Cave Crawling

 This day was one of my favorite days in Australia so far. 

Eight of us in the Outdoor Adventure Club went on a cave crawling expedition about a half hour north of Lismore. The group shrunk in size from 26 to 8 for this event because Sergio (the group leader) overemphasized the need to get over fears in order to do this. He said if you have any fear of darkness, claustrophobia, bats, bugs, getting stuck or getting muddy than you better come and get over it. I didn’t think I had any of those above fears to get over so I thought it’d be a piece of cake. Naively, I thought of caves as open spaces that eventually became dark when the light source is too far away, and just a bit wet from the dripping rocks. My idea of caves has forever changed after today.

It was a gorgeous drive on the back country roads, where the lanes are so small it feels like magic that we don’t collide with the cars zooming by on the right side. No rain either, which is a rarity in Lismore. We pulled over on the side of the road and parked the cars on the shoulder. Apparently cars frequently get broken into there so we took our valuables with us and later stored them before we got to the cave. Walking to the waterhole, it was a beautiful landscape of rolling hills and fields full of cattle grazing. None of us really knew what the day entailed as we were just going along for the ride. Cave crawling sounded harmless to me, and I hadn’t even thought about possible apprehensions. After we put our belongings in Sergio’s pack and he stashed it in a hole by the waterfall, we started making our way down. We thought he was joking when he said we had to rock climb down the little cliff next to the waterfall, but kidding he was not. There was no other way down. One by one, we had to scale the rocks on either side of our bodies as there weren’t easy steps on the way down. When it was my turn, I placed my right foot down first which I found out was a mistake, because my body was angled in a way that I couldn’t move out of. I was literally stuck in between boulders and my feet were dangling, with my hands dearly holding onto the top of the rock. It was so frightening because if you fell, it’d be a long way down and last time I checked, rocks aren’t so forgiving if you fall on them. I had to trust that there was some ledge beneath me and I let my hands go as my feet scraped against the edge trying to find a step. Nothing. I had to hoist myself back up and go back with my left foot first and turn sideways to reach the rock below my left foot. At this point, I can just hear my dad’s voice saying “always have three points of contact when you’re on the ladder!” and how sometimes, it’s just not possible! Only my left foot and hand were grasping the rocks and somehow in one step I managed to slide down the edge and catch myself at the next step. I like rock climbing, but usually you’d have a harness or ropes, or at least hiking boots with grips. My Tevas are excellent for getting dirty and wet, but have a flat bottom so are horrible for slipping rock climbing I found out.

After we all were safely down on ground again, we made our way to the cave that was just a short distance around the waterhole. The obstacle now was my kind of fun. We crossed a creek by rock jumping, or as I like to call it, ‘missing a rock and falling right in the water.’ It was chilly water and felt refreshing. The rocks were covered in moss, making them nearly impossible to stay on. We all were slipping and sliding and using muscles I never knew I had to maintain balance and leap from rock to rock. At this point, we couldn’t just fall off the rocks because the water dropped off below us to a few meters. If you fell in, you’d be soaking wet for the rest of the day.

After some serious focus on finding my center and keeping balance on the rocks, we made it to the cave. When Sergio pointed to the opening we thought he was joking. In fact, we just looked around for where the cave was and became leery when we saw nothing but water to the right of us, and forest to the left of us. He went down to the opening, which was about two feet high, and starting clearing out all the fallen branches that blocked the opening. We all looked at each other in confusion because it didn’t seem physically possible to get in the cave, let alone explore in it. Well, this is the moment we learned we weren’t cave exploring. We were literally cave crawling. A few people had minor panic attacks, and this was when we were still outside with fresh air and full sun. 

One by one, we got on our stomachs and had to inch our way using only our hands and forearms to move our body because our legs had no room to move even a few inches. It was the most bizarre feeling to go from one world to another in a matter of seconds. The only other time I’ve felt that way is when I descended into the ocean on my first scuba dive.  As I located my small torch (what the Aussies call flashlights), only a few inches in front of me was visible. That didn’t bother me nearly as much as the fact that we were army crawling on our stomachs in a half a foot of slimy mud for a few minutes before we even heard Sergio’s voice. He went in last and us in the front were completely lost for words so it was completely silent except for the distinguishable sound of our body sloshing through the mud slowly. There was a pungent smell which we later found of was bat feces, and also contributed to much of what we were laying in. I never thought I would prefer that substance over another, until we reached a higher point where we could just lift our legs enough to use them to move forward. This was physically a challenge because there wasn’t any space on either sides of my body to move side to side, so I had to just pull my body using just my forearms, as my legs were scraping against the sharp rocks. It makes sense that caves wouldn’t have nice, smooth surfaces, considering there isn’t much water passing through to erode the sides down. 

I was thankful for that, because the thought of a flash flood raising the water hole’s level a few meters away from the cave’s opening did not sound like a fun adventure. That would lead to what I was trying to avoid thinking about-getting stuck in a cave with water or just getting stuck for some odd reason. Fortunately, I’ve never feared small spaces or darkness. Well I’m not too fond of darkness and being alone, which is another part of the story.

After a few more minutes of quietly scraping and sloshing across the rocks, we came to a point where there was room to sit up. I became so grateful at that moment for SPACE. It’s bizarre how much you miss open space until it’s taken from you. Just the act of being able to arch your back and wiggle your legs and lift your neck felt amazing. We had a quick count to make sure everyone was there and doing okay. A couple people had serious anxiety and wanted to turn around but Sergio said we had to keep going and convinced them it would be worth it. For people who did have claustrophobia, they were just thrown into an extreme situation that even I felt a bit anxious about. I had to consciously calm my mind and just enjoy the experience. After another few minutes of army crawling, we were able to crawl normally, which ended up hurting a lot on my knees. I wouldn’t talk about pain so much, but it was all part of the atmosphere. Stinging legs and arms from all the scratches, cramped limbs, pungent smell, minimal visibility, and LOVING it. After I got used to the unique ambiance, I realized how cool it was that I’ve been somewhere most people will never go. It was thrilling and peaceful as I began to really enjoy the sensual experience. People were now chatting amongst themselves even though we were in a single file line (that was the only option), and after some time we came to an opening in the cave. It was an area that we were able to actually stand in! I was eager to do so, so I got right up and WHAM! A bat flew right into my face. It seemed like hundreds of bats were flying around this area and all we could see were the wings flapping when they reached about a meter in front of us. There were 

probably only thirty or so bats but the intense sounds made it seem like all the bats in the world were right there in that small cave. After we each found a rock to sit on for a few minutes, Sergio asked us to turn off our torches and wait. So we did. We placed our hands right in front of our faces, and couldn’t see a thing. Never have I been in such complete, utter darkness. Then, he told us to not make a sound. A few moments passes, and the bats stopped making their sounds. Never have I been in such complete, utter silence. I didn’t want the moment to end. Even my mind quieted as I had what seemed to be no thoughts or feelings or reactions. It was just nothingness and it was one of the most peaceful moments I’ve ever had. A few minutes passed and Sergio asked if anyone knows a good ghost story. There went my peace. Still in complete darkness, one of the guys conjured up a spooky tale that ended in a frightening shriek. Being scared has never been on my list of favorite things in this world. But I have to admit it was a fitting story.

We got back to our exploration and for what seemed like an hour, we moved around twists and turns as we transformed into contortionists. I had no idea my body was capable of moving the way it did when it was necessary to move forward. I felt strong and able.

Towards the end, we had to go face first down a ramp-like rock that angled downwards for an unknown distance. At this point all of our torches were covered in mud and I could barely see my hands moving across the rocks. Then, as my body was angled as if I was going down a slide face first, there was a part of the wall that jutted out with a sharp rock. I had to twist (I seriously don’t know how it was physically possible) back into a feet first laying position and inch my way under the sharp protrusion. I barely skimmed under it but made it out with no added scratches.  One of the guys in front of me had a minor panic attack and I had to calm him down. He thought he couldn’t breathe and was in panic mode, so I just started singing a funny song and told him that we were so close to being outside. It actually took him a few minutes to be able to unfreeze his body and move. We were in the back at this point and it was obvious that we were alone. The others were far enough up that we couldn’t hear them and that was a scary moment. I realized I’d much rather be the first one than the last one in this situation. Still, we were able to gain back confidence and finish the adventure with steadiness and a smile on our faces. During the last few minutes, Sergio suggested turning off all our light sources, so we were moving now in darkness. Many more turns and acrobatic moves later, we came to the end. It was the most glorious sight having the edges of the walls illuminated with the outside sun.

I will never take the ability to stand up straight for granted. Most. Incredible. Feeling. Ever.

We collected our things and headed back across the slippery rocks, even though our arms and legs felt like Jell-O, we were able to get back to the waterhole. The rest of the afternoon we swam under the waterfall and tried to get the mud out of our clothes. (Speaking of which, I’ve soaked them for two days straight and the water still runs with mud when I rinse them out!)

I only wish there was a free weekend to go back and do it all over again!