Friday February 24, ‑ Sunday 26,
1995
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Friday February 24, ‑ Sunday 26, 1995
by Robert Robinson
Present
Adam Peters ‑ Trip Leader, Kelly Blackert, Anthea Storey & Richard Stockins, Robert Robinson & Dorte Flindt‑Egebak
AIMS OF THE WEEKEND
To enjoy some recreational caving, and to show Dorte, a visitor from Denmark, through her first wild cave.
Friday February 24, 1995
Robert and Dorte were first to get away, laving about 3:00pm and having an incident free trip down, reaching the campsite at about 8:00pm, having tea on the way. Kel and the others arrived at Wee Jasper at about 11:00pm after Dorte and I had just turned in for the night.
Saturday February 25, 1995
After breakfast we rigged a ladder from one of the trees so that those who had never climbed a cave ladder before could get some practice and experience. We entered Dip cave through the Rubbish Tip entrance and went into the lower level series 1 passage, going through some squeezes and just having a general look‑around. On moving on to go into the Series 2 passages we came across some notices stating that Series 1 passages were open only to permit holders, due to the brooding of the bent wing bat in the upper passages. We were surprised by our discovery, as there had been no similar signs at the entrance of the cave. We were further surprised when we were challenged by another caver for breaking ASF Inc. codes. After pointing out that we were unaware of the restriction, up until that point, and that the bats were brooding in the upper passages, and we had only been in the lower passages, where we did not see, let alone disturb, any bats.
On entering the Series 2 passages we again looked around, but we had to dodge other cavers due to the large amount of traffic in the cave. Time was passed singing various ABBA songs and Monty Python ditties. Photo opportunities were taken, with emphasis being on good "squeeze" photos for possible use in the I.S.S. Inc Pamphlet. After some hairy squeezes, some equally hairy climbs and reuniting Adam & Kel with an old, dead mouse, we headed out of the cave and back to camp. After lunch we found a good swimming hole in the creek, we wallowed around in the water for about an hour before deciding it was time to dry off. The remainder of the afternoon was spent relaxing, and chasing away a plethora of flies. The number of flies later multiplied during the getting of dinner.
Sunday, February 26, 1995
After packing everything away we left camp and headed off for a look around Signature Cave. After a general look around, going in circles, etc. we went into the phreatic section of the cave and went through some more squeezes and narrow passages. We then laid on the floor of the cave for about half‑an‑hour, just chatting.
We left the cave just before lunchtime and headed back to the cars to change, then down to the toilets to clean up for the trip home. We left the karst area about 1:00pm.
CONCLUSIONS
1. No matter how familiar one is with an area, checking in with the park ranger, or whoever is in charge, on any restrictions should be done before caving is undertaken.
Wee Jasper Family Camp
Present: Poulton Family-John, Ann, Thomas & Matthew;
Bertolla Family-Fabio, Leslie & Nicholas;
Wearner Family-Walter, Cathy & Jonathon
Dave Dicker, Gerrard Collins and Bob Kershaw;
Visitors: Bruce McNiece and Felicity Vella
by Bob Kershaw
The aim of the weekend was to provide a place not far from home and to encourage the families to join the club for a weekend camp.
The Poultons and myself arrived on Friday afternoon and headed for the Micalong campsite - the furthest away from the caves and which also had the most people and children. Yuk! Horrible! Noisy -Yes! The only saving grace for this site was that it had a large swimming hole on the Micalong creek and a rather enjoyable course for a rafting trip to the next campsite 4 kms downstream. The night was more like winter than summer and the few warm clothes donned to keep out the unseasonable chill while playing Euchre.
On Saturday morning we enjoyed the rafting trip to the swinging Bridge campsite. Unfortunately, the boys didn't bring their bailors along so we had to stop several times and empty the river out of the raft - the gaffer tape covering several tears from many previous trips came adrift. A snack and dry clothes had the spirits lifted before we adjourned for lunch at the base camp. Dave had arrived and during lunch the Bertollas arrived for a weekend of sloth.
Afternoon was for 3 "S" - slothing, swimming or speleology.
I took Dave to Signature cave then to Dog Leg cave, without any water, the rest slothed and swam! Dave took a few pikkies in Signature and enjoyed the maze of passage. Dog Leg was a crawl unlike Wyanbene without any formation until the end with an excellent example of a "Vadose" zone (where voids in the rock are partly filled with air through which water descends under gravity - Australian Karst Index) and only a small pocket of beautiful helictites in the roof. I had never seen this formation before because I have been too busy looking at where I was swimming. Neither Dave nor I brought the cameras along so we said "next time". Back to the camp for some long awaited refreshments, dinner and the wintery night that brought out the parkas for Fab and Leslie whilst playing Rickerty Kate.
Sunday morning had Dave up and taking photos at dawn while the rest of us slept in! Later Dave walked along the Micalong creek taking photos but only as much as his crook ankle would allow. The Bertollas slothed again! The Waerner party (except Cathy and Jonathon who enjoyed their time under the trees at the caves campsite while Hubby and Daddy went caving!) and Gerrard ventured into Punchbowl from 10.30am until 4.30pm pm. They had the cave to themselves and thoroughly enjoyed the peace and tranquillity becoming geographically disoriented in the Loxin Chamber and surrounding areas. I led the Poultons into Dog Leg (this time with knee pads) for a photographic trip, especially while it was dry. Thomas and Matthew are going to make great climbers one day after their magnificent effort in exiting Dog Leg via the Chimney - Well done Lads! This exit also saves the excruciating pain on the knees if you crawl out of the cave. Once out of the cave in the heat of the day the Poultons went for a swim, Dave left about midday, the Waerners about 5.pm, Gerrard after a cheese sandwich dinner about 5.30 and the Bertollas were probably still slothing about. I stayed the night to continue a journey to Young, Cowra and Bathurst over the next few days.
All in all, a stress free, relaxing and successful family camp that should be repeated quite often, if not annually.
by Alison Scobie
Present:Dave Dicker, Bob Kershaw, Kerin
Knuckey, Walter Waerner, Gerrard Collins, John Kemister and Friends, a couple
of visiting Venturers from Figtree Rovers, Jason Bond (?), Andrew Scobie and
Myself . Sorry if I forgot anyone!
Andrew and I arrived
in the early hours of Saturday morning not far behind Kerin and Gerrrard,
Walter and a couple of visitors. Dave
and Bob were already settled for the night. We quickly pitched our tents and
settled down for the night as well. Making sure Kerin set up his tent as far
away as possible.
Saturday
morning bright and early (well….. early for a weekend!) we were up and about
having breakfast and gathering the wood for the fire that night. The weather
was fine although a little crisp, but, not as cold as it could have been. John
and friends arrived while we were having breakfast with a car roof load of
wood. Once everyone was settled and the
tents were up we split into two groups to go caving. One group went to check out Signature’s curves and lines and the
other group went for a Dip. Seriously
though, Bob, Dave, John and friends, Keiren, and I went to Signature to
practice cave mapping and Walter, Andrew, Gerrard and the 2 ventureres went to
explore Dip. There were several very
large groups at the campsite so we tried to avoid going were they were headed.
Signature
Cave
Well, we
spent several hours learning how to map a cave, take the measurements and draw
the cave plan diagram under instruction from Bob and Dave. Kerin and I were given the job of drawing
and recording the measurements first, while all the others called out the
measurements (e.g. bearing forward and reverse, distance between the stations,
roof height, distance to left and right walls and slope). Once you got the hang of it was not all that
difficult. The main difficulty I found
was in the drawing of the map from the measurements and what you could see
around you. I also found that you could
get awfully cold sitting around. It wasn’t long before I was itching to get
moving and do a little bit of exploring to warm up. So, Kerin and I handed over
the recording and drawing to John and friends and I went a head to mark out the
next station. Just after lunch a group
of cadets did a team building exercise within the chamber we were in. They requested we turn off our lights and be
as quiet as possible while their exercise was carried out. So we sat back to “hear out” the exercise. The cadets all crawled into a dead end crawl
and with lights out were told to find their way out keeping as a group and
talking their way through. The comments
made by them were very interesting.
Once the exercise was over we got back into it. We then entered a chamber where a group of
Venturer Scouts were cleaning out the rim pools with toothbrushes as part of
their Environment Award badge. They
seemed to be having a good time and were learning a lot from the exercise. We then made our way back to one of our
earlier Stations. And, just to prove
that we did learn something and learnt how to do it properly the maps
(drawings) were out by only a few millimetres!
Well Done!!!
We headed back
to camp to find the other group just finishing lunch and preparing to head off
down Punchbowl. It was a bit late in
the afternoon for me so I didn’t go with them. Instead we lit the fire and cooked dinner. At about 8pm we got out the slides and Dave
and John entertained us for a few hours.
Dave’s slides were very pretty, nice scenes from all over the
place. Then, John showed slides on his
work rebuilding and restoring planes for the War Memorial.These were really
interesting and it was a shame that the other group still in Punchbowl missed
out. Never mind guys….next time.
The other group
arrived quite a few hours later around 10 pm or so. The first thing my dear husband asks is “Where’s my
dinner??”. How did I know he would ask
me that…..??? Lucky for him I had it
waiting for him. So the very hungry
guys downed some food and warmed up around the fire.
The next morning
Walter and the venturers headed for home, and Kerin stayed at the campsite to
study. The rest headed for “the Gong”.
Well….. that was the plan until we saw how many people were there, so instead with did the “rubbish tip”. We spent the morning crawling and climbing
around. There were a few people in
there as well but I wasn’t so bad. At
lunchtime we headed back to the campsite, packed up and headed off home.
It was a great
weekend. Thanks Bob and Dave for taking
the time to show us how to map a cave and Dave and John for the great slide show.
Participants included Kerry Sanders and Wal
Waerner from ISS, along with about 55 Scout people from about 12 different
groups covering the South Coast Region (Merimbula, Moruya, Goulburn,
Wollongong, Queanbeyan to name a few).
The weekend
had originally been planned as a Topic 9 Scout Training course, but was
hijacked by the Venturer section as an ideal way to get lots of Venturers
together in the one spot to have a Regional Venturer Council. ISS was invited
along as an excuse to go caving, as well as to provide assistance with the
expected hordes.
My plans to
leave at 430pm on Friday to avoid a late night were (as usual) scuttled. At
least the excuses were good: Signing documents at the solicitors, picking up my
caving gear from its temporary home, and then waiting while my passenger had
his house unlocked by a Lock smith after locking himself out. Finally hit the
road at 730pm! An uneventful drive and a good night’s sleep...
Saturday
morning the plan was to meet up at the old Rodeo ground. People appeared from
everywhere. We split up into groups (based on experience) and went caving. Our
beginners hung around in Dog Leg and Signature for the morning before walking
into the Rubbish tip at Dip (Thanks Kerry for your help with these groups). I
took a group on the Dip through trip (via the Rat Hole). The remainder of the
afternoon saw more groups doing the through trip, as well as a Daylight Hole
abseil, and various exploratory trips into Dip 1 & 2. By the evening most
people were quite tired out, though a couple of groups (totalling about 20
people) decided Punchbowl was looking like a good late night option. Needless
to say I didn't wait up, and they had all seemed to reappear by morning.
Sunday
morning it rained. The enthusiasm for caving dropped considerably as most
people had thoughts of hot breakfasts at McDonalds in Yass. Only 7 brave souls
volunteered to go back into Dip for a few hours. Funnily enough, by the time we
got to Dip and had gotten things sorted out there were about 40 cavers! The
Daylight Hole was set up for abseiling, 3 groups went for the through trip, and
another group went into the 4a Extension. It took hours for everyone to eventually
reappear at the car park. We returned to the campsite by about 3pm, which was
close to the estimated finishing time. By this stage everyone was totally caved
out, though very excited to hear about the Bungonia trip on the 3/4th of
November (ISS members definitely invited).