The starting point

The starting point

Thursday, 10 March 2016

10/3/16 Jewels & Stingrays

 More underground today , down 42m below the surface in WA's best show cave . Today we venture into Jewel Cave , just north of Augusta .
 After lunch we headed down to the cave and took the 2:30pm tour , it was another large tour group and had some Japanese tourists with very young children !
 Climbing down into the cave , our eyes adjusted to the low light , there is a long walkway leading to a raised platform that looks out over many of the lower areas we were yet to get to . We thought Mammoth Cave was big !! this cave is bigger and over many more levels . Again , there are features wherever you look , stalactites , stalagmites , helictites , columns , shawls and flowstone and lots of straws - there are 3 straws in the entry chamber - one is 5.4m long - the 3rd largest in the world !!!




  This section looked like coral reef .


   It was hard to know where to look , so much to see , but not enough time to see it in , too many people . Still it was amazing !! Even with the Japanese kids screaming their lungs out , they couldn't spoil it . 




 There wasn't a section that didn't have any features to look at , the roof was covered in straws and stalactites , walls covered in flowstone , this is an awesome cave !!





 It looked almost like a fairytale castle . Our time in the cave came to an end , and we made our way back outside , still in awe of what we have seen !!
 Off up the road , we decided to stop in at Hamelin Bay - just up the road a little way . We pulled in at the boat ramp carpark and wandered down to the beach - people were feeding stingrays and eagle rays in the shallows adjacent to the remains of the old jetty .




 Hamelin Bay was very calm today , I imagine it wouldn't be like that most of the time . The beach stretched off in the distance , fringed by dense scrub leading into forest further up the hills . 


  Further down the southern end of the beach are limestone cliffs in various stages of erosion . There are many different layers being uncovered .


  Back to the ute and head for the hills , another day with lots to take in !!

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