Thunderbolts Cave

Worth the trip. Just exit the New England Highway at the NORTHERN end of Thunderbolts Cave Road. When coming from Armidale (south), Google Maps has you turning right from a 100km/h zone across a double line into an immediately very bumpy dirt road only as wide as a car. The manoeuvre is unsafe. The southern end is 4WD only.

It's all Thunderbolts Cave Road, but the northern end is easily 2WD and much smoother, better signage and faster. Finding the cave is easy from the carpark.

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.

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.

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

An intriging place to explore with a very interesting history. Well worth getting off the beaten track.

Great piece of history
Difficult to walk down to and back from but definitely worth it, just need to take your time

Interesting piece of local history & good education for the kids. The last few hundred metres of track are marked "4WD Only, no Council liability" but most cars will make it just fine. The Cave itself is a short 200m downhill scramble from the carpark, the path is marked by white painted rocks.

Lovely place, very clean. Friendly staff and service.

Very nice well blended with the environment. Great piece of Aus history. To all the reviews out there saying this is two wheel drive accessible for anyone that values there car I would recommend not taking your car out there. The road is very rocky and rough. Probably better to park on road and walk the two kilometers to cave. 2WD Especially if you don't want to risk being stranded in the bush. Heading south take first exit. Although track looks as though its suppose to loop around road gets worse the further you go.Not called devils run for no reason.

an easy walk, not overly 'amazing' caves, but well worth a visit and quite nice area... My small hatchback could manage the gravel road.. not sure how u'd go if it was wet or rainy tho !
watch the movie 'The Decent' .. theres also a Decent part 2...
and then everytime you go visit caves you will have a slight freak out

Awesome cave, short easy walk from parking area, definitely worth it if you’re nearby

Very interesting imaging Thunderbolt roaming this area. It's easy to find, just follow the painted white rocks. It's a shame and disappointing the cave has been vandalised by graffiti.

read the history of Mr Ward AKA Capt Thunderbolt and as were staying at Rose Villa Motel (clean and quiet Motel btw and recommended) a few Ks away we decided to visit. worthwhile trudge through a bit of the Australian Bush to see the hide out.

Amazing place, great climbing opportunities but could use a bit of signage to show the history

Very nice, follow the white painted rocks and trees. Take the right hand track at the first fork.

Awesome cave

An awesome little cave that Captain Thunderbolt used to hide in when the police came looking for him with an emergency exit in the back so he could escape

Nice walk

Except for the graffiti, it was cool. Going to check out thunderbolt cave next

Yummy food and coffee - service was gr8