Thunderbolts Cave

Cool place to visit and check out the historic cave. Bit of a walk from car park area; 180-200mtrs but worth the walk.Named after Captain Thunderbolt - Frederick Wordsworth Ward (1835–1870), is off the New England Highway, not far from the village of Black Mountain near the major towns of Armidale and Guyra in northern New South Wales.

On a circular road which is a tad unkept it is probably more 4wd than road. Cave is surprisingly good

Cool little cave, only a short 200m walk down the hill. However, the state of the track seems to imply the council has almost forgotten about the attraction...

An interesting short walk if you are in the area. Its not a big cave but something nice to do. Moss on top of the cave rock (outside) was more interesting than the cave itself. Not a long walk from the car park. A 4 wheel drive is required to get closer but a car can also be taken. We walked less than 10 mins from the 4WD marked spot.

Coming from Guyra heading south to Armidale. Keep a look out for Black Mountain Road on your right. Not long after on your left you turn. There’s a POI brown in colour sign on your right saying Thunderbolts Cave. This turn right is at the top of a large steep descent on the NE HWY. Google Maps pointed to access at the bottom of this descent and the turn off is in a dangerous position. Turning at the top of the hill has better access for 2wd low clearance vehicles. Thunderbolts Cave Carpark is more than 200 metres from the cave. The path is marked by rocks painted white. If you’re using google maps you can get closer by heading directly straight forward and not turning into the Carpark. Google Maps does give good info in turning into Robbers Rest and Thunderbolts Cave. But you’ll need a 4WD. We drove within 50 metres of the cave

It was a great experience, muddy and slippery when wet. It was cool learning about Australia's history in the process.

A little bit of a walk from carpark. Recommended 4 x 4 only though and a decent pair of shoes.

The cave is about 20 mins north of Armidale off the New England Highway on short dirt road. Take the turn at Norden Road then follow Thunderbolts Cave Road to a small car park. Part of the road says 4x4 only but I think would only be a problem after heavy rain.The walk down to the cave is fairly short though overgrown in places. Follow the white markings on trees in your are not sure which path to take.The cave itself is very small and you could see why it would have been used as a hide out. Bring some insect repellent if you are going inside as plenty of mosquitos about and watch your head as it's quite a low and sharp ceiling.An interesting little piece of history and a nice short bushwalk but if your not into bushrangers and Captain Thunderbolt in particular you could probably give it a miss.

If travelling from Armidale ignore the first sign,go to the second sign a further along, dirt road, unfortunately the signage to where the cave is isn't prominent (rocks, tree stumps painted white though fading).