach Cave's Rock one needs to travel either down from Kalgoorlie or up from Esperance along the Coolargardie-Esperancy Hwy. When you reach the small town of Widgemooltha, turn-off and head west along a dirt track for about 30 minutes. You'll need to plan your journey there as there a quite a few dirt tracks in the area and you don't want to accidentally head off into the unknown. When you reach Cave's Rock, there is a camp site on the northern side, but I recommend travelling around to the southern side where access to climb the rock is easier.
Alas, from an astrophotography point of view it was not very successful for me (not because the location was bad - but because I was pretty green at the time). However, with very dark skies, and not a popular camping site (its a fair way out of the way), and with great nightscape possibilities, I will be returning one day.
