A Buchan good time!

After spending nearly the whole day in Sale, doing washing and grocery shopping we finally arrived at Buchan Caves Reserve at about 6pm. The problem with arriving so late is that we are forced to set up in as it’s getting dark. The good thing about arriving that late was we got to see lots of kangaroos feeding on the grass right next to our campsite. Our 2 year old, Zac absolutely LOVES kangaroos (or as he says “kanmaroos”) and was in amazement as he watched them casually eating the grass.

 

Monday morning was one of the best yet. Nothing special happened but it is one that will stay with me for a long time. We had not yet set up the playpen at the caravan so I took the boys to the big open grassed area by the camp kitchen. There are table and chairs there that the boys sat on to do their schoolwork. I brought over a picnic blanket and Zaccy and I played cars on the grass. Once the boys had finished school we had morning tea on the blanket then lay down and all spent about an hour playing, tickling and watching the big fluffy clouds. Will told me he hopes he remembers that morning forever, and so do I.





That afternoon Sam and Will went exploring the reserve and discovered a hidden cave. Of course they thought they were the first to discover it and rushed home to draw maps and plans for it. The cave was proudly named Will Drop (after its founder) because you have to drop down a hole to get into it.

We had heard that there was a cave that runs under the main road to Orbost. So Dan went out one afternoon with Sam. They found the entrance to Wilsons Cave by driving down a slippery steep track. While they were down there the heavens opened and they found themselves stuck. The only way out (without winching from tree to tree up the hill) was through a farmer’s paddock. So in the pouring rain they drove over paddocks, through farm gates and past herds of cows. Dan came home drenched (but with a smile on his face) from getting out to open and close all those gates!

Dan’s family came up to Buchan for the weekend and stayed in a unit at the reserve. It was really good to see them and the kids were all extremely excited to see their cousins. Friday afternoon we went back to Wilsons Cave, but this time we parked up the top of the track and walked down!  Zaccy was grumpy and didn’t like the dark caves so I took him back to the car for a sleep. Apparently everyone had a great time, and this is Dan’s recount of the afternoon.

“After Kaz took Zac back out of the cave with the loan of Peta’s torch, the boys - Sam, Will and Jack took off down a narrow tunnel with Ben and Emily, leaving Grandma, Pa, Peta and I to take the easier larger route through the caves. Pa and I raced on ahead with the sole purpose of hiding in an alcove somewhere, turning our torches off and scaring the wits out of whoever walked past first. Sadly it happened to be Will, who proceeded to smack his head on the rocks (totally ruining the good scare for everyone!) The group then started to wonder back as we had gone as far as we were prepared to go – as far as the adults were prepared to go anyway. Once again the boys, Emily and Ben raced on ahead to explore any tiny cracks and crevices they could find, leaving Grandma and Peta making their way back and Pa and I exploring a possible exit nearby. Suddenly from just up ahead, Pa and I hear the petrified screams of Peta yelling “I’M SLIPPING, I’M SLIPPING, GOD HELP ME I’M SLIPPING!!” rushing back Pa and I find Peta has fallen between 2 rocks and Grandma is holding her up by the back of her top yelling “HELP HER, HELP HER, SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!!!” Running over we shine our torches down between the 2 rocks to find that Peta’s bent up legs were only about 5 inches from the cave floor. Unable to help ourselves we both doubled over with laughter, only to receive a serve from Grandma (still holding Peta up from certain death) for not helping in this time of need. After wiping away the tears and saying our final goodbye to a beloved sister and daughter we inform Peta to “just put ya feet down”. Once back on solid ground she informed us all (among other things) that she didn’t have a torch so couldn’t see the ground, well that’s her story and she’s sticking to it. After this little adventure we proceeded back out of the caves to tell the story to all who would listen.”

We were all still crying tears of laugher and re-enacting the scene late into the night. Once everyone had calmed down, we took a few bottles of wine over to the fireplace and sat down to relax. In the quiet of the night the nocturnal animals started to show up. Pa decided -in his drunken wisdom- that he would go over to a possum (whom he named Ralph) and try to befriend him.

He was crouched down close to the ground, as the possum tentatively climbed down the tree. We all had our torches out and I was getting my camera out to try to capture the moment on film. Just as I whispered “Hang on a sec Pa, let me film it” Pa stuck his hand out toward Ralph so he could sniff it. In a split second Ralph saw the fat little finger, thought it was a sausage and took a big bite! In one quick motion, Pa yanked his finger away, swinging Ralph across the grass and made a fist to try to punch the poor little possum. Thankfully Ralph was quicker than Pa’s alcohol induced reflexes, and he managed to scurry back up the tree.

The whole lot of us erupted in fits of laughter and it took forever to calm down. Pa was still in a bit of shock and whenever one of us looked at him, the tears and giggles would start up again. Once I had control of myself I looked around to see where Dan was, only to find him over in the bushes, rolling around on the ground, holding his stomach and laughing so hard he could not breathe! That started us all off again!

The only unfortunate thing was I didn’t manage to press record. I did get photos of Pa chatting up another possum called Bill later in the night...

We went to see where the Snowy and Buchan Rivers meet. The Snowy has recently flooded further upstream, so it was a awesome  sight to see the power that the river's have when they are so full.

Over the weekend we toured the Fairy and Royal caves. They were spectacular and the displays took your breath away. The caves were formed by underground rivers cutting through limestone rock. The formations are created by rain water seeping through cracks and dissolving some of the limestone. As each droplet comes through the roof it deposits calcite which crystallises in a small ring. In time, stalactites are formed on the roof of the cave, and stalagmites build up from droplets which fall to the floor

     

Peta and Ben have recently purchased a 4wd and asked us to take them out for a bit of fun. Unfortunately, even though we have had so much rain, the tracks and river beds in the area were all really dry. We did find a few good tracks so had a bit of an adventure but not as good as we hoped.

Whilst driving around we came across a rope course out in the bush. We all had great fun seeing who could keep their balance well enough to complete it.

The night before everyone left we walked to the Buchan Pub. We all had a beautiful meal and as always, we all ate too much so were grateful for the walk home.

It was great catching up with the in-laws. Dan and I are still giggling about Peta’s near death experience, and Pa’s "Bear Grylls" moment. But sadly it was time to say goodbye and move to our next destination...