The
Nullarbor Caving
Expedition
April 1998

Cockelbiddy Cave Entrance

Our Expectations were high of the days ahead. when we headed off after a sleepless night at Dean's watching videos . Ahead of us was long bus rides with limited pee stops to explore the caves of the Nullarbor

Day One
On the 10th of April while the rest of Perth slept we left Deans place and went non stop until we reached Southern Cross around 325 km from Perth . Time to refuel and a quick food energiser, not that they had much and we were again on our way.
A large bang that woke the sleeping put some interest in to the day . One of the retreads on the trailer has peeled

The view from the Bus window for much of the journey

off and the spare which Branch said only needed air actually had a nail in it. John and Roy headed off to Coolgardie to get new tyres as the rest of us entertained ourselves with a long pipe , the water pipe from Mundaring to Kalgoorlie. We then continued our journey and stopped 15 km outside of Norseman for Hamburgers and some sleep.

Day Two
We were awoken by John yelling and light drizzle we packed up and headed off to our first cave. After passing through Norseman ,Balladonia and Caiguna we arrived at Murr-el-eleeven and many literally fell into the mouth of the cave while trying to abseil into it.
A huge cavity of limestone with crystal clear water welcomed us . It was very different to the caves we were used to but beautiful in it's own right. We talked among ourselves and enjoyed the cave then ladder climbed out. A gorgeous sunset awaited our arrival and dinner was started . Bed was sort after very quickly.

Beginning the descent into Marr-el-eleeven

Day Three

We all woke , some wet cold and miserable. Ryan woke up literally drowning in water . We attempted  to dry ourselves in continuous rain then headed toward Cockelbiddy Cave
We walked into this cave which was much easier and then inflated the  dinghies . These were so we could explore the rest of the cave which was basically a huge underground lake. While some explored others went swimming .
Due to weather problems we had to reconsider our plans and decided to head for South Australia.

At the bottom of Murr-el-eleeven

The Expedition Continues