Driving east from Melbourne, it doesn’t take too long to reach the ‘country’ and this is where I found myself last weekend. A birthday surprise from my husband, we had a weekend out near Warragul and a day of adventure.
We woke Sunday morning to the rain, winds and clouds and my thoughts were that whatever my surprise activity was would surely be canceled. Little did I know that in an just over an hours time, I would be underground where whatever was happening with the outside whether really didn’t matter! Labertouche caves were my playground for the day.
One of Victoria's longest caving systems and nestled in some of Gippsland's most beautiful forest, I felt like child who had just got what she always wanted for Christmas. A 15 minute downhill walk to the entrance of the cave, we stopped for a quick bite to eat. The ten other 'cavers' and I were eager to get discovering so with a quick check of our head torches and button up of our snazzy overalls, we were soon ready to go.
Taking it in turns to lead the group through the cave, we each were responsible for finding the reflective markers on the sides of the rocks to determine the way through. Our 20 year old guide was right behind us of course, and my initial concerns of ‘isn’t this guy too young to lead us’ were quickly diminished as I was informed that his dad is the writer of the caving guides for this area!
Due to the rain the day before, we spent some time crawling through mud and water (but that just made it all the more fun). Every few meters one of our group stopped to ensure we all went the correct way and it became like a leap frog system. Some tight squeezes got the heart racing about half way through, but the group's teamwork helped everyone come out safely.
Three hours later we saw the sky again and as the sun started shining, the mud on our faces, arms and legs started drying to create quite a comical scene. We were dropped off at the carpark where I met Chris and proceeded to tell him all about my amazing day for the 1.5 hour drive back to Melbourne.
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Tips on climbing into this adventure:-
We woke Sunday morning to the rain, winds and clouds and my thoughts were that whatever my surprise activity was would surely be canceled. Little did I know that in an just over an hours time, I would be underground where whatever was happening with the outside whether really didn’t matter! Labertouche caves were my playground for the day.
One of Victoria's longest caving systems and nestled in some of Gippsland's most beautiful forest, I felt like child who had just got what she always wanted for Christmas. A 15 minute downhill walk to the entrance of the cave, we stopped for a quick bite to eat. The ten other 'cavers' and I were eager to get discovering so with a quick check of our head torches and button up of our snazzy overalls, we were soon ready to go.
Taking it in turns to lead the group through the cave, we each were responsible for finding the reflective markers on the sides of the rocks to determine the way through. Our 20 year old guide was right behind us of course, and my initial concerns of ‘isn’t this guy too young to lead us’ were quickly diminished as I was informed that his dad is the writer of the caving guides for this area!
Due to the rain the day before, we spent some time crawling through mud and water (but that just made it all the more fun). Every few meters one of our group stopped to ensure we all went the correct way and it became like a leap frog system. Some tight squeezes got the heart racing about half way through, but the group's teamwork helped everyone come out safely.
Three hours later we saw the sky again and as the sun started shining, the mud on our faces, arms and legs started drying to create quite a comical scene. We were dropped off at the carpark where I met Chris and proceeded to tell him all about my amazing day for the 1.5 hour drive back to Melbourne.-----------------------------------------
Tips on climbing into this adventure:-
- It can be wet and muddy inside the cave, so it’s a good idea to pack a towel, change of clothes and garbage bag
- if you get the option to wear knee pads - take it
- it can get quite squeezy in the cave at times which can bring fear for some. However just know that the guide would not take you in any place that wasn’t safe (if you go on your own without a guide, then that’s a different matter!)
