My family are (were?) cavers. I am familiar with the caves of NSW, as we used to go away often to cave. My parents were members of the Sydney Speleological Society and I typed the SSS monthly magazine for a year or two in the seventies. Ah, those were the days!
I found some old newspapers which I hadn't read, they'd been sitting waiting to be used as a mulch base if I could ever afford some straw mulch. Well, that's not happened, so I dumped them in the bin (straw or other mulch was dear as poison in the drought as it was used for emergency feed and the price hasn't come down much).
The magazines fell out of The Weekend Australian so I thought I'd read them. So, I put them in chronological order (as you do), and read oldest to most recentl.
The first one was from August this year. There is a short article in it on the deepest gorge in Australia.
The photo looks familiar. Oh my, it's a place I have walked... near the Shoalhaven River. There are caves there.
The Deepest Gorge, no wonder I was so tired when I walked it as a very young teenager!
Here's the link, the photos are spectacular. If it's paywall protected you can google the name and author of it and sneak in that way.
Many years ago there was a fight to save the gorge, there is a limestone quarry there on the northern side of the gorge, toward the Shoalhaven river. There was concern that it would be an eyesore in such a place and would destroy caves in the area. I don't know what it looks like now, but of the linked photos above one is dated 23 months ago.
UPDATE:
Here's a picture of the Gorge. I've walked through it, down and up the other side.
5 comments:
Caves? No, thank you.
I've been in several caves/caverns here in the States over the last 30 years but the last couple of times here been most uncomfortable. After my most recent visit to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico I swore off any activities that take me underground. Yep, Carlsbad is as non-threatening as it can be but that didn't keep my little pea-brain from wanting to head for the elevator and the sunshine.
This does remind me of a visit to Kartchner Cavern, in Arizona, where the Rangerette took us into a remote part of the cavern, turned out the lights and told us to be quiet and “listen to the cavern grow”. Someone in the group put on an amazing display of flatulence during the ensuing silence and the spell was quickly broken.
I'm happy enough to go into touristy, commercial caves. Very large, beautifully lit, cathedral-like. But that's it. The crawl-space type? Nah. Turn off the lights? Forget it.
Regards,
Sandi
Pair of sooks!
I was caving when I was six, my brother started when he was two! That's what happens when Mum and Dad love a sport.
Thank God they didn't do base jumping!
Pair of sooks! You say kae!
Count me as one too.
I developed on and off claustrophobia later in life.
In the army (Swiss) I had plenty of experience going into tight underground places and did not bother me a bit.
We both did some exploring in the WA (SA not sure now?) caves when first arrived, no way would I go there again.
You may be lucky.
You don't know until you need to go there, wonder if you had to?
These days, and I'm only 56, crawling under the house to fix things I need some hyping up sometime, other times I'm good
Ex caver
Ex caver.
Our parents took us and it was just natural.
I'd class myself as an ex-caver now, too. Arthritis and proximity being the main reasons I'm not caving any more (haven't since I was in my 20s, I'm 53 now).
There's no way you'd get me under the house (note, it's on a slab, but even if I could get under there I wouldn't!), same with being in the ceiling. Too many redbacks, rats and mice.
Post a Comment