08.11.19 - Mammoth/Lake Cave and Hamelin Bay Beach

First night of camping - Tommy and me slept like two big babies in the Land Rover.

We got up at about 9am and prepared breakfast. 

Pancakes it was!

Added water to the pre-mixed dough, gave it a gently shake and here we go.

Left the campsite to visit two stalagctite/mite caves: Mammoth cave and Lake cave.

Mammoth cave made me feel like I’m walking through the mines of Moria (lord of the rings). Where’s Gollum?? 

At the deepest point there was a shiny thing which looked like amber to me but it was water developed into crystal (a “shall”).

I have found this definition online:

Shawls are wavy sheets of calcite that hang from the ceilings and walls. Mammoth Cave has a beautiful orange shawl, coloured by tannins from the leaves on the forest floor above.

Lake cave is different than mammoth cave. Both are located subsurface but lake cave includes a lake as the name states.

It was a guided tour and our guide dropped one joke after another.

When entering the cave (climbing down a lot of stairs) I felt like walking through the ruins of Valyria (Game of thrones) searching for dragon eggs.... actually found some.. and a dragon... see photos for more.

There are fresh water lobsters living inside the lake.. crazy. Life’s everywhere.

They have build nice lights that can be activated separately to focus on different parts of the cave.

Some of the stalagmites were formed with a round shape looking like (dragon)eggs ... or these other creepy things from Prometheus/Alien films 🤣

Finished the tour after about an hour. Drove to Hamelin Bay Beach. Enjoyed nice view and a little beach time.

Came back to the campsite to prepare dinner.

BBQ:

-filled zucchini with tomato/rice

-onions

-German sausages

-corn

Delicious!

(bye bye bye ... song by Trettmann)

Got into a talk with some Australians at the campfire. Learned a few new things. Like not being allowed to bring specific food over the border between Western Australia to southern Australia... need to take care of that.

Saw an opossum jumping through the woods while sitting at the campfire. Very cool.

Oh and I saw a huntsman spider when cooking in the kitchen! It was like 4m away from me so all good.

Went to the car to get my wash bag. Spotted a redback spider straight underneath the trunk of our car 😨

These spiders are very small but highly venomous. A bite can kill a child or older people. I’d might just get very sick... still better watch out!

Cheers

J