Volume 42(1)

SUSS BULL 42(1)

APRIL – JUNE 2002

Bulletin of the Sydney University Speleological Society

SUSS Bull 42(1)

News and Gossip 1

Buchanalia 3Not quite all there . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3The typical entrance pfaffing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5If it’s Saturday, this must be New Guinea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Combing the depths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Taking it easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Bit at the End: How to go Caving at Buchan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Yarrangobilly Easter Trogfest 12Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Trogfest instalment 1: Transports of Delight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Trogfest instalment 2: What One May or May Not do at Coppermine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Trogfest Instalment 3: Mill Creek Swallet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Trogfest instalment 4: Diving at Yarrangobilly & Cooleman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Mammoth on the Big Screen 19

Film Review 22

Chemicals and Your Rope 23

Laddering 24

Trip list: July 2002 26

c! 2002 Sydney University Speleological Society http://ee.usyd.edu.au/suss

Cover Photo: Annalisa Contos in Restoration Cave, Yarrangobilly.Photo by Alan Pryke

NEWS AND GOSSIP

New Committee!At the AGM held on the 2nd of May 2002, the following suckers were elected to run the club. Congratulations – ormaybe Commiserations – are in order:

President: Annalisa ContosVice President: Matthew RidleySecretary: Toby HolmesTreasurer: David ConnardMinutes Secretary: Verity MorrisEquipment Officer: Steve ContosLibrarian: Alan PrykeEditor: Phil MaynardSafety Officer: Megan PrykeASF Councillor: Richard PfielGeneral Committee: Felice Azevedo

Michael FraserMartin Pfiel

Training Weekend July 27th-28th.Put this date in your diary now! We will be heading down to Bungonia for a huge training weekend. From Beginnerto Advanced, we’ll cover it. We will be covering ropes and knots, laddering, abseiling, vertical techniques, rescuetechniques and first response. Don’t miss it.

Wee Jasper Under Threat?‘The Wee Jasper Reserves Trust, which maintains the 115 ha of riverfront public land near the town, is about torun out of money, and one option could be to lock the gates and walk away.‘Trust president Bob Small said his organisation is about $66,000 short on its budget for 2002-03, and the conse-quences for the town could be disastrous......“The public liability thing has also made a difference,” Mr Andersonsaid.’ Source: Daily Telegraph, 7/6/02

Double Rope AscentIn February a recommendation from a meeting of trip supervisors was made to update the trip supervisor check-list. Subsequently, changes to the SUSS trip supervisor checklist have been accepted by the committee duringMarch 2002 . Added to the trip supervisor checklist under the ‘single rope technique’ section is the requirement todemonstrate ascent of double-rope. Current trip supervisors have until March 2003 to demonstrate this skill, afterwhich trip supervisor status will revoked if not completed.To help trip supervisors and potential trip supervisors become accredited for the new requirement, there will betime set aside at the training weekend at Bungonia (see above).Generally, in caving situations mechanical ascenders are more efficient than prusik loops or other improvisedtechniques. For any trip in which ascending is planned everyone should have their own set of SRT gear. Inabseiling trips where no ascending is planned, it is wise for experienced people to carry ascending equipment forapplication in emergencies. If equipment carried is suitable for single rope only, then the trip should be managedto ensure that there is no need to ascend on double rope. Many SUSS trips, particularly canyoning trips, involvepull through techniques. SUSS members should be aware of the issues regarding ascent of a double rope due tothe new requirement. It will help in formulating decisions for managing trips and choosing trip equipment.If you cannot make it to Bungonia and want any training, not necessarily regarding ascending double rope, pleaselet me know. Megan Pryke, Safety Officer

Gear Audit August 17th.Come and cut up all the club ropes when we find out just how dangerous the gear is. The gear audit is a chance tofind out how much serviceable gear we have as well as condemning the unserviceable gear. We need all the clubgear that’s kicking around in your house! Please return everything ASAP. Steve Contos, Equipment Officer.

SUSS Bull 42(1) APRIL – JUNE 2002 Page 1

NEWS AND GOSSIP

President’s Bit.It has been an exciting few months since the last Bull was issued. At Jenolan, the Wiburds survey is nearingcompletion and the Mammoth survey is underway. There have also been some trips recently to less visited partsof Mammoth including a video trip to Great North Cavern and a trip to the recently discovered World of Mudsection. I’m looking forward to the week long trip in the beginning of July, where more of that project work will getcompleted. If you don’t make the July week long trip, make sure you come along to a weekend in the second half ofthe year.While Jenolan has been a traditional SUSS favorite, there have been plenty of other trips. The survey of Colongis progressing, with new cave being found on every trip. For the more recreational of us, there have been trips toCliefden and Bungonia for those building up their vertical skills. Read all about their adventures here.Also since the last Bull we have had our annual general meeting. Out with the old and in with the new. First abig thank you to the outgoing committee. They did a fantastic job of putting together an action packed program.This year’s committee is also working hard to keep your weekends full – see the triplist at the back of the Bull forwhat’s on. If you have any suggestions for where you want to go, please let us know.If you haven’t come caving yet don’t fear – you are not alone. We welcome beginners on every trip we run unlessit says otherwise on the triplist. Just let the trip co-ordinater know and they will make sure you are well lookedafter. We are also running a training weekend on the last weekend of the Uni holidays (July 27th–28th) so if youhaven’t been underground and are keen to come, this is an ideal opportunity. There will be sessions with beginnercaving trips, knots, laddering, abseiling, photography, rescue and rigging. Whatever your level of experience, don’tmiss this great weekend. Annalisa Contos

Double-Rope Abseil Fatality.Two climbers were abseiling off a big-wall climb in Zion national Park, Arizona recently when one fell to his deathon a 60 m pitch. There are important lessons to be learned from this incident.The belay for the abseil was found to be in place and intact. The victim was found at the bottom of the pitch withboth strands of rope running correctly through his abseil device. There was about three metres of each strand‘above’ the abseil device, and these strands were not tied together, ie the knot tying the two ropes together hadcome undone. How could this happen?SUSS has only ever taught one type of knot for tying ropes together: The double fisherman’s knot. There is noevidence that this knot can slip on a climbing or caving rope, provided that a tail of reasonable length is left oneach end of the knot. What’s a reasonable length? Fifteen centimetres would be more than adequate.It appears to be commonplace among climbers to use an alternative knot: The two ends are grasped together run-ning in the same direction and tied into a double figure-eight knot. The benefits claimed for this over a doublefisherman’s knot are that it’s quicker to tie and pulls down better. A double figure-eight knot is completely unsuit-able in this application. Think about it – when this knot is loaded sideways, it must slip towards the ends of the twostrands!After this accident, some tests were carried out which showed that fifteen centimetres of tail could slip through adouble figure eight when loaded sideways. Is it really worth it to save ten seconds on an abseil?

Mammoth Mammoth ProjectThe club is beginning to gather material for a massive project: a history of Mammoth Cave, Jenolan. We’d like toget together ancedotes, original material, photos, unpublished maps, anything connected to the exploration of thebiggest wild cave at Jenolan. If you can help, please contact the Committee. Annalisa Contos


BUCHANALIA

26TH DECEMBER 2001 – 1ST JANUARY 2002

BY CHRIS NORTON, PHOTOS ALAN PRYKE

Participants: Annalisa Contos, Ian Cooper, Phil Maynard, Geoff McDonnell, Kevin Moore, Chris Norton, MartinPfeil, Richard Pfeil, Alan Pryke, Megan Pryke (SUSS); Paul Brooker, Kent Warby (VSA)

Not quite all there

Homeleigh homestead.

SUSS doesn’t visit Buchan often.Perhaps it’s the 7–9 hour drive toget there. Perhaps it’s the factthat Yarrangobilly is closer andbetter. Perhaps it’s the relativewarmth of the caves. Whateverthe reason, that didn’t stop 10SUSSlings from deciding that thebest way to fill the Christmas–New Year gap was to travel southof the border for a week at thisMecca of Victorian caving. Fordespite the possible drawbacks ofa Buchan trip, there were threeclear things in its favour:

1. A large and luxurious cav-ing hut with a commodiousverandah.

2. No fewer than 8 separatekarst areas within a 30 kmradius of said hut, present-ing lots of options for thosewho collect areas.

3. The opportunity for lots of bad puns on the name ‘Buchan’.

A fourth advantage soon made itself clear to Chris and Annalisa as they sped away from the ruddy smoke-filledskies of post-Christmas Sydney: temperatures below 30!C. The mercury declined in proportion to southern latitude,making a planned swim in the Snowy River not quite so palatable an option; and not long after entering Victoriathe skies opened and the rain began to fall.Arrival at Homeleigh was marked by a brief break in the rain, and provisions were hastily moved into the kitchen.Here we were able to meet Paul Brooker and Kent Warby from VSA, who seemed to be here for an extended periodof not actually doing much (Kent pleaded a shoulder injury); and the redoubtable Spot Matthews, who greeted uswith an admonition not to put beer bottles on the table without a coaster, then vanished for the rest of the trip.Paul passed on some bad news: as opposed to the dryness of Sydney, it had been raining for most of the last twomonths at Buchan, and this meant that our proposed trip to Scrubby Creek Cave (a restricted access cave) wouldprobably be out of the question due to high water levels sumping out the entrance passage. Well, darn.The arrival of Kevin, Ian and Martin was anticipated that night, but was not to be. So the next morning, Chrisand Annalisa decided to take advantage of the absence of other people who might actually delay things to get somecaving done. Grabbing some ropes, they set off for the Potholes Reserve at Murrindal. Their hopes for solitarycaving took a dive, however, when they were spotted by Alan and Megan, just arriving, who executed a tightU-turn and were soon standing under the grey skies pulling on caving gear.First cave on the agenda was M1. There is something suspicious about a cave that no-one has actually botheredto give a name to, but it came with the Carol Layton stamp of approval, and was reputed to have a 17 m entrancepitch, so we decided to give it a shot. First, of course, we had to find the thing. We were given very clear directions;


Slocombes Cave

cross the road from the carpark to Wyatts Re-serve, in the biggest doline in the area, undera great big tree. Of course, the Reserve wasfull of dolines, none of which was particularlybig, and all of which had trees around them.Eventually Alan crept over to a likely-lookingentrance, only to find himself about to plum-met down a significant drop, so we decidedthis was as good a cave as any, tied off our ropeand dropped.The pitch is not too bad, although the alleged17 m depth proclaimed in the Karst Index ispresumably actually the length of rope neededfrom the tree and the actual drop wouldn’t bemuch more than 10 m. Once off rope, the routeon is not entirely obvious, being not along themain trend of the rift into which you abseil butoff along a joint at a slightly higher level. Al-though there’s not much in the way of lengthof passage, the mazelike multileveled nature of the cave makes it ‘very scoutesque’, in Chris’ description. Alan,attempting to discover if there were other higher level passages, somehow ended up just under the top of the pitchand, being disinclined to climb back down again, requested that his ascenders be brought up to him so that hecould abbreviate the trip out.Leaving the cave rigged so that others could discover its joys for themselves later, the party had a quick lunchbefore ducking over to Oolite Cave. This cave was easy to find, and offered the opportunity for some vertical work.Our trusty Karst Index indicated that there were four pitches, but Paul assured us that there were only in factthree, with two of these as alternate routes that could be taken. So we headed off with two ropes, feeling that our22 m rope for the in-cave pitches was probably overkill given that the longest pitch was meant to be 12 m.

Entrance toHoneycomb Cave

After the entrance pitch, the cave drops sharply through a series oftunnels to a division of the ways. Megan located one pitch down theright–hand branch, and was soon rigging a rope along a tight ser-pentinious rift to where a bolt provided a reasonably free hang. Sheseemed to be on rope for a while, given that it was supposedly onlya 12 m pitch, and all sorts of mumbling emanated from below of the“Maybe it’ll reach if I untie the knot in the end” nature. Eventually,Megan asked Chris to come down, which he did with some suspicionand misgiving when he asked if the rope reached and Megan said shewasn’t sure. What could that mean?The rifty pitchhead soon gave way to an open pitch, and after about15 m Megan was encountered standing on a large ledge as the caveturned into a steep, narrow bedding plane rift. Megan encouragedChris to dive down the rift. H’mm. Even more suspicious, Chris slith-ered down the rift, still on rope, to see the Bluewater disappear down ahole into a room with indeterminate bottom depth with the end-of-ropeknot dangling emphatically freely in the air. It sure didn’t look like re-lief from verticality would come any time soon, so a strategic retreatwas beaten. Another bolt was noticed at the start of the steep rift. Ha!All was becoming clear. Obviously this was one of those cases wherethe incidence of a ledge partway down a pitch where the rope could berebelayed had caused someone to describe a single drop as two pitches.We made a note of this and, harrumphing, pulled our rope up and setoff to find the other route, for which our rope should be long enough.Alan called out that he’d found the next pitch but it looked very tight,awkward and nasty with nothing to tie off to. Chris went to have alook. In another serpentinious rift, the floor dropped away markedly

although the rift continued. Old Tasmanian caving trick: don’t let the lack of a floor prevent you from followingthe easiest route. Wandering a little further along the rift, Chris discovered that if you floated over the top of thechamber 7 m below you could find a quite acceptable place to climb down. The real pitch was actually at the bottomof this chamber, and posed a bit more of a problem. Again, a narrow rift led out to a bolt, but this rift was darn


tight. Chris rigged this pitch and found that getting down off the bolt and through the wedge of the rift could beaccomplished with one part shoving, one part gravitational assistance and one part breathing in.At the base of the pitch he found himself in a pretty desultory room but for some reason decided that it was veryimportant for everyone else to join him there. So, one by one, the others abseiled down. Annalisa somehow found ause for her prussik loop during the descent, and left it hanging at the rebelay in the rift where most people founda great use for it during ascent. At the bottom, people had a look at an evil-looking hole, decided that descendingit without extensive apparatus to assist return would not be a good idea, and set their sights on leaving the caveASAP. Later investigations revealed this hole to be called the ‘Nutchoker’ (whatever that means) and not at allworth the effort.Leaving the caves rigged for the benefit of others the next day, everyone returned to Homeleigh. There, theydiscovered that the rest of the party had arrived: Ian Cooper, Phil Maynard, Geoff McDonnell, Kevin Moore, andMartin and Richard Pfeil. True to form, they’d been filling in time at the local watering hole.

The typical entrance pfaffing

The Real Slocombes Cave

With a full complement of cavers on board, everyone set off in dif-ferent directions on Friday morning. Ian, Phil, Geoff, Martin andRichard went to investigate M1 and Oolite, whilst Kevin, wantingsomething a little less vertical, joined Annalisa, Chris, Alan andMegan in driving out to the Basin to visit Slocombes Cave.Both Annalisa and Chris had been to Slocombes before, but neededto consult the topo map just the same to locate the entrance. Theyarrived beside a doline with a promising looking hole in the rocksover to the side, which Annalisa said was where the cave was markedon the map. Chris had thought the entrance was a little different,and wandered over to check, but things seemed to make sense inside– a passage leading, after a short distance, to a substantial dropoff.So everyone geared up and moseyed on over to the cave.Just inside the entrance was a pitch. Last time, following the sugges-tions from some VSA members that a ladder wasn’t really necessary,Chris had freeclimbed the pitch, but it had been decided to put a 10 mladder down to help the more risk-averse in the party. This time, werigged the ladder from the beginning. Chris was a little uncertain,as the drop didn’t seem quite the same as he remembered – but hewas having difficulties with a flat torch battery and as he returnedto the car to replenish supplies, Megan began the descent – only tofind herself dangling on the end of the ladder, still suspended over asubstantial drop.Much pfaffing and map consultation ensued – with the group eventu-ally deciding that although the cave looked very similar to the one onthe map, it couldn’t be the right cave. A short wander over the mead-ows resulted in the cave being located some 200 m away, and mentalnotes being made to brush up on topo reading skills.

Wilsons Cave

Slocombes (the real Slocombes, not the imposter first visited) is a funcave. Okay, it’s been heavily visited, and there have been many suc-cessful redecoration attempts using natural cave materials, but forall that there are still lots of enjoyment to be had popping throughholes between interconnecting sections of cave. The party had soondiscovered the delights of the Keyhole and made fools of themselvesin the Letterbox squeeze – although Kevin ruled himself ineligiblefrom negotiating the latter obstacle on the grounds that he was “par-cel post”. Chris made a fool of himself by diving head-first down thesqueeze, only to remember just too late about the 3 m drop on theother side, requiring some interesting gravity-defying manoeuvresto avoid being deposited head-first in the pool of water strategicallylocated on the other side.In the meantime, the others were limbering up their vertical skillsat Murrindal. Ian and Phil started on M1 first, and Martin, Richard


Martin in New Guinea Cave

and Geoff on Oolite Cave, before switching over. The McDon-nell/Pfeil team, when searching for M1, decided to take a lit-eral although slightly creative approach to interpreting the di-rections to M1. They had been told the cave was about 40 mbehind the Wyatt’s Reserve sign. And that’s where they looked.However, the sign they chose to look behind was not the one justover the road from the cars, but instead one about 200 m downthe road. When they eventually discovered the cave, they didn’tget much further than the bottom of the rope, and declared thecave not at all worth the effort. However, since they’d only actu-ally seen about 5% of the cave, their evaluation probably needsto be put into abeyance until they have the ‘full M1 experience’.The ropes were pulled up and the team returned to camp.Back at the Basin, the Slocombe’s team emerged, and set abouttrying to find Mabel Cave. This cave is situated on the BuchanRiver at East Buchan. The cave itself is on public land, butunless you want a 2 km walk along the river to get to it, youneed to cross private property. The property has recently beensold by the former owner, the retired Buchan postmaster whostill lives out behind the post office, who was unable to help uswith locating the new owner. We visited the place and bangedon the door of the hut for a bit, with the cave a tantalising 60 maway, but without luck, so went off to do Wilson’s Cave instead.Wilson’s Cave is a spacious walk-through cave at East Buchanthat runs underneath the road. It’s not very long but has plentyof room and is allegedly the scene of many an illicit undergroundparty for some of the good but not so cave-conscious citizens ofBuchan. It must also feature the same type of limestone thatthey have around Punakaiki, as Chris’ generally dormant lime-stone allergy flared up and he sneezed his way through the cavewith eyes and nostrils running liberally (erk).

If it’s Saturday, this must be New GuineaIan was quite adamant – the best cave he’d seen on the last Buchan trip was New Guinea cave, and the mostpromising karst area was New Guinea Ridge. If you think this sounds like a great obscure karst area, you’re right.It’s only about 25 km from Buchan as the crow flies, but it takes an hour or so to get there given its remote locationclinging to the side of a steep spur running down to the Snowy River.

AnnalisaNew Guinea Cave

Paul and Kent offered to lead us on a trip out to New Guinea Ridge, and of-fered the services of Paul’s 4WD to help us get there. The new-look SubaruOutback Prykemobile and Chris’ battle-scarred Toyota, as pretend 4WDs, werealso pressed into action. Whizzing along the highway dodging the occasionalfallen tree branch was easy enough, but the New Guinea fire trail had its shareof surprises, including a badly broken-up creek crossing that wasn’t appreciatedby the station wagons. Eventually, the top of the final road in to New GuineaRidge was reached, with Paul suggesting that Chris and the Prykes may wish toleave their cars there. “Aw, I dunno”, said Coops, “You could get your car mostof the way there. I’d take the Kingswood up to about here”, he said, indicatinga point on the map just before the steepest section of road. So, ignoring Paul’swarnings about it not being the place to be ‘if you had pride in your car’, the Toy-ota set off valiantly in Paul’s wake, cheered on by the people who were startingto walk along the road whilst waiting for Paul to return for another carload.The road was certainly not in tip-top condition, and Chris and Phil, in the Toyota,decided that the depth of Coops’ level of pride in his car must be matched onlyby the strength of his belief in its ability to crawl up very steep rocky roads.Finally, they reached the spot that even Coops had sworn not to pass, so the carwas left at the roadside and the journey completed on foot. Once everyone wasassembled, Kent announced that due to a sore shoulder he would, alas, haveto forego the cave and instead would have to content himself with a hard dayswimming in the river and sunbaking. What a hero.


Annalisa again.New Guinea Cave

New Guinea Cave is located in an enormous, impressive doline,the sort which you normally only see when you go to New Zealandor exotic places like that rather than country Victoria. The enor-mous impressive doline contains, of course, a collection of enor-mously impressive shoulder-high nettles, which made an enor-mous impression on Geoff when he decided to walk through themwithout his cavesuit on.The bottom of the doline opens up into an entrance which is notexactly enormously impressive, but still substantial, being some3 m wide and 10 m high. The cave is basically a long section ofstreamway which rattles off into the hillside for several hundredmetres. It’s usually dry except after substantial rain.Evaluating the scope for wrong turnings as low, most peoplecharged off into the cave without waiting for Paul’s guidance. Theinitial 150 m or so of walking slowly but surely degenerated intorock scrambling and the occasional crawling as the passage tele-scoped and the presence of fallen boulders increased. Eventually,the advance party found themselves in a small room with a smallsand- and pebble-filled duck at the end. Digging commenced,clearing out enough room for someone to insert himself into thecrawlway and identify difficult times ahead. Just as we weregearing up for a long effort, however, Paul could be heard clunk-ing around on the other side of the constriction, having taken analternative route over the top of our small chamber. Backtrack-ing and following him yielded substantially more passage, untilwe were finally confronted with a low-roofed crawlspace leadingoff through a set of puddles.Enthusiasm was not high. Paul informed us that just around thecorner there was likely to be a puddle that would require a bit ofwallowing. “But it gets bigger again past there,” he added.Never one to shirk a challenge, even when wearing cotton overalls, Phil inserted himself into the crawlway andgrovelled along on his belly before coming to an uncertain stop in front of the puddle. Muffled musings reverberateddown the passage as Phil contemplated the obstacle for a few minutes, to be replaced by splashes and gurgles asArchimedes’ law came into play.“You see, it gets bigger, doesn’t it?” said Paul.

Helictites in Honeycomb

“Yeah, but then it gets smaller again, andthere’s more pools!” came the muted re-sponse.“Oh yeah, that’s right...”Still, Phil adopted an “I’ve come thisfar...” attitude, and there were moresplashes and gurgles as he faded into thedistance.Next to arrive in the little room wasMegan, who was surprised that every-one was just sitting around being socia-ble rather than intrepidly exploring therest of the cave. She was pointed to thecrawlway and told to go and meet Phil ifshe wanted to do intrepid things. “Youjust crawl along there, through the pud-dle, and then it gets bigger,” we assuredher, carefully omitting that it didn’t getbigger for long. Off she went, and re-peated Phil’s cycle of crawling, mumbling,splashing, walking etc before returninglooking a little damp around the edges.


The advance team beat a rapid retreat back out of the cave, passing the rear guard who were still only about 2/3of the way in, having paused for some extensive photographic shoots. Soon we were sitting on top of the dolinein the blazing sun, eating snakes, sipping water, listening to Kent tell us how nice the river was, and wishing thephotographers would hurry up. Eventually, Phil, Chris, Ian and Richard decided the photographers could take aslong as they liked, and walked back to the Corolla to coax it up the hill, then sped down the Tulloch Ard road tothe confluence of the Buchan and Snowy Rivers for a paddle.For some reason, the advance party decided that frolicking in water that was freshly chilled from passage throughthe caves of the Pyramids area was preferable to the much warmer waters of the Snowy. For some other reason, thesecond party to arrive decided to find a different part of the river to the first party. However, everyone eventuallymet up for beer and skittles, although without the alcohol, tenpins or bowling ball.

Combing the depths

Annalisa againHoneycomb Cave

Much of today was devoted to Honey-comb Cave. This is a substantial caveat Murrindal that is a favourite hauntof the Baden-Powell Brigade. An ex-tremely bad map of the cave exists,which barely hints at the intricacy andexpanse of many parts of it.1 Accord-ingly, the Honeycomb visitor spends a lotof time wandering round trying to workout exactly where the heck they are, andfinding that although A and B are con-nected on the map there may be a greatyawning chasm between them in realitythat makes access from one to the otherdifficult.Through good fortune rather than de-sign, we were able to work our waythrough the cave. We may not alwayshave found the best routes (as the nu-merous groans from Kevin attested) butwe did end up seeing some very prettystuff, albeit often after some valiant at-tempts at squeezing, climbing and somersaulting over crevasses and alternately pushing and pulling Kevin.Time flies when thrown away fast, so before too long we were on the wrong side of cocktail hour (if you like yourcocktails at 2pm) with two options – investigate the curious 20 m shafts to the lowest levels of Honeycomb, or goand look at Razor. Chris, Annalisa, Phil and Martin, being the pit-dwelling types they were, opted for the deeperoption whilst most of the others chose the sharper one.The depths of Honeycomb proved pretty uneventful, with the greatest challenge being to navigate a clean-hangingpath for the rope down the narrow rift we’d descended. The rift was decidedly unspectacular, and didn’t yield thehundreds of metres of passage that Spot Matthews had suggested were down one of the rifts, but he wasn’t sure,or wasn’t telling, which one. It did yield a narrow passage leading into a parallel rift (which Chris squeezed intoin order to note the extra metre or so of passage in the parallel rift) and lots of falling mud and stones from peopleswinging on the rope above.The Razor party wasn’t doing much better. Its members got a short distance into the cave before wondering whetherthe extremely tight and constricted area they’d entered was really a good place to be, and accordingly backed outhaving seen only a small portion of this cave.That afternoon, Martin, Geoff and Richard accompanied Paul up to the entrance to Scrubby Creek, where theyverified that the cave was indeed impassable. Better luck next time...

Taking it easyAs usually happens when the temperature warms up and the year draws to a close, the cave apathy accelerates.Today was mostly a day of browsing. Ian, Megan and Chris browsed around the surface of the Reserve; Phil,Kevin, Annalisa and Richard browsed around the tourist caves, and Alan, Geoff and Martin browsed around the

1A copy of the map is included in Cooper, I. “Buchan Amnesia” in SUSS Bull 38(3) p7.


spectacular rock formations of the Potholes area. Those over at the Reserve soon decided that sitting in the shadewith cold drinks and ice creams was a good way to follow up the extremely strenuous task of wandering along roadsand tourist paths, so this activity was indulged in extensively.Finally, however, Chris, Megan and Ian could stand it no more, and decided to go and investigate the mysteriouscave-that-wasn’t-Slocombes that people had stumbled upon a few days ago. This time, they were prepared for thebig drop, and had brought a 20 m rope rather than a 10 m ladder. This was a good thing, as the entrance pitch wasa good 15 m or so deep, ending in a reasonable-sized chamber at the bottom of the shaft.Future visitors to the cave-that-wasn’t-Slocombes (also known as BA-2) should take note that upon reaching thischamber, the sensible thing to do is to turn round and go straight back up the rope again. Not doing so and enteringthe crawly side passages is likely to get you smeared with very sticky mud which will make your rope dirty, andyou don’t want that, particularly if it’s the last day of your trip and all that. Of course, we didn’t know that, so afterdeparting the cave our afternoon was spent scrubbing the last of the gear whilst most of the others went to the pubto start getting in the mood for New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Wilsons Entrance

Paul, in his role as member-in-charge of Homeleigh that weekend,had produced a list of tasks for us all to perform before leaving tokeep the house in good shape, such as sweeping the floor and clean-ing the showers. Somehow, Phil, whose name was on the bottom ofthe list, seemed to have a couple more tasks than others, and as theday wore on the list just got longer. Before long, he found himselfobliged to repot the potplants, restump the house, replace the gut-tering, seal the roof, solve Fermat’s Last Theorem, turn lead intogold and formulate a process of cold fusion.Eventually, we were ready. Gear was washed, nice cheese andmood-altering beverages had been consumed in substantial quanti-ties, the good cushions had been hidden and the crockery had beensafely stowed on the high shelves. But it was only 11pm. So ev-eryone sat around perusing magazine articles. Most of the maga-zines present were VSA caving magazines, but somehow a women’smagazine had got mixed into the bunch, so we could read about80 kg tumours, how to tell if he’s cheating, and answers to your 50most embarrassing sex questions. So intriguing were these that wenearly missed 12pm. However, with a few dozen bursts of stream-ers from some Pryke-provided party poppers, followed by a sessionwith sparklers where we were able to write the answers to our mostembarrassing sex questions in foot-high letters of glowing sparks, itsuddenly became 2002. We rejoiced, and spared thoughts for thosepeople less fortunate than us – those on Sydney’s fringes who weredenied the simple pleasure of sparkler-writing due to the bushfirerisk. And what better way to climax such a night than by tumblinginto bed and sleeping soundly? (Well, I can think of several, butthey mostly involved being in a town a bit bigger than Buchan.)The next morning, everyone set off home again, except for Megan and Alan who set off for bushwalking in theSnowies. Phil still hadn’t quite finished his list of tasks, but managed to slip away while Paul was distractedlooking at a dummy cold fusion reactor rigged up in the basement. A cool wind and temperatures in the mid-teensmade swimming in the Snowy unpalatable yet again. Close to Sydney, the sky darkened into the messy brown thatthe residents had been used to for the last week. Opening the door at the petrol station permitted entry of a gulpof smoky thirty-degree air that tickled the bronchioles on its way in. Welcome back everyone.

Bit at the End: How to go Caving at BuchanNSW cavers can sometimes find organising a trip to Buchan frustrating. There are no readily-accessible guidebooksor other sources of information on the various areas, maps are few and far between, and the management detailsof the various caves are not clearly designated. However, here are some hints.Where to stayAccommodation at Buchan is available at Homeleigh, an old homestead owned and maintained by a co-operative ofVictorian cavers. It’s superior to caving huts in NSW. Homeleigh has basic bunk and mattress-style accommodationin a number of small rooms sleeping 2–6 people, with some double beds for married couples or incorrigible sinners.There are hot showers, kitchen facilities including a microwave, fridges, freezers and gas stoves, and lots of utensils.


There are two small cabins outside sleeping (from memory) 6 and 10 which can be booked by groups.As at March 2002 the booking officer was Homeleigh caretaker Charlie Gray (03) 5155 9212, although VSA shouldbe able to put you in touch with the current officer. It is highly advisable to book; but having said that most VSAmembers apparently don’t and just turn up and expect to get a bed. Members of the co-op have preference overring-ins from out of town, and each time I have been to Buchan I have been warned that Christmas-New Year is abusy time and it is quite likely that our party might be asked to move when ’the hordes’ turn up. Of course, bothtimes the hordes have been markedly absent and we have virtually had the hut to ourselves, save for a handful ofVSA people and the resident caretaker.Prices per night are $12 single, $25 family, $9 student (less for members of the co-op). Camping was available in thegrounds for $6, but in March 2002 the co-op advised that “from now on camping around Homeleigh is discouragedunless all rooms are occupied”. However, groups of 10 or more people from a single organisation can apply forreduced bulk rate fees.Where to caveBuchan is actually a generic name given to the general locality where a number of karst areas are situated inclose proximity, including Buchan, East Buchan, Mooresford, Murrindal, The Basin, and (a little further afield)Gelantipy, Jackson’s Crossing and New Guinea Ridge. Day trips to any of these areas from Homeleigh are quiteviable, although 4WDs are needed for Jackson’s Crossing and New Guinea Ridge if you want to save yourself somewalking.Most Victorian cavers are renowned for their reticence in publishing detailed information about caves and cavingareas. Although I don’t entirely agree with this viewpoint, out of deference to it I’ll refrain from going into thedetail I often do about caving areas. However, one starting point for some maps and information is Ian Cooper’sarticle Cooper, ”Buchan Amnesia” in SUSS Bull 38(3) p7. In addition, prior to our most recent trip Geoff McDonnellwas able to gather a lot of information about Buchan, including many maps and cave descriptions taken from the’Cave Convict’ conference guidebook, which has been stored in the SUSS Library for future reference.Aside from that, the two pieces of advice I would give are:

1. Talk to Victorians, and

2. Start planning early.

Victorian cavers can be found initially by going to the VSA website which is at (http://home.mira.net/˜vsa) andchecking who the current committee are. When you get down to Homeleigh you’ll probably find some more whocan give you detailed directions on how to find various caves, but if you want to get into any restricted access cavesyou’ve left your run way too late. Make sure you contact VSA several months in advance of your planned trip,because in my experience it takes a long time and lots of running around to get results.Visiting any caves on the Buchan Caves Reserve requires a permit from Parks Victoria, and I’m told caving permitsare not issued for holiday periods. If you are there at another time, I’m told the trip through the Dukes Caveresurgence up into the tourist caves is well worth doing; other caves to check out are Moon Cave and Whale Cave.The caves on the Potholes Reserve at Murrindal, and nearby Wyatt’s Reserve, are nearly all no-permit caves (withthe key exception of Exponential Pot – see below). Try Jam Pot, Honeycomb, Oolite, Razor, Stirlings, Centipede,Baby Berger and Baby Pierre. The Pyramids area is nearby, with interesting surface rock formations, but thereare some access issues at the moment; and the most impressive cave in that area, Dalleys Sinkhole, is on privateproperty and reportedly permission to enter it is unlikely to be forthcoming from its owner, a quarry operator.At East Buchan, Wilsons Cave is easily accessible from the roadside without the need for permission. Mabel Caveis on public land but if you don’t have permission from the nearby landowner to cross his property it’s 2 km walk upthe river. Trogdip is reportedly also the subject of some access difficulties at the moment – but although everyonerecommends it wholeheartedly it looks like it has some extremely squalid and unpleasant parts. If at East Buchan,you’re not too far from The Basin, where you’ll find Slocombes, easily noticeable by the clusters of scouts millingaround the entrance.Conditions in most of the caves are reasonably warm (similar to Bungonia); however, water, if you find it, is cold.If you want to do any wet caves, have a wetsuit with you; however, most people find cotton overalls quite adequate.Whilst some caves or parts of caves are quite dry, there is a fair amount of mud around in most caves so if you’rethe wallowing kind you may find the cotton will sap your body heat if you lie around in the wet too long.The Big ThreeThe three caves that I am told are the Big Three at Buchan are Exponential Pot, Dalleys Sinkhole and ScrubbyCreek Cave. Despite my efforts, I haven’t been able to get into any of them – and in the case of Exponential, thesame is the case for most would-be visitors. I’ve already mentioned the problems with Dalleys above.


The Gang

Both Exponential and Scrubby Creek are managed (or co-managed) by VSA. It is a condition of access to thesecaves that you be accompanied by a nominated VSA trip leader. There aren’t a huge number of these, so youraccess to the caves will be dependent on what the trip leaders for the cave are doing at the relevant time.On this most recent trip, we were fortunate enough to get a Scrubby Creek permit, but recent rain made the caveunenterable (a short distance in is a roof sniff that goes for about 50 m or so, which becomes impassable after rain).Exponential is a vexed story, and its management regime is somewhat controversial. I found an interesting histor-ical snippet in an old Nargun magazine at Homeleigh, which was discussing management techniques for a newlydiscovered extension in Scrubby Creek Cave:“As there is no future in doing things and keeping quiet, the VSA Committee decided to survey, photograph, publish,track mark and provide all possible information and aids on site for any casual party on how to avoid harming theextension. This was an early application of a realistic process which was later applied to Exponential Pot.” 2

The process may once have been applied to Exponential Pot, but there doesn’t seem much evidence of it left today.I’m told Exponential is managed as a “reference cave”, a management category that usually means that a caveis locked up and access is only available for groups undertaking essential management tasks. In my view, thiscategory is of questionable merit when applied to caves valuable for aesthetic rather than scientific reasons, butwe needn’t get into that debate here. The outcome is that even many Victorian cavers have remarked on the greatdifficulty on getting to see this cave. Although I have been told by some Victorians that the secret to getting intoExponential is to “just ask”, each time anyone I know has asked, they’ve been unsuccessful. Before this recent tripI started asking 2 months beforehand. So the moral – ask early, ask often, and don’t get your hopes up.I should emphasise that I don’t want to give the impression that VSA or Victorian cavers in general are obstruc-tionist, unfriendly or unhelpful. The cavers we’ve met at Homeleigh, in particular, have generally been very kindand welcoming and have given us information about caves, guided us on trips and even offered use of their 4WDs totake us to more inaccessible areas – special thanks go to Paul and Kent for their assistance on our most recent trip.I recount most of the above for two reasons – firstly, to help people understand that there is a different attitudeprevailing in Victoria regarding cave information and access to that most commonly found in NSW; and secondly,to help avoid disappointment by giving you an idea of the process you need to go through.

2Daryl Carr, Nargun Vol 9 No 7, May 1997, p85.


YARRANGOBILLY EASTER TROGFEST

29TH MARCH – 1ST APRIL, 2002

BY MEGAN PRYKE

Participants:

SUSS Crew: Sarah Anthill, Rachel Chalmers, Annalisa Contos, Steve Contos, Shannon Crack, Andy Fulton,Alan Pryke, Megan Pryke, Martin Pfeil, Richard Pfeil, Sushila Thomas, Phil Maynard, Tim MouldsSUSS Support Crew: Les Crack (Shannon’s dad) and AliceDiving Crew: Al Warild, Julia James, Keir Vaughan-Taylor and Sue Willis and family, Jason Cockayne,Rod O’Brien, Steve WarildSSS Crew: Geoff McDonnell and consorts

IntroductionIt was a big caving Easter at Yarrangobilly. A SUSS caving group, a SUSS diving group and SSS Cavers all hangingabout, chatting and caving at Yarrangobilly. As rain fell along the NSW Coast, the weather in the Snowies couldnot have been better. Clear skies, only a few March flies, weather warm enough to walk with your trog suit on.Caves visited included Janus, Restoration, East Deep Creek, North Deep Creek, Mill Creek Swallet, Old Inn andCoppermine. Shannon Crack helped out SSS with their survey of Y18 Pot, this was also on the SUSS permit, butsince there were many SUSS members who had never been to Yarrangobilly Caves, despite being in the club forsome years, a cave which is very muddy did not appeal. Lots of caving was done despite the tempting surfaceweather.

Trogfest instalment 1: Transports of Delight

BY RACHEL CHALMERS

North Deep Creek CavePhoto Alan Pryke

The drive to Yarangobilly was lessthan inviting that Holy Thurs-day. Heavy rain and lightning didnot ease until Goulburn, and howsome people pass driving tests thiswriter is unable to fathom. Therain led one less experienced caverto wonder if all the caves wouldfill up with water, causing her (andless importantly, others) to drown.She was quickly reassured thiswas not the case.SUSSlings were joined by mem-bers of SSS and a group of cavedivers at the hut. Good Fridaydawned a beautiful sunny day.Who would go underground on aday like this? Silly question.Latish in the morning a group setoff for Janus and East Deep Creek.Not long into the walk, a lovelyshiny helmet was found. Identi-fied as Shannon’s, the hunt wason. Where was the head that fitted the helmet? After many a melodious call, Alan went in search of the head (pre-sumably attached to a body). The rest of us settled down for a rest. After we had eaten lunch, a blackberry scratchedbody, attached to the head in question, emerged form behind a tree. But where was Alan? Shannon finally found


Alan in Janus CavePhoto Andy Fulton

him, and we proceeded to Janus, where Tim, Andrew and Megan left us forNorth Deep Creek, and Sushila settled down to read her book.Annalisa, Steve, Alan, Martin, Sarah and Rachel headed into Janus, a caveof reputed beauty. With us was a digital video camera, complete with dust-,water- and shockproof case. Within our party we discovered many previ-ously undiscovered talents. Sarah – camera operator, scriptwriter, director;Rachel, Annalisa and Martin – actors; Steve and Alan – everything else (hair,makeup, wardrobe, light holders, extras, and so on).We reached a large chamber, and after much poking around decided the wayon was to the right and up. We clambered up a slope and discovered a lovelyarea of straws, shawls and flowstone. Once the oohing and aahing was over,it was time to move on. But which way? After searching high and low, overand under, around and through, we decided to go back and have a good think.Success! We returned to the large chamber, turned left and went down. Afternegotiating a ladder or two, scrambling and climbing, we entered a massive

room full of stunning formation. So this was what everyone was raving about. Much photography and filmingoccurred, until some canny fellow mentioned that in order to be out of the cave before dark, we should be headingoff. The group left, with many a backward glance.At the surface we found Megan, Richard and Andrew, Tim and Sushila having headed off earlier. The North DeepCreek crew had been even more unsuccessful than us having taken some time to find the cave entrance.We walked along for a while, stopping to nibble blackberries, thinking of dinner. However dinner would be a whilelonger. The ridge was longer than anyone remembered. Maybe it was the wrong ridge? We walked and walked,getting more and more tired and hungry, the light fading fast. We drew maps with twigs, discussed gut feelingsand finally consulted a compass.Spirits and energy levels were dropping and Rachel’s supply of chocolate and jelly snakes couldn’t keep up. Sosome bright spark burst into song. We got through 5 verses of American Pie and had started on Piano Man, whena coo-ee was heard in the distance. At the cars, Sushila and Tim had heard our chorus, and responded with one oftheir own. And just in time too. Rachel had spotted a bright light far away through the trees.Rachel: “Please tell me that is not the car.”Annalisa: “Rachel, it’s the moon. You won’t be getting there tonight”Finally a tired, hungry lot of cavers arrived back at camp at 9pm, ready for a hot meal and bed.

Andy in North Deep Ck CavePhoto Alan Pryke

Another perfect day dawned. Weset off, with a different set of in-structions, to East Deep Creek.On this trip were Phil, Mar-tin, Richard, Andrew, Sushila andRachel. We went straight to thecave entrance and set off to the up-per section. The formation in thiscave was spectacular, and able tobe seen very close. The first det-rog zone had everyone jumping upand down with freezing feet, to seeincredible flowstone and an area oforgan-like shawls.Once feet had defrosted we pro-ceeded through the cave to the sec-ond detrog area. This involvedslipping through an interesting zig-zagged corridor. Once to the det-rog area we stepped carefully overflowstone, most of it pristine, butwith some alarming signs that peo-ple had been climbing on the forma-tion, leaving nasty muddy marks.This area also had amazing shawlsand straws, in interesting colours.


North Deep Ck Cave

Photo Alan Pryke

This cave was beautiful in a different way to Janus, as the formation was very close to passageway, and moredelicate, so lovely to see close up. Martin, Richard, Phil and Andrew headed into lower East Deep Creek, for the‘sporty’ bit, while Sushila and Rachel headed to the thermal pools for a relaxing swim, and much needed wash.[Megan’s addition: Meanwhile, Megan, Alan, Sarah, Annalisa, Tim, Steve and the video paraphernalia went toRestoration Cave. Alan became cinematography director, the powerful Contos video lights were put to good use inbacklighting long straws, casting an oversized Steve shadow on the cave wall for a very spooky effect.]

Sarah in Restoration CavePhoto Andy Fulton

Back at camp everyone got down to the importantbusiness of preparing dinner. Geoff McDonnell wasdiscovered preparing his chicken drumsticks in a lessthan orthodox manner, by wiping them on the ground.When asked why, he replied that it was the best wayto get maggots off food. General revulsion hit every-one except, strangely enough, Geoff, and the chal-lenge was on. Who could persuade him not to eatit? After numerous attempts, the winner emerged.Phil’s impressive credentials as a forensic scientistmay have had something to do with it, but so could hissingle minded refusals to allow Geoff to present any ofhis argument. ‘No’ was the only word necessary. Andthis word was repeated, over and over again any timeGeoff opened his mouth.Easter Sunday morning was frosty. Once people hadwarmed up with hot chocolate and Easter eggs, An-nalisa, Steve, Sarah, Richard and Rachel headed offwith the camera to find Coppermine. Due to a num-ber of mis-communications the group hunted in everynook and cranny in the bluff except the cave.


Restoration CavePhoto Andy Fulton

So they headed back up the trail andto Old Inn, knowing that was not atall difficult to find. This was a lovelyquite easy cave, with streamway andmany opportunities for filming. In theevening we visited the tourist cave,Jersey. This had some beautiful for-mation, with a lot of interesting blacklayering in the rock from bushfires.Monday was another frosty morning,but we left earlier than usual, antici-pating the drive back to Sydney. Phil,Shannon, Andrew, Sushila, Richard,Martin and Rachel went back to Cop-permine for another attempt. A cou-ple of heads were hung in embarrass-ment when the entrance was pointedout, easily visible from the trail with atag above it. This cave was great, withformation and some climbing that waschallenging for some members of thegroup. The squeeze at the end of thecave was also a challenge for Richardand Rachel. Richard undressed underhis trogsuit, and finally made it through, while Rachel, regretting that she had eaten dinner the night before, gotthrough far enough to see some of the formation, though not all.A wonderful long weekend was had by all, and it was with some regret that we had to head back home.

Trogfest instalment 2: What One May or May Not do at Coppermine

BY SUSHILA THOMAS

One may misunderstand that the Sharkfin formation is within the cave, thus making it necessary to clamberover the entire bluff, cartwheeling into blackberries to avoid snakes (Richard) or staring balefully at the effluxwondering where the entrance to the cave is (Rachel) and not managing to find it.Alternatively, one may stroll merrily along the well-worn firetrail for a few ks, and pop into the cave at the efflux.

Martin in North Deep Creek CavePhoto Alan Pryke

One may wobble gracelessly from one side ofthe passage to the other, thus avoiding wetfeet.Or one may wobble even less glamorouslyfrom side to side of the passage, putting onlythe waterproof left foot into the water andstruggling to keep the right out of the water,still avoiding wet feet, no longer waterproof.Or one may splash happily into the waterknowing that once feet are frozen they nolonger feel cold.One may ascend the wall of the passage likea spider at the Sharkfin formation (whichis indeed inside the cave, not on the surface)and edge nervously along a ledge high abovethe stream.Or one may walk blindly past the Sharkfin,following the stream and reaching a sumpa little further on, thus missing most of thecave.


Having edged along there is a brief moment of respite where one drops off down a hole to the right, carefullyavoiding falling into the deep crevasse and then continuing along the ledge until what appears to be a dead end.There is a pretty dark orange drapery at the base of flowstone, which has a nice big, fat stalagmite way up on top.The other option is to continue dropping through the hole, enjoying the beautiful formation on the way down andlanding many metres below, thus ridding oneself of the pesky necessity of exiting the cave at all.

Andy in North Deep Creek CavePhoto Alan Pryke

The apparent dead end is easily climbed by onewho climbs easily, and for those who don’t, a tapeis conveniently rigged from the well positioned fatstal above. With the aid of the tape and muchtrampling of generously offered shoulder it is pos-sible to clamber onto the flowstone and proceedgingerly and gently, stepping only in the muddyfootprints of those who have gone before. Finally itis no longer possible to step along and one bridges,bottom now on the left wall and feet on the right,until goosestepping over formation is once againpossible. This bridging section may also involvetrampling ones friends.One may choose, at the end of this beautiful sec-tion, to slide head first down the flowstone, inwhich case one will need to struggle back up againand slither instead into a pebbly, smallish chamberwith a howling gale gusting through the very smallexit which is blocked by an padlocked iron bar.At this juncture one may decide to return to NPWSand ask for a key.Or one may produce said key from trog suit pocketand brave the squeeze.The squeeze at first glance does not appear fierce.It is necessary to attack it with one arm ahead toward off the howling wind emitted by the chamberbeyond, and one arm behind to disperse the howl-ing wind emitted as lunch is constricted withinone’s gut and that which is gaseous struggles toenter an area of greater volume. It would appearthat neither head nor shoulder nor the bunions aresticking points for this squeeze, but the chest cav-ity and butt! At least bottom fat is redistributableand ribs can be crushed and broken.Beyond is the final chamber that one is willing tostomp through. In a cave of increasing beauty, oneis increasingly unhappy about walking on it. Thewalls are covered in flowstone and drapery, grottos

contain rimpools and oolites, the ceiling drips narrow shawls and straws and random 3-day growth crooked forma-tions poke out from the sides of calcite-covered passage. Everywhere you look in Coppermine there is somethingpretty to see (unless you’re looking at the grotty, grimy, overalled members of your party!). The cave has such asimple walk in (and even the walk out isn’t too hilly!) and is so short to visit, it’s a lovely half day of caving.Don’t forget to exit.

Trogfest Instalment 3: Mill Creek Swallet

BY MEGAN PRYKE

While rain dowsed the east coast, the weather at Yarrangobilly was perfect, warm and pleasant without hoards ofMarch flies.


KeirPhoto Al Warild

Listed on our permit was Mill Creek Swallet, not tobe entered if rain is forecast. Well, there had beenno sign of rain, I had never been there before andthere was only one day left for caving. So Alan andI set off to see the wonders of Mill Creek Swallet, tofind out why such an interesting range of commentshad been heard regarding this cave. These commentsranged from some saying: “Oh, aah, Mill Creek Swal-let, ahh yeah, ummm... Had enough of that grovel,I won’t ever be going back”: “Reminds me of sportyBuchan caves of my early caving days with a touchof Growling Swallet”: “I thought the current surveyunsatisfactory so was behoved to survey it myself”.No problems finding the cave. It is quite evident whythe no-rain recommendation is a sensible one. Scal-loped, clean-washed walls, river gravel and organicbits stuck high in crevasses provided evidence thatthis cave can take a lot of water! Being inclined tothe rebellious side at times, when we entered a large chamber we did not turn sharp left as instructed, but startedeliminating all the other ways going off this chamber in an anti-clockwise direction i.e. right.The left hand turning off this chamber took us along a low, grovelly passage. Following the water would eventuallylead to a pitch. At Phil’s suggestion we had a tape for this drop, though Phil also suggested that tape might not berequired as there were a lot of foot and hand-holds. I rigged the tape as the drop looked a bit ominous. The tapesecured, I peeked over to see what was below, and there were no mysteriously hidden footholds but quite a widedrop that belled out at the bottom. I marvelled at Phil’s faith in our ability to negotiate such a smooth, verticalclimb, but no way was I going down that on tape only! Alan completely agreed, so we reversed up to the chamber wehad poked about before and then went down the only unexplored passage, being another way water flowed throughthe cave but larger to begin with. It deteriorated into another river gravel grovel.When we discovered a climb down a narrow cleft it dawned on me that Phil had not intended for us to descend theprevious pitch, but this much more intimate one. Once down the bottom of this passage, the ceiling becomes high.Again, the walls had much scalloping.Towards the downstream sump, a large aven looked surprisingly familiar. Yes, we were indeed glad we didn’tdescend the tape at the first pitch now that we were looking up it! We also went upstream, which finishes at anaven. So were any of the rumours correct? Mill Creek has great streamway passage at the start and end. If youcan put up with a bit of low stuff, which is not particularly squeezy, it’s well worth a visit!

Trogfest instalment 4: Diving at Yarrangobilly & Cooleman

BY AL WARILD

JasonPhoto Al Warild

Friday 29th March – Mill Ck Swallet. Rod was the duty diverfor the day. Seeing as we’d done it before, we got the gear inwith a minimum of pain and packed Rod off into the clear 10 !Cwater. 40 minutes later he was back with the news. About 100 min and -25 m deep. Someone had pirated our lead, and the cavewas ended. From comparing Jason’s description from last yearwith Rod’s description, Jason had already reached the end anddidn’t know it. Not only that, the pirates hadn’t reached the end,but had left a badly laid line with a nice new line reel at its end.It seems that they were better pirates than divers. So much forKeir’s second push.Saturday 30th March – Mill Ck Swallet. Al & Keir’s turn todayand nothing left but to survey and perhaps have a poke at thegravel-filled tube at the end. So, straight to the end, through thefirst sump – 30 m long and 2 m deep, then the second – 12 m longand 4 m deep, then the final one – 27 m deep and 30 m ‘long’, ifyou can call going just about straight down ‘length’. We did a


quick and rather murky survey back, hoping that the tape wasn’t going around too many corners and got 99.5 m ofsurvey. Like Rod said, about 100 m! Jason had a quick swim to the end to try and poke into the gravel passage atthe end but being the third in and with no water flow, the vis was so poor that he couldn’t see his way, let alone digat anything. Oh well, all good practise at line following.Sunday 31st March – Murray Cave. Murray cave was more a look at rarely seen cave rather than an attempt tofind something new. Murray cave has about 200 m of easy passage to a short sump that becomes passable to normalcavers only in severe droughts. Most of the time it’s a 15 m long, 2 m deep standing sump full of beautiful clear coldwater, well, clear for the first person at least. Beyond, the cave is much the same, except that the formations areall undamaged instead of totally reamed out. The second ‘sump’ is where the cave stream forms a pool and ducksoff down an impassible crack in the wall. Sump 2 was really a 30 cm airspace and a couple of strokes of swimming,although it would sump easily in wetter conditions. The curious part was that the water was quite cloudy (!20 cmvis). From here is a pleasant and still easy streamway to sump 3 which is really short – only about a metre downthe wall, through a hole, then back up the other side – pity we couldn’t see any of it. More nice streamway, then arockfall at around 300 m in from the first sump. Not a good solid final one, but one with lots of holes to poke intoand not find a way through. On the way out we collected a heap of telephone wire which was someone’s misguidedattempt at track marking. Pity it had been ripped apart by numerous floods and was festooning the passage.Monday 1st April – Glop Pot & River Cave. Having left our gear out there the day before we had to go back. Al’sturn first into Glop Pot. I hadn’t been there before and of course had done no research, so straight down into thewell I went. As expected, it went nowhere, but at least had clear water and an interesting kit up while danglingfrom the end of the ladder while trying not to stir up the water. The other side has a much bigger lake 5 m wide by30 m long and who knows how deep – once again the water was murky and by now I was cold. I satisfied myselfwith a quick swim to the far end of the lake and about 20 m groping along in the murk before I gave up for the day.Jason got his go in River Cave, but not until we’d done a run downstream to show Sarah & Steve the delights ofits free-diveable sump in cold water. Lovely! But still murky, as was the sump at the very end. Jason had a shortpush upstream towards Glop Pot. He got about 20 m to an airspace, but after 25 m he came to the same conclusionthat I had earlier – not much chance of finding the way on in this slime. Time to go home.

North Deep Creek Cave

Photo Alan Pryke


MAMMOTH ON THE BIG SCREEN

BY ANNALISA CONTOS

VIDEO STILLS BY STEVE CONTOS AND DON MATTHEWS

Participants: Sarah Antill, Rachel Charlton, Annalisa and Steven Contos, Simon Goddard, Matthew Fisher,Andrew Fulton, Vicky and Matthew Lowry, Phil Maynard, Don Matthews, Megan Pryke, Michael Zazlauskas

Don has a lot on his mind.North Tunnel

As I’m slithering along on my belly shift-ing a large gel cell around my waist, I haveto admire how persuasive Don Matthewsis. The idea for the trip had started abouttwo months previously when Steve and Ihad dropped in to visit the third memberof their clan. We started discussing a videotrip as we both had digital video cameraswith ‘sport-proof ’ cases. Steve and I hadtested ours thoroughly and short of collaps-ing on it when you slip in a canyon it waspretty ‘sport-proof ’.“I’d really like to take it to Great NorthCavern”, Don said. “It would be greatto get footage of people going through thesqueezes and crawls”. Well the idea wasplanted, the date was set and now I findmyself looking at an already rather narrowpassage narrowing further.Sarah, Rachel and I met up with Don, Vickyand Matt Lowry in Katoomba on Fridaynight for a very hearty and wonderfully in-expensive Chinese. There was so much foodleft over that we took two containers on tothe cottage. It had been a while since I hadbeen to the cottage and I discovered that the Bonwick beds had been multiplying, replacing the rather well wornmattresses. Some people prefer putting a thermarest under their sleeping bag on these bunks. If you are one ofthose, the time has come to add that to your Jenolan packing list. Shortly after, Megan arrived and we unpackedand settled into bed. Not believing in getting up too early no-one moved until after 8am. Slowly everyone arose andput a hearty breakfast into themselves. Shortly before 9am Matt Fisher arrived carrying Simon, Mike and Andy.Then followed some discussion on who was doing what. Simon was torn between GNC and Spider (as was I, but Icould hardly pike now). Simon decided on Spider which split the group 6 / 5, making the GNC group smaller andproviding extra leadership on the Spider trip. In the end Megan headed into Spider with Simon, Mike, Andy andRachel while the GNC party consisted of our fearless leader Don, Annalisa, Sarah, Matt L, Vicky and Matt F.While I have been in Mammoth many times, I have been North only once and that was my second SUSS trip whichis lost in a haze of complete exhaustion (Chris Norton led that trip and it was well before I learned the essentials ofchocolate underground). We were in the cave by 10:30, down the jug handle, stopped for a quick look in HorseshoeAven with our 200 W of halogen lights before we headed through the railway tunnel to the skull and cross bones.As we sat on the edge, Don threw a rock down just to show everybody how far they could fall! Down through therockpile we went, through the vagina squeeze (very aptly named), a nice controlled slide down (with that nigglingconcern of “how the hell am I getting back up that!”) and we were now further North than I had been before.There was some wonderful phreatic passage so we grabbed some of that on film and started on our way. Up anddown, over and through. After a while it does become a bit of a blur. We had an interesting time when Sarahcouldn’t see the party in front and took us up a side passage. When we called to the group ahead, their voices werecoming from no clear direction. Fortunately Don returned and we followed the main route through. Up and down,over and through the Middle Bit rockpile. We stopped for a short while and indulged in some chocolate. I managedan entire block myself that day. Up and onwards to find the dry siphon just around the corner. The dry siphon wasactually remarkably dry, just a trickle of water flowing through. Out with the cameras again for everyone wigglingthrough. Along again for a little while until we headed up the Ohmeneez squeeze.


Matt F gave a good demonstration of how tricky it could be, while Sarah just breezed through. This is one of thosesqueezes where your length matters! I passed the camera up and Sarah got some great footage of me flailing myway through. From here there is an interesting bridge up about 3 m before a mud slope heads up and to the left.This takes you through into a room with some formation in it. However it needs to be said that this is not a tripfor those with formation fantasies. By the end of the trip I thought anything that wasn’t mud coloured was prettyspecial. Waving the halogen around and giving the straws some backlighting enhanced their beauty. I popped intothe red room chamber to grab a bit of footage and then filmed the others sliding over with straws perilous close.Fortunately nothing was broken and we stopped on the other side for a bit of on camera comedy from Don (you’llhave to wait for the general meeting for that). The nature of the cave changes from this point on and ‘big’ becomesanything you can sit up in. Anything you can stand in is considered luxurious. Through the 100% friction squeezewe went. The sight of Matt L struggling through this squeeze was too much for my camera and it gave up the ghost(I had put it on the charge the previous night, however I hadn’t processed that the powerpoint was mounted upsidedown and had turned the powerpoint off instead of on).Well here we were near Thud-in-the-Mud. Don found the way remarkably quickly which was an enormous reliefafter reading about how often people get lost here. Climb up from gravel grovel, slide between a column and somestals and head through the low gap. From here, the route is easy to follow if somewhat tough going. It is amazinghow one changes their definition of “large”. Large by now was anywhere that I could sit up without bumping myhead. The incredible effort of slowly pushing this path shows the tenacity of those who pushed this lead. Throughthe triangular passage we went, and then half moon passage. The Zig Zag provides some relief to the sense of onebig long slither.We finally popped up in Sinkhole Cavern where we rather wisely decided to have lunch and dump our bags for thefinal crawl. At the time I didn’t appreciate what a good move this was. The last slither from Sinkhole Cavern toGreat North Cavern is very tight with a layer of very sticky mud. This makes each movement an effort. Just whenyou think it can’t get any smaller it does! I was hugely relieved to emerge into GNC.We skirted around to the right, over some of the rockpile and gingerly picked our way down into the cavern proper.There was a bit of scuffling around. Don had a look to see if GNC could be pushed any further while Matt Land Vicky explored near the bottom of the rockpile. Sarah and Matt F found cycloidal passage and went rattlingthrough that.

GNC from the Antechamber.

Many people have said that GNC is small,with not a lot to look at. Perhaps 100 W ofhalogen lights makes the difference. Muchof the top of the cavern is covered with mud,which has beautiful patterns in it from wa-ter slowly dripping.After having a good look around the cav-ern I returned via Cycloidal Passage, a trulyamazing bit of passage to the base of therockpile and climbed back on up out of GNC.The return journey was carried out in a bitof a trance, the landmarks flashing past atan incredible rate. I just slipped throughOhmeneez squeeze without any problems. Iwas facing the other direction and I wonderif that makes a different on the way in.In next to no time at all we were at thebase of the slide below the vagina squeeze.This climb proved very entertaining. I man-aged an interesting manoeuvre in which Iwas chimneying up the slide with my feetsignificantly higher than my head. Thosebelow commented that it was a interest-ing sight! After 45 minutes we had gotthe group through and were immensely re-lieved when we reached the surface.All in all the all the trip had taken 9 hours, which we consider pretty good time for six of us plus cameras plushalogens to get to GNC and back. We headed up the hill and enjoyed our showers thoroughly.


Matt.

We had a pleasant evening chat-ting to the others about their tripto Spider and consuming the vari-ous quantities to alcohol everyonehad brought. Don then took agroup down to see the grand archby night. Once everyone returnedit was time for some caving games.Out come the coathanger! Simondemonstrated his dexterity gettingthe coathanger halfway down hisback before calling it a night (onlybecause at that moment Phil andSteve turned up I’m sure). At about1pm everyone climbed into bed.The next day Megan and Matt F de-parted for a canyoning trip with Ju-lia. Phil was keen and raring to go.Michael looked very refreshed afterobviously sleeping soundly and ev-eryone else slowly got themselvesout of bed. After rousing the troopsPhil and Simon headed off downSand Passage to set some bug trapsfor Mike Gray of the AustralianMuseum and to try and finish thesurvey. Don, Matt L, and Vicky headed out to Kanangra for a gentle bushwalk and the rest of us psyched ourselvesup for the epic trip into Lower River (after GNC and Mammoth even moving was a epic).And so it was that in good SUSS tradition of early caving trips, Mike, Rachel, Sarah, Andy, Steve and myselfheaded underground at 12:30. We had a very gentle and pleasant trip down, although I had forgotten how tightsome of the rockpile sections were (possibly because the last time I was down here it was a family trip and peoplewere much smaller). Our stiff and sore muscles from yesterday gently unwound and we stopped at each junction tohave a good squiz around and munch on some chocolate. Once again we had taken the video lights with us, one onthe camera and Andy’s wizz bang one. All that light made for a very different experience. When we reached LowerRiver and took the lights over it was a wonderful gurgling blue stream instead of cold dark bottomless water. Westopped for lunch and took some photos before heading up to Oolite Cavern (or at least trying to). Steve had a goodrummage in the wrong place before I decide to look further away from the water. Rachel decided she was preparedfor the vertical squeeze up on Monday afternoon and elected to wait while we went up. No amount of chocolatecould dissuade her. She had reached her squeeze limit for the weekend.

Rachel in Spider Cave.Photo by Andrew Fulton

Oolite was another part of the cave that lookedreally fabulous with the halogen lights. Sud-denly I could reconcile the photo in the yel-low book with the cavern. It was wonderfuland sparkly. We took a lot of footage, althoughmy arms were so sore from yesterday that Icouldn’t hold the camera steady and Steve hadto film instead. We also found some oolites.Nothing as fabulous as East Deep Creek orBrazil but still I had never seen oolites in Oo-lite before so it was nice to see them.Sarah led the way out finding the right way onat every turn. We did some more filming on theway out and got back to the surface four hoursafter heading in. All and all a very pleasanttrip after the hard work of the previous day.After washing the gear packing up and havingour showers we headed off to the AlexandriaPub in Leura where we had a delicious dinnerthat topped the evening off!


FILM REVIEW

“JOURNEY INTO AMAZING CAVES”, IMAX CINEMA, DARLING HARBOUR

BY CHRIS NORTON

The IMAX format is one that comes laden with a burdensome history, having been born as essentially a fun-parkformat for showing rollercoaster films. However, IMAX tends to take itself a bit more seriously nowadays thanits forbears, such as Cinerama and Omnimax. The result is that many IMAX films attempt to present a seriousdocumentary whilst still catering to the fun-park audience with plenty of gee-whiz shots in spectacular locations.What, then, to make of Amazing Caves? Perhaps a starting point is to tell you what it’s not.Publicity for the film is not promising, consisting of a shot of two cavers on rope captioned “No light. No air. Noroom for error.” No air? Well, okay, part of the film is devoted to cave diving, but it’s really a bit misleading. Thefirst minute or two similarly lacks promise, with diverse stock shots of volcanos erupting, waves crashing ontorocks etc as narrator Liam Neeson tells us that those species who choose to survive in extreme conditions arecalled ‘extremophiles’. As we were introduced to the two lead cavers, microbiologist Dr Hazel Barton and teacher’sassistant Nancy Holler Aulenbach, I was just waiting for Liam to tell us that Nancy and Hazel were ‘extremophiles’– ho hum. However, it never came, for which I was thankful. The film also doesn’t show you much of the type ofcaving that the majority of SUSS members are most used to – wandering/crawling/climbing/squeezing through drythough muddy tunnels. There is only a minute or two of such footage shown. Rather, the film is a documentarywhich tells the story of Nancy and Hazel’s search for ‘extremophiles’ living in caves which Hazel might be able touse in developing new drugs to combat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.Or, at least, that’s the cover. Really, the scientific story looks like an attempt to put a more serious veneer on abunch of cavers getting their jollies. For one thing, the film’s website1 states that Nancy and Hazel first met onthe plane to one of the film’s locations. For another thing, the research methodology seems amazingly unscientific.Hazel collects her bugs in a cave in the redwall limestone of the Colorado River above the Grand Canyon; 500 feetdeep in a glacier in Greenland; and in a halocline in a waterfilled cave in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Don’t getme wrong, I don’t doubt Hazel’s scientific credentials or that she is genuinely into such research, but I suspect thatthe ‘research sites’ in the film were chosen more for scenic rather than scientific potential.And it’s really the scenery that is important here - but isn’t it always with IMAX? The film works best when youforget about the elusive extremophile bugs and allow the format to transport you to the ruddy canyons of Arizona,the turquoise waters of the Colorado, or the ethereal deep blue of the Greenland glaciers. The cave visited inArizona is basically an afterthought, notable for its spectacular location several hundred metres down the cliff, andfor giving the filmmakers a (poor) excuse to grab a spectacular shot of someone undertaking an amazing tyroleantraverse (which is, of course, redundant as the film crew flying overhead could just have given the poor blokea lift in their chopper). The pretence of “looking for caves in the canyon walls” enables the producers to insertthe obligatory adrenaline sequence of shooting extraordinary rapids and waterfalls in stunt kayaks. Probably thefilm’s most successful sequence is the glacier exploration, which transports the viewer to extraordinary, rounded,cool blue depths.In contrast, the cave diving sequences are disappointing. The two caves chosen generally lacked the visual mysteryand/or excitement of the other locations. And the effectiveness of a shot of someone taking off her tanks and pushingthem through a small hole in a rockpile is diminished when that hole is blown up to a width of fifteen feet acrosson screen. The mysterious halocline, when finally located, looks like the focus puller had gone for a smoko. Giventhe difficulties that must have been experienced getting the IMAX cameras down the cave, it wasn’t worth it.The soundtrack is also disappointing. IMAX cinemas are normally equipped with the sort of audio equipment thatwould make U2 envious, and part of the IMAX experience is having a suitably powerful soundtrack to push thosesubwoofers and rattle the seats. For some reason, this film’s score consists mostly of Moody Blues numbers (thoughthankfully with the vocals mostly removed). Strangely enough, ‘Knights in White Satin’ isn’t the first piece ofmusic that I would associate with caving.So my advice is – forget the gravitas, and the pseudoscience. The film is at its best when it remembers that peoplereally go to IMAX films for the spectacle, and falls back on the time-honoured big-screen fun park staples. It’s niceto see a film that pays some respect to caves; but it would arguably have been far more beneficial for caves to beshown as valuable in their own right, not merely as a resource to be plundered for mankind’s betterment, or abackdrop for some racy kayak stunts. And you have to question whether IMAX is the right format for such a task.

1www.amazingcaves.com


CHEMICALS AND YOUR ROPE

BY PHIL MAYNARD

“It was at this point that Phil noticed theacid burn on the rope.” Harwoods Hole

What do you do if you’ve spilt a household chemical on your beautiful cav-ing rope? If you don’t know the chemistry involved, you probably need tothrow the rope away. Using a corroded rope in a life support role is notparticularly good. The rope manufacturers have to assume that the rope-buying public is chemically illiterate. That’s why they advise that if a ropeis contaminated with any chemical, it’s the end of the line. On the otherhand, if you understand the chemistry, you can make an informed decisionand possibly save yourself the cost of a new rope.Most kernmantle ropes (All caving ropes are kernmantle construction) aremade with a nylon sheath and a nylon core. Nylon is a polyamide fibre,with a simple aliphatic chain (a straight hydrocarbon chain, no branches orrings) linked by amide functional groups to make a very long molecule. Theamide groups are the only points of attack for chemicals and as a result,nylon is resistant to the vast majority of chemicals. Amide groups can besliced and diced by strong acids, and generally degraded by strong oxidisingagents (such as bleach). Note that weak acids such as vinegar and fruitjuice do not corrode nylon.Some ropes are now being made from polyester (either the core and thesheath are polyester, or the core is polyester with a nylon sheath forabrasion resistance). Polyester fibres are made from ethylene glycol andterephthalic acid, linked by ester functional groups. There are a range ofacids and bases which will cut up these types of ester groups. In general,polyesters are less resistant to chemicals than polyamides. Be particularlyaware of the danger of carbide waste if you use polyester ropes.

DANGER: The following chemicals will weaken a nylon rope on a single exposure (a polyester rope will also beaffected). Cut up your rope and throw it away if you are unlucky enough to spill any of these on your rope.

Battery acidMuriatic acid (bricklayers)Pool ChlorineHousehold BleachPeroxide BleachDrano

It’s a pretty short list. Most chemicals will have no effect on a nylon rope! Note that the vapours from strongacids or chlorine bleaches will damage your rope. You should store your rope well away from any container of thesechemicals. Your laundry is generally a bad place to store ropes, because chances are you have bleach stored there.If you cave with a lead-acid battery, that has to be stored well away from the rope.

NO EFFECT: The following chemicals will not damage a nylon rope at room temperature (a polyester rope may ormay not be affected by these). If you spill any of these on your rope, it needs a wash. Note that synthetic detergentand fabric softener are harmless to nylon rope, and they improve the handling properties of the rope.

Petrol Diesel Lubricating Oil WaxVegetable Oil Isopropyl Alcohol Salt Water VinegarSoap Synthetic Detergent Fabric Softener Sugar/Honey/JamsFruit Juice Kerosene Blood AcetoneCarbide Waste* MSR/Coleman Fuel Methylated Spirits Silicone WaterproofingMineral Turps

*Once again, the danger of carbide waste around polyester ropes must be emphasised.


LADDERING

A Note from the (EX) Safety OfficerI have noticed a general slackness with regard to laddering safety recently. This is probably because I have beensafety officer and it was my job to worry about such things. This general slackness includes not setting up a belay,assuming those below will no longer require a belay and not establishing correct calls between the belayer and theperson climbing. This was discussed at the recent trip supervisors meeting but I would like to encourage everybodyto ladder safely. We have had a good year with regard to safety. Lets keep it that way.Firstly everybody is entitled to a belay. People should elect out of a belay, not into one. Even a fall of a couple ofmetres can be serious and dangerous situations such as rock fall or exhaustion can arise even on short easy climbs.If you are in a situation where a belay is not provided and you would like one just say so.Never offer to belay someone unless you know what you are doing. People who are climbing with a belay expect itto hold. You are risking their life if you don’t know what you are doing. If you are interested in learning how to setup a ladder and belay people, come along to the Training Weekend in July or speak to me or any trip supervisorand we will show you.Where possible I would also encourage those rigging to set up a belay system that allows the last person down andfirst person up to climb in safety. This is usually achieved through setting up a fixed rope for self belay or an Italianhitch with enough rope to go pass from the bottom of the pitch to the top and down again.Finally calls should be established before you start to climb up or down a ladder. It is the responsibility of everyonecaving to ensure you know what the calls are. It is up to the belayer to establish the calls they are using but typicalcalls, taken from the ASF website are:UP meaning ‘I want to come up’, ‘take up slack’, ‘haul up’, etcDOWN meaning ‘I’m coming down’, ‘pay out more rope’, etcSTOP means quit whatever you are doing – stop feeding out line, stop hauling up, stop ascending, hold line taut –and wait for further communication.BELOW! is a warning that anything is falling down toward those below. It does NOT mean ‘look up’!I would encourage you all to consider this discussion when you next need a cave ladder. Happy and Safe Caving.

PHOTO GALLERY

North Deep Creek Cave, Yarrangobilly John Oxley in Harwoods Hole

Photo by Alan Pryke Photo by Phil Maynard


PHOTO GALLERY

Annalisa in North Tunnel

Video Still by Don Matthews

Martin Martin Again

Photo by Geoff McDonnell Photo by Geoff McDonnell

“What do you mean, ‘Keep the O-ring clean’.”

Photo by Al Warild


TRIP LIST: JULY 2002

SUSS General Meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month at 7:00pm (for a 7.30pm start) in the HolmeBuilding Common Room at the University of Sydney. The Holme Building is the building closest to the ParramattaRd footbridge on the northern side of campus. The Common room is on the first floor (enter from Science Rd).For updates to this list, check out the SUSS Website: http://ee.usyd.edu.au/suss. Detailed information on eachcaving area (plus other useful information such as what you will need to bring) can be found in the Beginner’sHandbook section of the Website.Please Note: it is YOUR responsibility to inform the trip supervisor of any relevant medical conditions which mayin any way affect your fitness, such as asthma, diabetes and the like.

July13 –14 Canyoning. With Martin Pfeil. 9713 9460.20 – 21 Wee Jasper. Spend the weekend at Wee Jasper. Accommodation will cost about $20 a head with 8, evenless with more! Nice warm, large maze caves to visit and accommodation to spend the long night. Advance noticeor commitment wanted due to accommodation arrangements. Contact Megan Pryke on 9524 0317 (home).25 Committee Meeting. Cheap steak night at the Forest Lodge Hotel, 6.30pm.27–28 Training Weekend Bungonia. An event not to be missed! Vertical work, knots, ladders and beginnerstrips, it is all happening on this weekend. Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn some more caving skills.Suitable for all experience levels. For more information contact Annalisa Contos 9557 9475 (home).

August1 General Meeting. Julia James talks about the Korea caves expo.3 – 4 Jenolan. Fabulous formation, mud, large chambers, small squeezes. What more could you want?10 –11 Borenore. An area not often visited by SUSS. Easy Caving. Luxury accommodation in Orange (Hopefully).Contact Ian Cooper [email protected] Gear Audit.If you ever wanted to learn what make tapes safe or how much ropes shrink, come and help uscheck the SUSS gear. Please check your garages and ensure all gear is returned to the gear room. Contact StevenContos 9557 9475 (home).24 – 25 Wyanbene. Beautiful streamway cave ideal for beginners. Contact Megan Pryke on 9524 0317 (home).28 Committee Meeting. Cheap steak night at the Forest Lodge Hotel, 6.30pm31–1 Wombeyan. Fabulous streamway caves with a bit of survey thrown in. Contact Phil Maynard 9908 2272(home).

September5 General Meeting. Bru Randall and Barbara Schomer present slides on caving in the USA7– 8 Cliefden. A relaxed weekend. Contact Megan Pryke on 9524 0317 (home)14 –15 Jenolan. Both project work and recreational trips on the cards. Contact Phil Maynard 9908 2272 (home)21 Malaita Walls. This fantastic abseiling trip is happening one day this weekend. Experienced abseilers only.Contact Martin Pfeil 9713 9460 (home)21– 22 Colong. Find more cave! Contact Alan Pryke on 9524 0317 (home)28 – 29 Church Creek. Lovely bushwalk, interesting caves. Contact Matthew Ridley 9489 6675 (home)

October6– 8 Jenolan. Get stuck into that project work over the long weekend.

January 2003Waitomo, New Zealand. Two weeks of glorious caving. You’ve all seen the photos in previous Bulls - and if youhaven’t been there, it’s time to go... Anyone interested? Contact Annalisa Contos 9557 9475 (home).

Volume 42(1)

Documents

Transcript of Volume 42(1)