As a planned rest stop after Wilsons Promontory I stopped off at Bachan to check out the caves. I hadn’t organised adventure caving, so was going to just do a standard tour.

There are two cave tours at Buchan. They were discovered in the late 1800s when looking for cave systems to match the tourism of New South Wales.

Both tours had a full compliment of 25 on them, so were rather busy and noisy.

The Fairy Cave

Roof formations:

Columns forming:

Stalactite garden:

Stone ribbons… With a light on the other side they can be seen through. Also called bacon strips.

A frisky floor:

The Royal Cave

Rock ears:

Rock straws forming:

Pure calcium carbonate – ancient fossils – form the wax coloured formations:

Crystal structures:

Redness means iron deposits:

Next, I’m off to Mt Beauty for a couple of days of rest before climbing Mt Bogong – tallest mountain in Victoria – on the Bogong high plains.

The Cave Wanderer