Tuesday April 20, 2010 – Around Dubbo

We had lots to see and do so we were ready to go by 9 am. We were going to go to the Homestead first then pay Mini golf then head for the caves. The first two items were in town and the caves were about 50 km south of town, As the first two did not open until 10, we reversed our order. We got to the caves in time for the 10 am tour of the Cathedral cave. We followed that by the Phosphate mine tour.

The Wellington caves are dissolution caves. The water seeps down from the top and dissolves the softer rock. The sided of the cave are very smooth from water action over the last 4 million years. There are caves on top of each other. Ones at the bottom have water in them as they are below the water table. There have been many floods of the caves over the years. One fellow was telling of a time in the 50's when the cave was flooded that people paid to just barely enter the cave to see it full of water. The gentleman was 11 at that time. Over this past Christmas there was lots of rain so the cave became wet inside. The altar formation in the cathedral cave had water running down it and catching in small troughs along the way. There was more rain in January but cave never flooded. The flows forming the altar glisten in the light. It looks like thousand of diamonds. As we continued on out tour we saw a column that had been broken and an area close by where the walls appeared to be wrenched apart. This are contained the remains of a roof from a cave. It is thought to have happen as a result of an earthquake.

The next chamber we saw was the Thunder cave. At one time it was called the woman's cave as it has the name Min in the ceiling. There is quite a bit of graffiti in the caves from when people used candles to light their way into the cave. There is an area in this cave where you can stand, beat you chest and hear how hollow you sound. Charles did this. I stood at the base of this are and sang our national anthem. The reverb was great. We then saw the well. It is part of the underwater caves below the water table. There is a depth and temperature gauge in the water. On the top of the water is a scum building up. This scum is crystals forming from evaporation. When this gets too heavy it will sink to the bottom and add to or form a new crystal layer. Sometime in the future mud will come in a cover this crystal layer, then a new layer will start. We left the tour a little early as there were 149 steps to climb to get out of the cave. It was a nice tour and there were only 4 of us doing it. The aboriginal peoples of the area knew of the caves but there is no evidence that they entered them. It is believed that they thought the caves were haunted by the big bats.

We then did the phosphate mine tour. The mine opened in 1914 and closed in 1918. There was not enough phosphate to make the mine worthwhile. The miners used picks and shovels for most of the mining. We saw examples of the crystal and mud layers in the rock in the mine. It is quite interesting to see how the layers were formed so very many years ago. Phosphate glows when blue light is applied to them. The crystal layer above it retains some light which continues to glow for a short time after the lights are turned off. There are lots of fossils in the mine. However these are only bits and pieces of skeletons or sea shells. This area is frequently flooded with red dirt, so that the fossils are washed in with these flows. You can clearly see teeth from a number of animals. Around the area whole skeletons of various animals have been found.

We ate lunch here at the site. There was a great picnic area.

After we ate we headed back to Dubbo to see the homestead. The building that remains as the homestead was started in 1836. It is a structure known as a slab hut. It is rough outside but the walls inside are plastered. The stables were finished by 1852. Over the years there have been two kitchen extensions, one on either side. The first burnt down so that a second was built off the other end. This one was lost in a flood. In 1871 Thomas Baird purchases the property and his family and descendents continued to live here until the 1950's In 1986 it was giving by Baird's descendants to the National Trust of Australia. It took two years to restore it to its 1850 grandeur. One of the things I notices was how cool it was inside even with the sun beating down on it. We had a nice visit here.

There is a small observatory on the way back to town. They had an Astro Mini Golf. We decided to play. It was different as there was no carpet down on the runs. They were just rough concrete. Your ball could bounce in any direction. It was lots of fun. We were given a pamphlet with interesting facts about what each hole represented. The course sated with the sun and end with the black hole. I did beat Charles so that was an added benefit.

Charles went for a swim after returned to our accommodation. He went out to get fries to have with our hamburgers for supper. He asked for enough for 2 adults. I am not sure how much they thought 2 adults could eat but we got enough to feed at least 6 adults. When Charles brought in the package I though he had purchased something extra but no just fries.