ILLAWARRA SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Inc. · Present: Wal Waerner, Catherine Banner, Andrew Banner...

ILLAWARRA SPELEOLOGICAL

SOCIETY Inc.

NEWSLETTER

April 2019 Volume: 25 No.1

Digital ISSN: 2207-7499

PO Box 94, Unanderra, NSW. 2526

https://iss.caves.org.au

‘Exploring and conserving caves in Australia’

Illawarra Speleological Society Newsletter Vol. 25 No 1 April 2019 Page 2

Contents 2018 Club Executive ....................... 2 Membership Fees............................ 2 President’s Report ........................... 2 From the Librarian and Editor .......... 3 Farewells ......................................... 3 Caving news from around the world ................................................ 4 Historical Photographs .................... 5

Bendethera photographs ................ 5 Wyanbene Photographs ................. 6

Trip Reports .................................... 8 Postojna and Skojan caves, Slovenia .......................................... 8 Bungonia ...................................... 10 Wyanbene .................................... 11 New Zealand Caving .................... 12 SRT training .................................. 16

2018 Club Executive President - Gerrard Collins Vice President – Adrian Williams and Tim Knowles Secretary - Alison Scobie Treasurer – Jodi Sellick Membership Secretary(s) – Meagan Knowles, Adrian Williams and Alex Gleeson Newsletter Editor and Librarian - Bob Kershaw Safety Officer - Brian Evans Training Officer - Kerry Sanders The Library is held at Bob’s place. Membership Fees The fees are set at the AGM in April each year. For 2019-20 the fees are:

Single $90; Single parent family $112; Family $150; Retired family $125; Student /retired/ single pensioner

$70; ASF membership with another

club $22. Introductory membership is $30 for

a Single and $45 for a family.

You can download the membership renewal form from our website at

https://iss.caves.org.au/membership.html

Front Cover Photograph:

Top of Gunbarrel Aven, Wyanbene Cave. Bob Kershaw.

Digital image copied from slide. Photographed circa 1998.

President’s Report

Welcome to the New Year!

I would like to welcome to ISS those members who have taken out Introductory Membership in the last few months. It can be difficult to get to trips with our busy lives these days but don’t worry; there is plenty of time in the 12 month Intro membership period.

To our older members whose injuries and health have seen them take a step back from caving – we wish you well as your body repairs itself so that you can join us around the campfire on some trips.

Thanks to those who have taken on the tasks in our Executive. Sharing the load helps and it is good to learn new skills.

It has been good to read of international exploits of a couple of our members and we wait with baited breath for Brian to assist ISS one day with some of his rescue skills! But we know he is doing a great job assisting cavers across Australia in cave rescue before he assists ISS. Top Stuff Mate!

I read with interest of new members SRT skill improvement. Thanks to Dane for joining the Nowra weekend and setting up a couple of rebelays that had the members using their creative skills with the exercises.

See you underground soon and cave safely. Gerrard.


From the Librarian and Editor Thanks to Wal and Brian for their international trip reports.

The library receives journals from other speleological societies electronically or you can download them from club sites.

The clubs that have their newsletter/journal available are:

STC Spiel at https://southerntasmaniancaverneers.wordpress.com/spiel/ SUSS Bulletin at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8gpylka5iffn0av/AAAXq-CtZfBnwQyxiN6dLTSAa?dl=0 FUSSI Newsletter at http://www.fussi.org.au/newsletters.php Helictite at https://helictite.caves.org.au/index.html BMSC have a few at https://bmsc.caves.org.au/publications.html HCG has a few at https://hcg.org.au/publications/ CCC at https://chillagoecavingclub.org.au/newletters/

We receive direct electronic journals from SSS and a CD from WASG when they have their annual journal printed.

Late Trip reports will be included in future Newsletters.

Bob

Farewells

Hi Alison,

Sadly, now is the time for me to retire from ISS and not renew my membership.

Primarily, as it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to be away from facilities.

Since joining ISS in the 1970's (thanks to my then brother-in-law, Roland Knabe) over the years I have enjoyed the companionship and great adventures of a number of very good friends.

The Society has been very good for me and provided an 'adventurous' outlet for youthful (and some not so youthful) energies.

Good memories.

I wish the Society and its members all the very best for the future.

If you could keep us advised on future activities nearby we will try to visit with our little Avan to catch up with folks.

Good caving!

John Kemister.

Hi Alison,

Unfortunately I have developed a quite debilitating injury in my left shoulder. Apparently it is a repetitive strain, compounded by an old caving injury, and it will take many months of physio to treat, and is unlikely to ever be good as new :-(

I've been advised to avoid all activity that could stress the shoulder - and caving and scuba diving, just to name two, must be off my activity agenda for the foreseeable future. Apparently even bike riding can be a problem, which is a problem in itself, cos that's my exercise and daily transport.

Anyhow Alison, I'm going to let my ISS membership lapse for the time being. Thanks for the warm welcome and compadre so far. I'll be back if I can.

Regards, Steve Opper


Caving news from around the world

Some entertaining reading when you have a spare few minutes ……..

Stalagmite holds key to predicting droughts, floods for India

Date: March 25, 2019

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190325080442.htm

By studying the last 50 years of growth of a stalagmite from Mawmluh Cave, they found an unexpected connection between winter rainfall amounts in northeast India and climatic conditions in the Pacific Ocean

Ice Age survivors or stranded travellers? A new subterranean species discovered in Canada

Date: February 5, 2019


The discovery of a new to science species of rare and primitive arthropod in a cave that was covered by a thick ice sheet until recently is certain to raise questions. Researchers describe a new species of cave-dwelling, insect-like dipluran from the island of Vancouver (Canada) and discuss its origin.

A Mexican cavefish with a scarred heart

Date: November 20, 2018

Scientists are studying a guppy-sized, blind, translucent fish that lives in the cave systems of northern Mexico to figure out why some animals can regenerate their hearts, while others just scar. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181120125947.htm

Bats as barometer of climate change

Shifting behavioural patterns due to environmental change could have far-reaching implications for agriculture globally


Bats spend every night hard at work for local farmers, consuming over half of their own weight in insects, many of which are harmful agricultural pests, such as the noctuid moths, corn earworm and fall armyworm. And now they are arriving earlier in the season, and some of them are reluctant to leave. It seems the bats know more about climate change than we had realized.


New research reveals plant wonderland inside China's caves


Over five years (2009-2014) researchers have delved into the depths of some of China's most unexplored and unknown caves in the largest ever study on cave floras. Surveying over 60 caves in the Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan regions, they were able to assess the vascular plant diversity of cave flora in more detail than ever before.


MORE snippets of cave news can be found at: Science Daily

https://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/caving/

and

Darkness Below

https://darknessbelow.co.uk/news/caving-news/


Historical Photographs

From the Lloyd Robinson Collection

Bendethera photographs

Figure 1 BD2 March 1969 before the excavation. Note the pool!

Figure 2 Excavation of the BD2 efflux. Note the pool is not there!

Figure 3 BD2 excavation Wolfgang on the left.

Figure 4 BD1 September 1971

Figure 5 working in the BD efflux excavation

Figure 6 Gordon Sykes in the BD2 dig


Wyanbene Photographs

Figure 7 Far Caesars Hall 1976

Figure 8 Balloon exercise - Judy Bateman and Dave Dicker on right

Figure 9 Wyanbene balloon testing John Kemister RHS leaning on bottle - June 1977

Figure 10 Wyanbene near ladder pitch 18-9-1983

Figure 11 Wyanbene cave passage circa 1977


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5m Lengths for $6.

Use for tying off and for handlines

NEW Dynamic Rope

$6m per metre

for use as Cowstail

You will need approx. 2-2.5m

Contact Bob to arrange the sales. $ can be EFT to the ISS account beforehand.

Hi-Tec Bryce II WP Women's Boot US 6.5 Graphite Cornflower Sprout walking boots

Size 6.5US or 37.5EU 4.5UK

Purchased on sale and just half a size too small

$85 – Contact Bob


Trip Reports

Postojna and Skojan caves, Slovenia January 2019

Present: Wal Waerner, Catherine Banner, Andrew Banner

Travelling recently through parts of the Balkans, one of the highlights in Slovenia was two days of tourist caving in Postojna and Skojan Caves. There are wild trips available, and I get the impression the local speleos are quite active too, though in winter things are pretty quiet (and cold).

Postojna Cave: this river system is currently mapped to 24.3km in length, though tourists only see 5.3km of it.

The Pivka River created the system when it intersected massive blocks of limestone. This is only the second longest in Slovenia, but does hold the claim to being the most visited tourist cave in the world. Tourists are moved through the cave by train, then walking, then out by train.

Given it’s officially been a tourist cave since 1819 I must admit I’d expected

something a little worn out and geared towards maximizing people throughput and less about the cave. And it is set up to deal with very high visitor numbers. It even has a Souvenir Shop and Post office in a major chamber (The Concert Hall) However, it was great! The train (first installed 1872) flies through the cave, putting me in mind Raiders of the Lost Ark (I’m exaggerating a little here), with enough major chambers and views to the side to keep it interesting. We had a large school group behind us on the train, their excited chatter was quite justified.

We’d been split into about 8 or so groups, each based on language. Visitor capacity is around 2100 people per day.

The walking component runs for around 1.5km and explores the upper level of the cave. The river was visible only at the end of the tour. The scale of the cave is amazing; it’s highly decorated in most places, with massive speleothems in every direction. Air temp was about 12 degrees, and very humid. Coupled with a no flash photography rule it made taking photos a waste of time, better to just walk through and be dazzled by the cave itself.

Pic 1 By Shadowgate from Novara, ITALY -Postojna Cave, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40587271

Pic 2 By Slovenian Wikipedia user Lander, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4492620


Highlights? The sheer scale of decoration was astounding. The cave salamander exhibition was great too, there was a strong emphasis on the biology of the cave, and I did get suckered in and bought a soft toy cave salamander as a souvenir. The Concert Hall was huge (60m ceiling), and can hold up to 10,000 people (sounds a bit crowded). Given I’m not as fond of squeezes as I used to be, a walk through this fantastic cave system was just great.

Skocjan Cave: After visiting the nearby, and very worth a visit, Postojna Castle (also with its own cave system), and staying nearby, we headed next to Skocjan Cave. A UNESCO listed gem, Skocjan presents a very different cave experience to Postojna. Again, another active river cave, Skocjan is much less decorated (though still richly so), but it’s big, really, really big. Think 145m high underground canyons, and chambers big enough to easily hold St Peters Basillica in Rome. Skocjan is also lot quieter. On the chilly morning we attended, our group was only 9 people, including the guide.

The cave has over 6km of explored passage, with the tourist sections covering about 3km and 550 steps. This cave is an important milestone for speleology. Exploration started around 1884, as a result of pressure for water supplies for Trieste. Tourism started in 1819. The scale of the cave meant ongoing discoveries continued to occur, including discovery of the Silent Cave section in 1904. Despite a large entry, it went undiscovered due to a 60m wall to get to it, plus it’s high up on the side of the cave so beyond

the reach of lighting to even see something there. Silent Cave is richly decorated, much more so than the main sections of the cave. Tours enter via an artificially dug entry into Silent Cave, then walk through from there.

Apart from the pretties, the star of the show in Skocjan is the Reka River. From this cave it stays underground for about 30km or so before resurfacing near Trieste. You know you’re getting close to the main cave by the rumbling sound. Most of the time, the river was 40m to 50m below us, with our path seemingly precariously perched on the sides of the underground canyon. Paths are necessarily high up, as the sump is quite constrained, resulting in 90m high flood marks up the walls during big years of rain. Early explorers came from Alpine backgrounds, so there’s a lot of via ferratta style set ups to move around the cave, a head for heights is mandatory! Lower ‘wild’ tours of the cave are expected to start again later this year, so a good excuse to come back another time.

Mechanisation? Walking out of the doline at the end of a caving is trip is always hard work. However, Skocjan has an inclined elevator to get visitors back to the top…Very civilized! We

Pic 3 by Wal Waerner, taken in Skocjan Cave Speleological Museum.


finished off the visit to the museum of Speleology. This was excellent and worth a visit even without the cave (almost). It showcased the history of exploration here and in the area, and was really well put together.

Bungonia 19th and 20th January 2019

Kerry Sanders, Karen Jones and Bob Kershaw

Karen arrived Friday night and enjoyed the putt, putt of a nearby generator!

Bob and Kerry set up camp on Saturday morning at the pump house campsite. After a quick cuppa we 3 musketeers headed to Grill cave to provide Karen with hours of practical problem solving opportunities. That is learning to ascend and cross knots and change over and abseil back down the rope.

We did notice many “tourists” huffing and puffing as they passed us near the

steel ladders. But as we exited we too began to huff and puff!

Outside at the exit we had to rest for 5 minutes to catch our breath and said that we were not that unfit. Maybe the CO2 level in the cave was at a high vertical elevation. (A discussion a month later with Julia James, Bob was told that at that time of the year the CO2 is quite high vertically in the caves at Bungonia).

Karen left for home about 4pm. Kerry and Bob had an early tea and then walked the green track in the cool of the day to the lookouts and incoming drizzle for several hours. We did come across a couple of dolines near Bungonia Lookdown and we poked our head in Mass Cave

Kerry and Bob left on Sunday morning after a short walk down to the pump house area.


Wyanbene 3rd and 4th March 2019

Gerrard Collins, Bob Kershaw, Adrian Williams and Nicholas Poulter.

Gerrard and Bob arrived Friday afternoon the 2nd to get gear ready in anticipation of two trips into the main cave over the weekend. But late on Thursday we were informed that 2 members were not attending. When 4 more members had not arrived on Saturday morning we asked Alison to contact them and we were informed that they were not attending.

A new mobile phone tower has been installed near the turn off to Wyanbene Caves so that made mobile phone reception a bit better in the area. But we still had to stand on the back of the car to send and receive SMS texts. See the coverage map below.

So, that left 4 of us for one trip on Saturday.

We headed into the cave at 9.30am

and showed Adrian and Nicholas the Old Tourist section before heading up passed the gate and into the cave proper. All the pretty sections while going into the cave were examined before heading to the Gunbarrel Aven for lunch.

After lunch we headed to Far Caesar’s Hall but the route through the rockfall from Caesar’s Hall took a bit of remembering! The boys were amazed at the size of the area while resting!

We returned to the ladder and removed some of the cleaning gear we used over the past few years as we have finished this project. A couple of small brushes and water bottles remain for any spot cleaning we need to undertake in the future.

We exited the cave at 3.30pm and talked to some visitors for a while before heading to camp to dry out and wash in the river before dinner.

Sunday and Gerrard headed home,


leaving at 6.30am! Adrian, Nicholas and Bob headed off at 10.30am after waiting for the sun to dry off the tents – at least a little.

New Zealand Caving Brian Evans with other cavers from Australia and NZ. March 2019.Photos by Brian unless otherwise stated. E&OE.

ISS members well know my preference for caves with verticality, and stream ways, waterfalls and cool passage.

They'll also know my recent involvement in helping make sure that people in caves who need help, are more likely to be helped by people who are familiar with caves: cavers!

Figure 12 Photo by Mark Wilson

So, when I received an invitation to attend the NZ Deep Cave SAREX (Search and Rescue Exercise), as if I could say "No"!

The Kiwis have a well-organised and funded, national, cave rescue organisation, that lives within a more general Search and Rescue

organisation that does bush and land searches, and rescues. The police are still the command agency, but they call LandSAR and LandSAR can roll out serious bushwalking types to search the boonies, or people more familiar with urban search environments. They call CaveSAR for issues in caves.

NZ CaveSAR runs lots of training and exercises, but they have an annual, major exercise: in the North, one year; in the south the next year; and in a deep cave (one that requires a lot of pitches and a rescue effort of >24 hours). These are held in the South, in the deep marble caves near Nelson, where the really deep caves are!

This attracts a big rollout, and they target much of their funding to supporting it. I was delighted - an opportunity to meet NZ's CaveSAR leaders, and play in deep caves :-)

In addition, my mate Mark Wilson [that I first met caving in PNG in '82, and subsequently climbed with a bit, until I left Sydney in '85, and we re-met on some Tassie vertical caving in 2016] had invited me to the Nelson area for a couple of weeks of deep caving. Mark is a beast! He didn't take a 25 year break from caving like I did - he just kept doing expeditions to whatever place in the world offered deep cave exploration and has an impressive history of stuff done, skills learned, and plenty of cave fitness. When I cave with Mark and his mates, I feel old,


unfit and not particularly skilled... but I also feel invigorated and privileged to be able to keep doing it!

So, the combo was a winner - the SAREX was the weekend before Mark and his mates arrived, so I could "be responsible" and do my bit for cave rescue in Australia, and then see how well my body would go, trying to keep up with Mark.

So my thoughts on the SAREX

* a great privilege to be there and see what they do, and build relationships - In the event of a 'big one', either side of the Tasman, cavers from both sides have a solid start to a working relationship;

* there were differences in roping approach between NZ and Australia, but both sides would have no problem understanding what each other were doing;

* they are very well organised and resourced, and national;

* they had built excellent relationships with the police;

* they managed a successful rescue from about -200m, including finding the casualty and rigging the cave;

* I love the ability to get 100-ish rescuers onto the mountain for a three

day exercise, using helicopters - otherwise, it's a 6+ hour walk from the trailhead, just to get to the entrance!

* I liked that the NZSS logo/sticker reflects their exploration ambitions, not only the conservation role!

The week in between………..

Al Warild and I had five days before Mark and his Blue Mountains Speleology Club mates arrived. We also had Paul Osborne from Chillagoe Caving Club and Deb Hunter, Jess Bertels and Cath Stark from Mole Creek Caving Club who were about Nelson, and looking for caving.

We quizzed our hosts for information and suggestions, and settled on Corkscrew (-265m) for our first trip - it was new to all six of us, and offered pitch after pitch of enjoyment, eventually getting to a stream. Lovely cave - big day (about 12 hours)!

Next day was a rest day so we spent most of the day cleaning and drying


gear, before an afternoon wander into Summit Cave (one 10m pitch, and a very pleasant stream cave) - a great 'easy' cave.

Paul, Al and I then did a walking trip to find Blizzard Pot - three hours each way, and about 300m up then down, each way. Al and I were planning to do Blizzard after BMSC arrived, and Paul had been there before - time well spent in knowing exactly where the entrance is.

...and now for some caving!

First, thanks to BMSC for including us. Mark and six others arrived on Saturday. Al and I did the shopping, picked up cars and generally got things ready for their arrival.

Mark had a fine sports plan organised - months of correspondence with Kiwis and getting maps, trip notes and potential guides - he's a bit like Bob!

So, we did Corkscrew again as a warm-up - a couple of the BMSC members were quite new to big vertical caving (does it count as big? The biggest of these is about -400m - Voronya is -2000m!).

Figure 13 Photos by Mark Wilson

We did Harwoods-Starlight. I did these caves in 1984! With carbide lights (and dark glasses - ask me some time). I remembered a seriously big pitch, and then a pretty, but trivial streamway to the exit on the side of a hill, and then a reasonable climb back out. Hmm... You'll know my memory can be poor.

174m down. We split this into four pitches, but the longest is still about 100m - the descender got warm!

...and then the stream... Gorgeous - repeated small abseils; beautiful flowstone; great bridging above icy water; bizarre climbs around the edges of superb, blue pools; and 400m of climbing up an enormous scree, followed by a ridge climb to return to the entrance track. What a ripper cave and day! The cave is so much more than a 174m abseil on a through trip!


A rest day was needed. Unusual - but with an average cave trip being 12 hours, and serious physical work, a day off to clean, dry and rest was much appreciated.

A Blizzard-Nettlebed through trip. Premium! Nettlebed was brand new and causing much excitement among the Kiwis on the PNG trip, back in '82. Since then, they've extended it to -500m, and many, many kilometres...

At 7am, we left the hut, drove to Flora Saddle, and walked out across Mt Arthur to Blizzard Pot, and dropped in. At 7pm the next day(!) we arrived back at the hut - now that's a big day out!

Actually, nine abseils of up to 33m, many of which were tight; gets us to some vertically stacked boulders in a passage. Lots of tedious metres descending these by circuitous squeezes and wriggles gets us into another big chamber, with a boulder field in the bottom. Repeat another vertical tedious rockfall wriggle, even bigger, and finishing with an abseil, to drop into a monster chamber with a rockfall bottom. A total of 10 hours in the cave got us to the camp site at Salvation Hall, so that's a 10pm camp time.

There are mats and sleeping bags, and a stove, in place, for a pleasant enough, though chilly, sleep. A 7am start next day got us out through Nettlebed to the entrance at 2pm. I was trashed! The legs were feeling seriously sluggish, and that before the 9km walk out!


An amazing cave - it was great to finally look at it - it's a mass of cracks and quite dry chambers though the mountain, that connect to each other, often quite tightly - and finish with a set of three squeezes in formation: The 'Hinklehorn Honking Holes' that roar as the breeze of >50km of passage rush in and out through a series of just body-sized squeezes.

It's a shame I fell on the way out (on rain-soaked rocks in the access creek) and seriously bruised my thigh.

I walked out ok, although in significant pain, but it kept me off caving for a few days, while the others went on to do Ironstone and Simply Sumpless!

Finally the body improved enough to get out again. Middle Earth is a collection of shafts and links that eventually drop into the stream way of Greenlink cave. I'd visited Greenlink in '85, but only for a few pitches, and I remembered nothing except some waterfalls. What a ripper of a cave. A

Figure 14 Middle Earth Photo from one of Brian's mates

bit of stream way, and a few waterfalls, then some dry, horizontal passage before more pitches, monster chambers, rockfalls and eventually some beautiful stream way, again. We did a through trip, back up through the Hobbit Hole, which involved an excellent 110m pitch: the Lighthouse Series: 60m up in vacant space; followed by a 3m bolt traverse (above that 60m); followed by a 6m pendulum; then another 30m up a wall; another 10m; and then another 10m before some more horizontal passage. What a ripper pitch! What a ripper cave!

No more vertical caves, but I did slip into Simply Sumpless for a few hours in a magnificent stream cave before the journey home.

An excellent three weeks of caving. Going out with BMSC is all right. Deep caves in NZ are excellent! Now I'm looking forward to caving with my ISS colleagues again... [Where it is warmer, drier and caving in shorts: Ed]

Figure 15 Simply Sumpless from one of Brian's mates

SRT training Bengallee Scout camp

6th and 7th April 2019

Meagan and Tim Knowles, Gerrard and Saskia Collins, Jodi Sellick, Dane Evans and Partner Bonnie, Bob Kershaw, Adrian Williams and Nic Poulter (Day trippers).


Tim, Meagan and Bob arrived late Friday Afternoon and chatted about the upcoming NingBing Trip. Dane, Bonnie, Adrian and Nic arrived early Saturday morning and set up ropes for a quick abseil then ascending practice.

Figure 16 Bonnie at the top of the Y-hang

During the afternoon session we tackled the Y-hang set up by Dane and another rebelay that we had designed last year. Late afternoon Dane and Bonnie headed for the Nowra cliffs for a bit of rock climbing.

Sunday had Bob and Tim tackling the Y-hang again and Saskia arrived ready to abseil and prussic on a rope. Saskia halting Gerrard on one of his descents as her practice belaying technique improved.

Figure 17 Adrian at the Y

Figure 18 Bonnie practices some Rescue techniques on ‘Clyde’ (Dane)

The weather on the weekend was hot (but not as hot as last year in January) and we were lucky we were amongst the shade of the large trees and sandstone blocks at the bottom of the cliff.

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