Arriving in the early evening the Scouts set up camp, settled in and went to bed before the rain arrived.  Waking up next morning to a clear sky with white clouds all the Scouts were ready and eager to disappear under the ground and explore the caves in the amazing and unique World Heritage Site that is Budj Bim National Park.

Surrounded by forest and farmland the surprise of climbing to the top of a hill and viewing a lake was unexpected.  It was a wonderful view.  Then it was time to disappear ...  Our first cave was a large opening that allowed us to walk through, enjoy, explore and learn. 

Lesson No. 1 - Every mapped cave has a marker the size of a 5 cent piece at it's entrance ... we found our first marker.

Lesson No. 2 - Every mapped cave has a map, and just like a topographical map we learnt how to read the map, pinpoint features and estimate distances within a cave.

 

Day 1

 

The Tunnel

Our first cave was a large open chasm that was easy to walk into and impressive once we entered. We talked safety, navigation, the buddy system and movement before taking the time to explore, discover and enjoy the cave.

Foote Cave

This cave had a larger opening and while we could see into the entrance there was bigger rocks to climb over to fully enter the cave. Once inside we found areas to explore where we had to crawl to discover more ... we even found secret passageways the instructors didn't even know about.

Hole in the Wall

Finally a cave we had to crawl into before exploring. Once in there it was tight and a lot of fun to explore. Finally we were getting dirty ... we were caving.

North Pole

This was a different cave ... and no Wombat, we weren't looking for Santa at the end of the Cave!!! Again the entrance was wide and easy to walk through before we suddenly reappeared outside wondering where the entrance to the second stage of the cave was ... it was no-where to be found. We looked and looked before finally discovering the entrance and finding a cave that became narrower and narrower the deeper we explored.

After going as far as we could and fully exploring the cave, we eventually exited the cave in a totally different direction, only to discover we had simply gone around in a circle!!!

Smoko

Walking down a rocky set of steps we were amazed at how a tree with so many exposed roots was still standing above the entrance to the cave. Once in the cave our exploration and discovery continued. With more narrow spaces, tight entrances and small tunnels we were not only getting dirty, but also gaining more knowledge on how to further explore and enjoy a cave. it was awesome fun.

Under Foot

Our last challenge for the day was a small cave with tight spaces and lots and lots of mud ... and it was brilliant fun. We thoroughly enjoyed crawling through our final cave and finishing our day covered in MUD!!!

 

 

DAY 1 ... CONQUERED