Gippsland, Victoria: KW visits Buchan Caves

[kingwilly]

Buchan is about 350 kms from Melbourne, in the middle of gippsland. There is about 30 kms of limestone caves in the area, several of which have guided tours. We visited Fairy Cave in the Buchan Caves Reserve, which is quite picturesque and hosts several campsites including stoves and running water. (no shops though, so bring everything you need to camp)

I drove there but the offical website tells me that you can get there otherwise.

How to Get There

Buchan Caves Reserve is 360 km from Melbourne, north of Lakes Entrance (Melway ref: 529 D3). From Bairnsdale, drive to Bruthen and take the Buchan Road.
Buchan Bus 'n' Freight route service operates Monday, Wednesday & Fridays. This public bus service departs Bairnsdale railway station at 2:50pm and arrives in Buchan at 4:40pm. For bookings call 5155 0356 or 0428 313 897.



For a timetable check www.buchanbusnfreight.com.au/timetable.htm.

It costs about $15 to visit, family about $35, discounts to visit both major caves. (Fairy and Royal Cave)



google map location. (its the red bubble marked A)





the actual cave tours take about 45 minutes, easy walking, but dont take grandma as you have to bend and squeeze in places. (no wheelchairs either, plenty of stairs!)









the fairies beach!






fairy dust!






fairy blanket or shawl.











like a moonscape

[Loy Toy]

Nice one mate and I bet the young lad enjoyed himself!

[kingwilly]

these stalactites are several hundred thousand years old....



in places several fences have been put up to stop visitors or tourists from touching the formations and/or breaking pieces off....




The farmland surrounding Buchan...

[kingwilly]

Nice one mate and I bet the young lad enjoyed himself!

Cheers mate, he did indeed, as did MrsKW who had never seen anything like it before.

[dirtydog]

Don't suppose your allowed to break bits off to take home as souveniers

edit you beat me to it.

[kingwilly]

Don't suppose your allowed to break bits off to take home as souveniers

edit you beat me to it.

I'm sure a fence wouldnt stop you DD....

[Stinky]

Looks like a nice day out Willy, beautiful countryside

[kingwilly]

We visited a couple of days ago, it was hot, damn hot, about 39 degrees. Fortunately, Buchan has a natural spring feed swimming pool, I swear the water was about 10 degrees!

[thommo46]

I was there in 1983 around the time of Ash Wednesday bush fires. I have lost all my photos so this brought back some good memories. That pool is freezing but got the cobwebs out from all the beer the night prior. As we where going through the caves my mate found out he suffers from claustrophobia, he froze and because of the little room you have he could not turn around because of all the people following. He closed his eyes and slowly made his way out. Don't remember seeing that Ranga in the pool.
Thommo.

[kingwilly]

Don't remember seeing that Ranga in the pool.

that's my cousin!
\

As we where going through the caves my mate found out he suffers from claustrophobia, he froze and because of the little room you have he could not turn around because of all the people following. He closed his eyes and slowly made his way out

damn.

[OzMan_Bkk]

A great place to visit. In that area there are also some old gold mines to visit as well [no samples unfortunately]. Regards the fences, they don't want you to touch the stalictites and staligmites as touching them can kill them. They are a living thing actually.

[kingwilly]

A great place to visit. In that area there are also some old gold mines to visit as well [no samples unfortunately]. Regards the fences, they don't want you to touch the stalictites and staligmites as touching them can kill them. They are a living thing actually.

Alive in a poetic sense of the word rather than literal. They are formed as water dissolves the limestone rock, and as the water drips down from the ceiling a tiny amount of the sediment is left behind, then the next drop of water follows the same path leaving a tiny amount more of sediment, over time lots and lots of time, (the formations pictured above are probably several hundred thousand years old)

So yes, they continue to 'grow'. Its easy to understand the damage caused by breaking them, the problem with touching them is that our hands contain oils, which interferes with the small droplets of water, and allegedly stops them growing, but I'm not sure how that matters over a geological timescale.

[Latindancer]

Good pics....
I remember seeing the Jenolan caves for the first time when I was 6, and being utterly amazed, particularly at how old they are