Trip report
| 2011-10-08 | Gloucester Caves at Gloucester |
| Trip report: | |
| All met on Saturday morning in Gloucester after some camping Friday night and some driving up that morning. Drove out to the propertey about 20km’s out of Gloucester. After learning a bit about the area and caves we all went caving. There are only two main caves on the property so we split the group in two. One group doing Cascade Cave consisting of Garry, Grant, Lara, John, Harry, Ray, Fletcher and Michael. The other group did Glowworm Sieve. This group consisted of Murray, Natalie, Joshua, Jodie, Michael and Peter. This group entered Glowworm Sieve at 10.30am and were out by 12.45pm. We swaped caves after lunch. The inflow enterance to Cascade Cave got dug out a bit but we ended up going in another entrance a few metres up the doline. We entered the cave at 10.30am and followed the stream passage inside for 250m or so until we came to the sump. This marked the end of the cave. On the way throuh the cave there were some very impressive fossils that were quite large. Grant, Lara and I had a slow trip out taking photos. All of us were out by 12.25pm. After lunch some people decided they were caved out for the day so the groups were a bit smaller. The people in the second group to do Glowworm Sieve were Garry, Grant, John, Michael and Harry. The other group went into Cascade Cave. This group consisted of Murray, Joshua and Peter. The Cascade group entered at 2.00pm and were out by 3.15pm. We entered Glowworm Sieve at 2pm. Our plan was to go down the left hand branch and then come back and do the main section of the cave. We were stopped not too far down the left hand branch due to the hundreds of bats there. Some took the opportunity to take pictures of the bats. We then retraced our steps and headed down the main part of the cave. Our group moved quite fast so this did not take long. Once at the sump Grant Elliot and I did the duck under / roof sniff to the furthest point of the cave. Once near the end Grant dicovered that his camera case had filled with water so we decided to head back. I must say this was one of funest bits of cave I have ever done. After Garry took some photos of the sump we headed out of the cave. We were out by 3.45pm. That night was spent under the stars talking around the fire. We also tested out some of Garry’s really bright torches. Arose Sunday morning, had breaky and started packing. Most of the group decided to not go caving. So Garry, Jodie and Michael, Grant and Lara and my Dad and I headed down the road for 7km’s to the next cave. Once there Grant called it quits for the weekend and headed home. After talking to the property owner we headed up the hill to the cave. We had a look at the hole that was on the saddle of the hill directly under the fence. It was very small. From here you could see the narrow limestone band continue over the hills for quite a way. The trip to the cave proved to be a bit of a struggle due to the amount of Lantana. The cave itself was not that big but contained some very impressive fossils. There was also a bit of down climbing involved. While in the cave we found an injured possum but we could not help it. We headed back down to the cars after a very enjoyable weekend of caving. I would like to thank Garry Smith of NHVSS for organising this weekend that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Harry Burkitt (Hills Speleology Club) | |
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Gloucester 2011
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