OUR HONEYCOMB COAST
by Graeme Olsen
With hundreds of caves along the
coast, the south west offers a range of amazing
tours that will take you underground into a very
different world of dark caverns with beautiful decorations.
| As I shine my torch on a gigantic
wall of stalagtites and shawls, I can't help
but think of how it must have felt for the
first person who was ever lowered into this
deep, dark hole by a rope, shining their torch
around to view the spectacular formations.
It would have been the first time these rocks
had seen light - ever. Now they are getting
used to it, as visitors come by in their thousands
to view the caves that are dotted all along
our honeycombed coastline. Although there
are many caves in the area, only a handful
are open for the public to tour. Depending
on your preferred level of |
|
 |
| adventure, you can tour caves
that have full lighting and paths, through
to "wild caving" tours, where you
can go into the deep and forgotten recesses
of caves with just your torch (and a guide,
of course). |
Caves are fascinating things and we're
still learning a lot about them and their ecological
characteristics. For complete novices like me, the
very basics of cave ecology are intriguing. My knowledge
of caves ended with stalagmites and stalagtites,
but I soon discovered that other formations exist
such as shawls, flowstone, helictites, pendulums,
straw columns, and pillars.
And then there's the fauna and flora.
Yes, some things actually live in these caves. Up
around the entrance where there's plenty of light
you still get the more common creatues such as small
marsupials, insects, and spiders. As you descend
deeper you'll find cockroaches, and then in the
"dark zone", where no light reaches, the
most common type of creatures are centipedes, spiders,
millipedes, and mites. Different types of fungi
are present too.
Some of the remains found in caves
also show that other types of animals have lived
in them. In Ngilgi cave near Yallingup, remains
of a Tasmanian Tiger were found. Other caves have
held remains of possums, bats, kangaroos, and other
animals.
I can't recommend highly enough a
caving tour for anyone who lives or visits the south
west. You can find them by driving along - Caves
Road of course! All along the road there are a number
of tourist caves, from Ngilgi cave near Yallingup,
through to Mammoth Cave and Lake Cave near Margaret
River, to Jewel Cave and Moondyne Cave near Augusta.
There are different types of tours
available depending on your preference. Mammoth
Cave, for example, has a new CD-audio self guiding
tour system (one of only 2 in the world) which allows
you to travel through at your own pace. It even
has disabled access. Then you've got Lake Cave that,
as the name suggests, has a large lake in it. I
also particularly like the entrance to Lake Cave,
with it's staircase that leads down into the cavern
and provides an awe inspiring view of the cave mouth
with huge karri trees around it.
And for those who want to get a little
dirty, Moondyne Cave is the one for you. Put on
the overalls and hard hat, and off you go with a
guide and your torch. You'll get to crawl through
the dark and less travelled pockets of this cave.
Whatever your choice is, you'd do
well to get in contact with a group called Caveworks.
It's a visitor centre near Lake Cave and has been
established to help visitors get the most out of
their cave visits in the south west. The centre
itself offers touch screen terminals, displays,
a walk in cave model, video theatrette, laboratory,
viewing platform, and more. They also offer guided
cave tours, education field activities, abseiling,
wild caving, rock climbing, and other adventurous
activites. One of their more serious missions is
to conduct valuable research to help manage and
protect the caves.
And if you're after information on
the Ngilgi cave, check out www.downsouth.com.au.
February 2002
