Day 3: 27.3.08 Visit to Buchan Caves

Day 3:- 27.3.08 Visit to Buchan Caves.

Due to our late afternoon arrival at Buchan the previous day and the rain that chose to fall quite heavily from the time that we were setting up, we really didn’t get a chance to survey the campground when we arrived. This morning however dawned bright and sunny with a crisp autumn chill in the air and revealed a real gem of a camping reserve. The site was developed in the 1920’s and reflects the attitude to National Parks in those days as places where people could go to enjoy “park like features” in bush surroundings. Subsequently there are many varieties of exotic as well as native trees in a park setting. Many of the exotics were bginning to turn their autumn colours and in the cold morning with a hint of mist, looked quite European.
The park also had resident kangaroos, wallabies and possums, who enjoyed the hospitality of the campers at various times. The younger girls of course were quite excited by these visitors. Actually so were the older girls too!!
Visited the “Fairy Cave” which was beautiful and have the photos to prove it.
There are 3 main cave sections at Buchan and all are linked so in effect form one long cave system. The Fairy Cave that we visited travels for about 150 m in length to a depth of about 60m. An underground stream flows beneath the caves and comes to the “surface’ in the final cave section where after this it flows out of the caves into a pool that was cobnstructed in the 1930’s. This pool is open to the public to bath in and remains at a constant 12.5 degrees C. Needless to say we didn’t venture in to it!!
We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the park, taking in the sights, chatting to the other campers in the park and picking up tips about places to visit along the way.