IMG_ 1054 - Caving And Its Abundant Rewards . . .

Great on Black

 

Oh what joy it is for me to recount my caving days of long, long ago. I am now what is termed an "Armchair Caver" and I hold this honour with great dignity - it has taken me quite some time to reach this "tender" age and qualify for this classification.

 

But I am digressing - I seem to do quite a bit of this, so we shall continue without further ado . . .

 

From age 8 or thereabouts I was in the Cubs and then the Boy Scouts and my parents, being a lot wiser than I at this tender age, said that on attaining the age of 16 if I did not want to continue with the Boy Scouts I would have to find some other outdoor activity to "keep me off the streets" or something like this.

 

My good friend from school, Harry, was already in the Tasmanian Caving Club so wanting to keep my parents happy I decided to join this club. I put my name down and for some time did not get there, maybe from fear of a new adventure - I am not sure now. Eventually I did go on my first caving trip. I had to purchase a boilet suit, boots and a hard hat (very necessary in a cave if I did not want to leave part of my scalp adhered to the cave roof)!!! My trusty hard hat saved me on many occasions.

 

So it was, I joined my first expedition underground and from memory it was to the Florentine Valley near Maydena, in Tasmania. We are very blessed in Tassie to have much limestone here and where there is limestone there are caves, plenty of them!!! I also believe, from memory, this is what is called a "dry" cave, one that is no longer active any more. Although it did have a creek running through it, none of the formations were "growing", all being dry. Formations need water to develop, it is the water mixed with leaves and debris on the surface that finds its way into caves and reacts with the limestone, the water evaporates, and calcite is formed which is what formations consist of, the beautiful formations you see here.

 

These formations can take myriads of years to develop, they don't just happen overnight!! Some stalagtites (they come down from the roof) can grow as much as 2 inches a year while others there is very little evidence of growth, depending on the amount of water filtering through and the evaporation rate.

 

Caving is a very exciting past-time. It means descending from the surface into the very bowels of the earth and once underground and in pitch black it is DARK or BLACK. I could put my hand in front of my face and I could "detect" it there but could not see it. With the means of a carbide lamp (as my friend is wearing here) or a battery lamp, the underground suddenly bursts forth into a world of its own, of splendour, of grandiose columns (these are where a stalagmite and a stalactite meet) or the "mites" going up or the "tites" coming down, all very splendid and a joy to behold.

 

Sometimes it involves lying on my belly and crawling through mud and water, as happens in a cave called Hastings, named after the township of Hastings in Southern Tasmania. This particular tourist cave has only a very small portion open to the public and many miles of other passages explored but probably will never be seen by the public because of the difficult terrain.

 

Another big cave system in Southern Tasmania is called Exit Cave. Together with other cavers I spent a night underground here as it is a long way from the entrance to where we wanted to continue our exploration. It was amazing to turn out all the lights and on the cave roof were many "stars" or glow worms, who live a solitary life here (some information on these amazing insects . . . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glowworm . . .) and to lie in my sleeping bag and look Skyward I would think I was "under the stars". Add to this the creek rolling by and paradise is born!!

 

Sadly, a few years back, after heavy rain a group of school students was underground in this particular cave and because the water rose alarmingly, two of the party drowned (rain can be a real enemy of cavers as with the run-off, water can rise in a cave very quickly)!!!

 

Caving was extremely kind to me. I visited many caves in Tasmania over a 10-year period, and ventured forth to Victoria and New South Wales when I lived there and enjoyed caving expeditions with new chums. These times bring back many happy memories. We even used cable ladders for climbing vertical rock walls, and as I was finished my caving days "single rope technique" was just coming in, where ropes were run over the edge and with prussicking it was possible to abseil down and then prussick back up the rope. "Growling Swallet Cave" in Tasmania had the Australian record for a long time, bottoming out at around 800ft.

 

This picture shows the beautiful scenery found in caves and a caver "capturing" this beauty. Sadly I cannot put a name to the caver or the cave this was taken it. It is taken from a slide, but taken around the mid-60s. When underground photography took place it meant wrapping cameras, flashes, etc, in waterproof bags in case we fell into water (COLD) or we dropped an item. Thankfully this did not happen to me. In my photographic days underground, my Dad was very kind in lending me his Voigtlander 35mm camera. I am sure he had his heart in his mouth wondering if he would ever see his camera again. I shall always thank my dear Dad for his very generous nature in trusting me!! Enjoy this magnificent picture.

 

Many thanks for your visits, your warm comments, your faves, and may God continue to bless you in every possible way. Rosey and I are doing well, and having visited my oncologist last Friday, he does not want to see me for 6 months - HALLELUJAH!!!!! Love and God bless you all, Clive and Rosey xxxxxxxx

Done