Colong Trip Reports
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11th July, 1998 by Walter Waerner
Attending: Wal Waerner, Jason Bond, Gerard
Collins, Anthony Pezutto, Kevin McFadden, and Peter Saunders (visitor).
Friday
morning saw a cold change hit eastern NSW. In the Illawarra rain, cold, and
windy conditions ruled while snow was falling at Robertson. Macquarie Pass had
been temporarily closed due to the conditions. Our destination for the weekend
was Colong Cave, located in Kanangra-Boyd National Park. With snow at Robertson
it was anyone’s guess what we would find further west.
Jason and I were to meet up with
Gerard and Anthony at Marulan on Friday evening, to travel in a group to Batsh
Camp where we hoped to meet Kevin and Peter. After a quick bite to eat at the
Truckstop we continued on our way. We didn’t see any snow until after Taralga.
Small piles a few centimetres thick covered the roadsides and also many of the
fields we drove past. We even managed
to fit in a small snowball fight at a navigation stop! Gerard and his trusty
navigator Jason found the Mt Werong Road first go. Once on the road it was a
straight drive to Batsh Camp, though a fairly difficult one due to the muddy
and icy condition of the dirt road we were following. We arrived at Camp at
11pm where Kevin and Peter had gotten a large fire going.
The next
morning most of us were up by 8am, keen to begin the days caving. Anthony had
to be persuaded to leave the warmth of his Subaru with some controlled car
swaying. We left camp at 9am, arriving at the start of the walk by 9:01am. The
4WD track on the topo map is actually a walking track and so the drive in was
only 50 metres. Still, it was 50 metres less to walk at the end of the day so I
left the car at the new spot. To get to Colong Cave from Batsh Camp you now
follow the UniRover Walking trail for 3½km. The walk took about 1½ hours one
way. After descending the infamous Acetylene Ridge and following Caves Creek
east we soon found the cave. Or was it? Grand Arch Cave is a large opening into
the hillside with potential passageways leading off from it. But none of them
actually allow entry to the rest of the cave. Peter managed to find one of the
lower entrances but by that stage we were set to enter through the top
entrance. Needless to say he was not overly impressed with having to backtrack
the climb out again!
The top
entrance provided an easy access way into the cave with us reaching Kings Cross
within 20 minutes. After signing the visitor’s book at the Cross, we continued
towards Woofs Cavern via the Terraces Cave. Or so we thought. By taking a wrong
turn going out of the Cross we ended up back at one of the lower entrances, all
the while thinking we were heading deeper into the cave. A compass check might
have helped! Upon seeing daylight Peter volunteered to go back to camp to
prepare the fire. The rest of us tried again, this time getting it right and
ending up in the Low Tunnel. This led us through to Woofs Cavern of Mysteries
and the second visitor’s book. The cavern was not that mysterious but did make
a good place to have lunch.
According
to the map there was a second way out, but it involved a “difficult siphon” and
a “difficult” passageway. We exited the same way we went in. And made it back
to the Grand Arch Cave by 3:30pm. For some reason most people who have been to
Colong don’t seem to remember much about the cave, but have vivid memories
about the walk out. By 4:30pm most of us also had those same vivid memories,
except for Gerard who could at least have come back down the hill to collect
the packs from the rest of us after he had run to the top. It was steep!
Meanwhile
back at the camp Peter had been busy collecting wood and building a welcome
warm fire. Jason and I packed up to return to Wollongong, the others staying
the night to drive back via Wombeyan the next day. Interestingly the snow from
the previous day had still not melted on the way out making the drive once
again quite slippery.
Written by Alison Scobie
Attended by Paul Armstrong, Gerrard Collins,
Andrew and Alison Scobie
& Womble the Wombat
I rushed home from working in Nowra and arrived
home about 5.45pm on Friday night.
Andrew had most of our gear ready we just needed to load it in the car
before Gerrard arrived. I thought I was
running late but……. Gerrard, due to arrive at 5.30pm turned up at 7pm. It gave us heaps more time to load the car
and get our Engel fridge to work on 12 volts (7 months too late for the
Nullarbor trip but ready for the next one now).
Paul Armstrong and Gerrard Collins arrived and
we set off via Albion Park and Walter Waerner’s place to pick up the cave
map. Gerrard travelling in his Range
Rover and Andrew and I in the Subaru.
We stopped at Goulburn for a quick bite then headed off again. Past Taralga and the wombats were everywhere
(jumping in front of Gerrard). Gerrard
hit one and we checked it for a joey (no chance it was a male) and dragged it
off the road. Then off again. Lucky for us that Gerrard was in front –
they seemed to like him the best. We
turned off the main road and headed towards Batsch Camp. Not far off the main road Andrew and I saw
that Gerrard had pulled up again.
Another wombat had been hit. Our headlights showed a pretty horrid
sight…guts all over the place. The
headlight just caught a glimpse of a baby wombat struggling to stand up on the
road. We pulled over and I got out an
old towel from the backseat. The stench
was vile…I can still remember it…Uhh.
I picked up the baby wombat and wrapped it up. We decided to look after it but the chances of it surviving the
night were not great as it could have died of shock or internal injuries
overnight. It had only a very fine covering of hair.
It was after midnight when we arrived at Batsch
Camp, we expected to see John Kemister already there but there was no sign of
him. Andrew and I set up our tent,
found a space blanket and a bag to put the wombat in and Gerrard found a syringe
to feed it with. We heat up some water
and added a little milk and tried to feed the baby wombat. Gerrard had better success then me but the
wombat only took a little. We noticed
it had a few scratches on its back, it was one very lucky little creature. But is it a boy or a girl??? We can’t
decide. We heat up more water to fill
an old coke bottle to use as a hot water bottle for the wombat then we headed
off to bed. The wombat joined Andrew
and I in our tent since Gerrard and Paul were sleeping under the stars.
Early that morning I woke up to the rustle of
the space blanket (I think the little thing is trying to dig its way out!) At least it was still alive. Nice and early 7.30am we are up and about. We had breakfast then feed the wombat, again
Gerrard had more success. We waited around
until 9.30am to see if John is turned up, then get ourselves organised to go
caving. One problem… what are we going
to do with newly named “Womble” the Wombat
…..Take it caving of course!
We headed of with all our gear and one wombat
down into the valley along the watercourse and to the cave. Andrew was eyeing
off plenty of mushrooms on the way down (ready to pick them during the return
trip). We arrived at about midday, what
a hill!!!. Time for lunch and to feed Womble.
Gerrard has a talent for the feeding of baby wombats but it doesn’t eat
much this time.
We left Womble and most of our gear and went
caving. Dodging the bats we headed to
Kings Cross, signed the visitors book and then into the maze. By this time I am exhausted and having
trouble breathing I thought the air was a bit funny – but it didn’t bothered
anyone else. We explored a bit more and
found the sharks jaws (we think). At
this stage I was dying to go to the loo.
I should have gone before we started, sorry guys!!!!! (NO COMMENT ED.) We had a bit more of a look
around and Paul took some photos then we made a move back outside. Once outside the others considered going in
from another entrance. I didn’t mind
what happened as I was content to have a rest outside and wait for them to come
back but it is decided that we make a slow progress back up to the camp.
We headed off along the watercourse then up the
ridge. Not far along we lost the
track. Paul’s GPS told us that we were
not that far from the track and we tried to head for it but a cliff was
blocking our way. I had a feeling that
we were on the wrong ridge and said so but the GPS told us that we were close
to the track so we can’t be. (GOOD OLD
INTUITION - CAN’T BEAT IT. ED) Andrew
was wondering where his mushrooms were.
We decided to climb up the cliff and see if we can get back onto the
track from the top. We climbed up then
Gerrard scouted about…. No chance of getting to the track from here. So we headed back down the cliff and the
hill to try again from the watercourse.
We were more than half way up!!!
At the bottom Andrew found the correct way to go… follow the
mushrooms!!!!! And we were on the wrong
ridge! Never mind, we headed off again
this time the correct way. Thank
goodness it was daylight savings as it was about 5pm already. We made our way up the hill but some
progress (particularly mine) was slow.
I was so tired from already climbing up the wrong ridge. Andrew was busy collecting mushrooms to eat
when he got back to camp. We made it
back to camp at about 6.30pm. Gerrard and Paul collected some firewood and then
we all settled down to eat some munchies and to feed the wombat again. Many discussions were had on what to
actually try and feed it. Mushed
banana, blended up grass, and other interesting ideas were suggested. However we stuck with milk and water and
Womble ate a bit more.
It was getting cold so we lite the fire and
moved closer. We cooked dinner and
started dosing off in the warmth.
Womble was wrapped up on my lap keeping warm… it moved to the hot side
closest to the fire. At about 10.30pm
we made moves to go to bed. But the
wombat had to be feed again before we go and a hot water bottle was prepared. Womble’s body temperature was not as warm as
before. I was concerned it has not had
enough to eat to keep itself warm.
Next morning it did not wake me up, and I
became worried that it died overnight, but it was still OK, albeit a little
cold. I brought it into my sleeping bag
and dosed back off to sleep. I got up
early and to do the washing up and sort out the gear in the car. The others woke up eventually, and Andrew
cooked pancakes for breakfast with plenty of leftovers for the others. Womble got more milk and water and ate more
than it had before. We packed up camp
and headed off by 9.30am. I wanted to
get the wombat to someone who could feed it the right things. Gerrard and Paul headed home via Limeburners
while Andrew and I went via Taralga. At
Taralga I went to the pub and asked if anyone in town looks after native
animals. The lady in the bar made a
call but the person from town is not at home.
I then called the WIRES number and contacted Julie from Crookwell. She drove out to Taralga to pick up
Womble. Andrew and I waited at the pub
for Julie and her husband Mark to arrive and we put up with the locals with
their wink wink nudge nudge … we’ll look after the wombat for you if you
like. Yeap I’m sure you blokes
will….drown the poor little thing or do something equally deadly!
Julie arrived and has a look at Womble and said
it’s a girl and that the vet is all lined up.
Julie thought that it may be put down as it was too young. I was pretty disappointed with that and said
that Womble was strong and a fighter as it has lasted since Friday night and it
was drinking milk and water. We tried
so hard… but we’ll see what happens after the visit with the vet. Julie and I swapped business cards so that I
can contact her about the how Womble is.
If Womble survives I suggested that we might
like to come and see her when she is released back into the wild and make
another caving trip out of it. Andrew
and I then headed to my Aunts place at Banaby (just outside Taralga) then home
from Banaby via the dirt road to Marulan.
PS I’ll
keep everyone posted on how the Groups new mascot is going. By the way I’m starting to wonder if there
is a bit of a trend happening here…kangaroos now wombats….what next???? My brother who is in WIRES in Wollongong
suggested that we take with us a pouch, syringe and baby animal formula on our
future trips just in case… with this trend occurring it may be a good idea
!!!!!