Visiting the thermal pools at Yarrangobilly had been on my bucket list for quite a while.
I finally decided to set aside a weekend and hop in the car to head south.
We decided to spend a couple of nights in Canberra, and visit the Kosciuszko National Park as a day trip.
It’s a good three hours from Canberra and 5-6 from Sydney.
We went down to Canberra on Friday night after work, and got up early to do the trip.
We decided to stay in Breakfree Capital Apartments which weren’t super lux but a good option for a group of friends or a family. The apartment was big and warm, and we even had a distant view of Parliament House.
We left the capital around 7:30 and got to Cooma an hour and a half later for lunch. A bit of research led us to The Loft Cafe for a hearty breakfast.
We had a quick stop off at Mount Gladstone lookout to check out the views before continuing south Yarrangobilly.
The roads were wet and a bit slippery, with snow about, so be careful if you choose to go at the height of winter, as we did.
We arrived around midday and ducked into the visitor centre to see what the deal was.
It’s $4 per car to entry and around $20 to visit the caves. We did a self guided tour of South Glory Cave – which was about all we needed. You could also book on to guided tours but they go for 1-2 hours and we didn’t really have the time to spare.
After a quick trip through the cave we made our way down to the Thermal Pools.
When we were researching, lots of people online had warned about the path down to the pools.
We didn’t find it too challenging at all.
It’s a wide gravel path and isn’t too steep.
There’s also an express version here.
By all accounts, taking the river walk was the easier option for getting back to the carpark – but the day we did it was so cold, wet and muddy, that the steep incline would surely have been better along the gravel road.
The pools were a cool 27°C – not aided by the rain and wind. Though a friend went the next day and there were crisp blue skies.
We spent a good half hour in the pool swimming and mucking around, before clambering to the changerooms to get our warm clothes on.
We did opted for the river walk back up the hill which is super nice and worth a look. It was wet and muddy though, the day we went, and it’s super steep in parts.
We got back up to the car and were on the road again around 1430.
We drove an hour and a half north to Tumut for a leg stretch and late lunch, before continuing to Gundagai to see the Dog on the Tucker Box, and on to Canberra.
All in all the drive back was 3 hours making the entire trip around 6 hours.
It’s worth a look if you’re ever in Canberra and looking for something to do, or if you’re on your way to or from the Snowfields.