Mar 15: Caves and Climbing

Well, I won’t be getting up too early on this tour as it doesn’t get light until about 7:00. I was on the road at 9:00 after saying goodbye to Ken and Debra. Oh, and it was raining off and on.

 

My first destination for the day was Marakoopa Cave. It was about a 30 minute ride to get to the turn-off. At first I saw that the first tour wasn’t until 10:00. Since it was another 4km to get to the ticket office, I figured I wouldn’t have to wait too long for the first tour by the time I got there. Well, it took me almost the whole 30 minutes to get to the ticket office! The tour started another 500m uphill! Fortunately, the nice people in the ticket office offered to give me a ride with John, the guide, to the beginning of the tour.

 

The Marakoopa Cave was really cool (both literally and figuratively). For the first part of the tour we weren’t allowed to take photos because of the glow worms. Later, we could take photos as much as we wanted. Also, there was no touching. Oil from hands causes the formations to stop growing.

 

 The cave structures are made from calcite crystals leaching out of the limestone. There were “straws” (hollow tubes of calcite that water flowed through), stalagmites (formed when the straws get plugged up, and water then flows on the outside of the straw taking calcite with it to the floor below and building a cone), and stalactites. There were also structures called flow stone, shawls, and curtains, all made of calcite. Here’s a few photos.

White calcite structures

 

 

Flow stone and straws

 

This cave has two rivers that run through it. One is Mole Creek. A few years ago, there was a massive flood that closed the cave for 6 months while they dug out all the mud and debris. 

 

When we got back to where the glow worms were, John turned out the lights, and we could see the little blue lights on the ceiling. I had seen glow worms in New Zealand, but it was still cool to see them again. 

 

When we exited the cave, John had another tour to do, so I walked back to the office. There was a nice path through the thick vegetation. I was glad I didn’t get a ride because I would have missed this walk.

 

I returned to Tilmann, and went into the office to retrieve my helmet. The “rangers” (don’t know if that’s what they are called in Oz) asked me if I was going to see any more of their caves. I said I wanted to go to King Solomon’s Cave. It was 11:30. There was a tour at 12:30, and it was 10km away. I hoped I could make it on time. At least the first 4km were downhill.

 

I managed to make it by 12:10. I even had time to use the restroom and eat a quick snack! King Solomon’s Cave was different from Marakoopa in that it was a much shallower cave. That meant instead of the structures being white, they were various shades of orange. That was due to the iron in the soil. In the shallower cave, water doesn’t have as much time to filter out the iron before it reaches the cave. Here’s some photos from King Solomon’s. There were no glow worms in this cave.

 

When we returned to the office, I asked the guides how far it was to Cradle Mtn, my destination for the day. They said from King Solomon’s Cave, it was 75km. There was no way I was going to make that for two reasons. One, it was already 2:00, and two, there was a mountain between me and the road to Cradle Mtn (in addition to the climb up Cradle Mtn). I asked the very nice gals if there was another place to camp in between. They said Gowrie Park had camping. It was 31 km away. Okay, I could do that! 

 

The route was the one that Chris had told me I should take yesterday. I’m glad I didn’t, because if I had known how long the climb was going to be, I might have started crying! Better that it was unknown!

 

It took me almost 3 hours to get to the final descent to Gowrie Park. I hadn’t really eaten much, and was really feeling it when I got to the top. I pulled out some instant energy in the form of spoonfuls of peanut butter and Nutella. Just after I got to the top, Debra pulled up. She had been out hiking at Cradle. She said she got poured on. She headed out, and I started the descent. It was even steeper than the Gog Forest descent yesterday. Still, I’d much rather be pulling the brakes then having to pedal!

 

 

I arrived at the caravan park at 5:30. I am exhausted, but I’m really glad I did both caves. I am a day ahead, so it doesn’t matter that I didn’t get to Cradle Mtn today. That will happen tomorrow.