Cavers

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Cavers

Happywanderer · The Master

I'm voting for a NO on that one. I'm claustriphobic. No way would I go near one.

valnrob · Guru

I went down a friends opal mine at Lightning Ridge and was amazed how nice it was down there. But I can't say it would be a favourite pastime for me, but you are right. some caves have been there for zillions of yrs.

ChiChi1 · Guru

Visited Wombeyan caves a couple of years ago. Lovely camping area, great bush walks. Road in was dirt and a bit corrogated, however if taken with care OK. Caves were mostly quite large and airey. Not too claustrophobic. Had a great time.

capt cream bun · Senior Member

Secreted away on a farmers property just out of Curramulka on York Peninsular lies the locked gate entry to the Curramulka Caves.
Three levels of caverns and tunnels over a yet to be defined area , some open areas are as large as a truck but for most of the space you need to be on your hands and knees at best, some spaces are so small and tight you scratch your front and back getting though. Spent hundreds of hours mapping and exploring that area.

Zoomtopz · Guru

First started caving & canyoning as a Scout in 64 @ Wee Jasper .
Love em , been awhile since I did Wombeyan , Herself & Son enjoyed
them , cautious about man made ones though , done a couple of
friends @ Th Ridge . Had a ball in underground motel @ Coober Pedy .
I suppose that is where we lived before we started building house .
Richo.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

In 1954 (when I was 9 years old) my father led a Scouting trip to explore the caves on the Nullabor Plain. The guide on that trip was Captain Maitland J Thompson. I was lucky enough to go on that trip.
Group names.jpg

Yours truly, top centre, in 1954.

Abracurrie E.jpg

Abracurrie Cave.
As a direct result of the Nullabor trip, CEGSA (The Cave Exploration Group of South Australia) was formed and I spent the next 20 years caving with CEGSA, Scouts and my family.

Correls Cave (as it was then known) at Curramulka was the #1 training cave in SA and we did the early mapping and exploration of it in the late 50s and 60s. I slept underground in that cave on many occasions.

Cheers,
Peter

EDIT....Pic with names added. You would know some of those people Captain....perhaps you can fill in some of the blanks for me?

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Sunday 23rd of January 2011 08:17:10 AM

jules47 · The Happy Helper

Love caves, mines, tunnels - all of that - the Daydream Mine out of Broken Hill or Silverton was a favourite - down on hands and knees at one spot - don't know if it is still open to the public, with all the rule sand regs these days - but loved it. Underground mines are awesome, especially the old ones - State Coal Mine, Wonthaggi in Victoria, is another favourite - my uncle worked in there.

Caves in Tassy - King Soloman etc - really good - Buchan Caves in Vic - great - Princess Margaret Rose in SW Victoria around Glenelg - terrific.
Lava tubes - not just Undarra in NQ - there are some in western Victoria near Hamilton - not developed like Undarra, but impressive nonetheless.
Tunnell Creek - out of Fitzroy Crossing - well worth the wade through - though no one told me before I went there could be little freshies in there!

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Wow, Peter and CCB, how fascinating to actually explore and map the caves! How is it done? (in laymans language please?)

Are any of the caves on the Nullabor open to the public? That would really be a highlight of the crossing.

Wish we'd known about the lava tubes near Hamilton Jules, would have been good to see them after we'd been to the Princess Margaret Rose caves (nice campground there)
Some say Undara is overpriced and overdeveloped but we enjoyed every moment of it. The Chillago caves and marble mines were even more interesting, it amazed us that its all so low key compared to Undara.

Even though many things are similar from one cave to another, they are always different, with something special to remember each one.

Sheba · Guru

Any-one know where there are any places with a cave big enough to live in for sale ?

Cheers,
Sheba.

-- Edited by Sheba on Sunday 23rd of January 2011 09:03:43 PM

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Possibly White Cliffs or Coober Pedy?

We stayed a night in the underground motel in White Cliffs, and after that I cant say I'd like to live underground. Nice places to visit, but....etc

PeterD · Guru

Both Abercrombie and have good camping areas on site. This makes them great places to visit.

Wombeyan Caves - If towing a van into there, go via Goulburn and Taralga. The other way has some rather interesting sections if you encounter on-coming traffic.

Abercrombie - Approach via Blayney or Bathurst if you don't like hills littered with tight curves. The approach from Goulburn is OK if you don't mind these types of road.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Gerty Dancer wrote:
Wow, Peter and CCB, how fascinating to actually explore and map the caves! How is it done? (in laymans language please?)

Are any of the caves on the Nullabor open to the public? That would really be a highlight of the crossing.
When I was involved, mapping was by theodalite and tape measure. It took many hours to map a single cavern and the Curramulka cave has many kilometres of tunnels over several levels. It is a 3D nightmare to map. No doubt there are much better methods used these days.

I understand that there may be a cave north of the Nullarbor Roadhouse that is open to the public. Not sure.
There are hundreds of caves on the Nullarbor and some are the largest in Australia, have huge caverns and lakes and extend for many kilometres.

Most are not suitable for casual visitors.

The lake in Weebubie cave.

This is a cave entrance.

Cheers,
Peter

-- Edited by Peter_n_Margaret on Monday 24th of January 2011 07:48:22 AM

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Thanks Peter, will look into that possible cave.

And thanks Peter D. Do you know those roads or were you able to ascertain the road conditions from a Google earth map? (I'd like to learn how to do that). Yes we are aware of the road into Abercrombie from both directions, and have decided this would be a perfect little trip to test our new tent. We plan to take it in the caravan for overnighting in places inaccessible for the caravan.

Ron and Shirley · Senior Member

We have been to many of the caves mentioned so far. Love them.
One that sticks in my mind the most was the Lake Cave near Margaret River WA.

Small/compact but has it all, plus the lake.