12 and 13 May 2001
A Cave like Abercrombie.
By Adam Peters
Present: Adam Peters (Trip Leader), Sarah Chatterton,
Andrew, Alison and Caitlyn Scobie, Bill Nakken, Rick and Hung Costa
Aims:
- to familiarise with the area and relax.
All roads
lead out of Goulburn where we all congregated and of course, upon leaving the
sheep capital headed out on the wrong road. So a short detour via Taralga,
dodging Owls, Rabbits, Roo’s and foxes, we drove on but couldn’t pass the Neon
sign that spelt Pub and subsequently stopped. At the three church and 1 pub
town of Tuena we took a wee break and a quiet ale with the six locals and 1
dog. The fire was very hard to leave as we departed for the last couple of
Kay’s to Abercrombie.
Camp was
set in the middle of the night and a restless night was had. Woke up in a
scorching hot tent - a contrast from the freezing night before and when I
finally dragged my carcase out of bed it was 9:00am. After a quick breakfast
went to the visitor centre / Kiosk and saw Barry, the caretaker, who gave us a
key and a free range to all the caves. The only catch being we tell and report
to him on what, if anything, was wrong and if we encounter any bats.
So off we
trudged with the bare necessities, and with key in hand conquered Abercrombie
Main and Bushranger cave before lunch. After our food was devoured back at camp
we donned our overalls and went wild. After feverishly scouring the Limestone
near our camp for a cave or two, we turned away disappointed and headed back to
do the remaining tourist caves we hadn’t yet done. A quick visit to Grove cave,
a short cave with some crawly sections and some formation, we then partied onto
Stable Arch cave tagged A26 and A27. In the top entrance (A27) we squeezed and
down through a rock fall squeezing and climbing to a cavern at the bottom
exiting with a few bats at A26 on dusk.
Back at
camp after a hot shower and dinner we crammed around the campfire doing
traditional campfire things that involved cups and a red liquid substance. Yet
as the tall stories got shorter and shorter Alison made a startling discovery.
We may have a theory on the formation of the Nullarbor Stegamites. They seem
related to the Abercrombie Crayback formations found in the river passage of
Abercrombie Main. Anyhow an early-ish night was had as the lack of sleep from
the previous night had caught up with the red liquid substance and our brains
went to sleep.
The next
day saw another relaxed start and by the time camp was packed it was getting on
to lunch and preferring to head home despite a few disgruntled protests the
caves were left for another day. As all roads lead now to Goulburn we found the
correct road and as the party split at Crookwell, with ½ deciding to continue
home whilst the rest grabbed a bite to eat. After a short visit to the
Crookwell wind farm we were on the haul home. Another great weekend in a
surprisingly great spot and although numbers were low we may have scored three
new members.
Also next
time we go we will have to make contact with MSS (Metropolitan Speleos?) and
get information on where more wild caves are hiding as there are heaps of
outcrops that must harbour caves.
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