Trip report
| 2011-08-13 | Caving - Cliefden at Cliefden, Central West |
| Trip report: | |
| Dave, Kate and Callum arrived around 10:30 to find a warm cottage with Rod having set up and powered the Cliefden Hut. Harry and Andrew arrived about 10 minutes later and we all settled in to warm drinks and a bit of a chat around the fire. Saturday morning found stories about the monster RAT from Harry, only to be told by Andrew that it was a tiny mouse. The challenge was on for the boys to catch the little sleep disturbers. Following Mark's maps and descriptions we found Swansong cave after a river crossing in the 4WDs. Dave, Rod, Kate and Harry explored Swansong for about an hour making a mind map for a low grade sketch later. Callum and Andrew did a bit of outside exploration finding the entrance to Tidalick. Harry later led the way to Deep Hole following some descriptions he had read in SUSS Bulls of the past. Both caves were GPS tagged but not entered. Callum then led us to a small hole near Gable which was tagged CL101. We returned to the flat down from Yarrowigah CL13 and did a little trogging to find the entrance and the upper entrance. After lunch, Rod abseiled into the upper entrance CL39 to find a difficult squeeze which was not recommended to the rest of the party. So we just did a normal trip into Yarrowigah with Dave waiting outside the vertical squeeze "too old for this stuff". Rod, Kate and Harry continued into the rest of the cave finding the 10m drop and the place where CL39 joins the rest of the cave. After about 1 1/2 hours we exited the cave and Harry took us on a trip over the opposite hillside looking for prospects for cave entrances and particularly where he thought Trapdoor was. That night a great meal was had, courtesy of Andrew's culinary expertise, chicken and mango curry Yum!! with A chocolate pudding for dessert!! Callum tried a variety of methods for catching mice that night. Clubbing to death was probably the most comical and inefficient! Sunday Morning we went to Main cave CL1 and Dave, Rod, Callum Kate and Harry entered and spent about an hour in the main chamber. Callum and Kate returned to the surface whilst Dave, Harry and Rod continued through the cave. A short trip to the Helictite wall for photography and then exit by the lower entrance completed a humid 3 hour trip. We returned to the hut via a brief excursion to the Barite mine and collection of some coppery looking samples blue/green in colour! We headed home by about 2:30. | |