Trip report
| 2006-07-20 | Chillagoe Expedition at Chillagoe, Northern Queensland |
| Trip report: | |
| Piano and Spring Group 1: We found Piano (CH86) surprisingly easily thanks to the accurate tower map. This was also a new cave for Paul. After finding the decoration that the cave is named after, we continued to explore, and found the whole lower section of the cave to be rich with fossils on the walls. With Paul needing to head back home we started looking for the other exit. Not having a map of this system we were unsure how large it was. In the process of looking for the exit we discovered that the cave was quite extensive with some impressive decoration. After the best part of an hour of searching we did mange to find the alternate exit. We bade farewell to Paul, who had to head back home to make a living. The rest of us then took a short walk over to the open cut Red Dome mine which closed in 1997. We decided to drive over to Spring tower and have a quick run through before heading back. To our surprise we ran into Rod’s group in the car park about to head home. Doug Irvine (CCC) turned up a few minutes later. Doug had dealings with the last Hills Chillagoe trip and remembered Rick. With Doug acting as guide we went for a quick trip through Spring cave (CH12). Spring cave had a real “walk in” entrance and was fairly flat. We took a few photos and did a general walk through of the large part of the system. Then not wanting to miss out on dinner we made our exit and headed back to the clubhouse. Group 2: We found the entrance after a bit of walking through prickly bushes. Entered Spring (CH12) and spent 2-3hrs exploring the flattish section and taking photos of daylight holes and fossils. We explored a lower section looking for a drop on the map, but it turned out to be a steep slope, which had some interesting roots and mud + some pretty stuff. Climbed back up the slope and exited to the right (CH 89) we think. On returning to the car we chose to walk over the top of the tower. Not a recommended route! Queenslander Cave With over 6KM of passage Queenslander is a big cave! We planned to have 2 groups with one group to follow directions given by Alan (CCC president) and with Doug as guide. We negotiated The Queens bum (CH85) which consists of a smooth 50cm high / wide passage that goes upwards for a couple of metres, with the start being the hardest part. The two groups kept together until Sisters Cave at which point group 1 went off towards the dig and group two had lunch and headed towards the Avenue. Group 1 went through the dig into the Cathedral, back out to Ice Palace, up over Pages Pass, into the Organ extension, and back out into the Avenue. Group 2 went an alternative route into the avenue and did some exploring before meeting up with group 1 near CH51 where they exited. Group 1 continued back down the avenue through the belfry and around to the letter box. The letter box is a hole that looks like a letter box in the floor, once you get through the letter box you realise that the “floor” you were standing on is in fact a false floor of limestone around 5CM thick! We posted ourselves through the letter box and quickly proceeded to get lost travelling through Roman arena looking for little Italy. We returned to the letterbox to try and find our position on the map. We then followed survey legs up past little Italy and after some looking managed to find the rift leading out to Beefeater where we exited and met up with part of group 2. De-Feago Cave The plan was to do De-Feago which is supposed to be a good sporting cave with a couple of abseils. Finding the cave was the first task. After parking almost opposite the cave we managed to walk up the wrong valley of the tower. After spending the next one and a half hours searching we managed to find the cave (walking from valley to valley is a very slow task on the towers). Once we identified the cave, which is another story I won’t bore you with, we set off and soon got to the ladder pitch that was mentioned in the description of the cave. Once at the bottom of the pitch we found ourselves in a large chamber. After having a look around and not finding the expected next descent we started to search more slowly. After having gone around the entire chamber plus a couple of side passages at least twice we started to push some less likely leads. In two of these we found some nice decoration. After lunch at the top of one of these points we came to the conclusion that the way on had to be in one section that we had seen at the start but had avoided due to the decoration on the walls. Possibly against better judgement two of us managed to find a somewhat messy route up a chimney. Beyond lay a large chamber a little smaller than the one at the bottom of the abseil where we had spent most of our time. With time running out and people getting tired we did a quick explore of the chamber and managed to find what looked like a possible exit and then returned to the member of the group who had decided probably wisely not to risk life and limb for some climb. We then laddered back up the abseil pitch and exited the cave. The return to the cars was much quicker than the way up thankfully!! The day was ended with a trip to the pub and dinner from the amazing catering service at the clubhouse, ie Carol. Queenslander Today we did another part of the Queenslander system called the Magh extension CH157. Alan the president of the Chillagoe Caving Club was our tour guide for the day and showed us lots of interesting parts, such as the Bath tub and dragon’s teeth. This extension seems to have a larger quantity of less damaged formation. A couple of parts were highly decorated and must have looked amazing originally. We spent around 5 hours exploring and climbing around. Several of the rim pools that we saw did have water in them. | |