F tunnel in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  5 Responses »
Jul 182011
 
F tunnel in Tank Cave

About the dive Tank Cave is a labyrinthian maze of intersecting passages, located in the Mt Gambier region of South Australia. First dived in the 60s, the challenging narrow and silty entrance meant exploration didn’t truly begin until the 1980s. Today, the cave has approximately 11km of mapped passage. The main tunnels run on an approximate NW-SE trend, and the cave develops a distinct character in the different areas. The tunnels are named by letter and number, and tags are placed in the cave on the permanent lines at key points to aid navigation. Tank Cave is generally shallow, with most tunnels being between 10m and 20m deep, allowing for long dives. This photo was taken in F tunnel, which is [read more…]

Agnes Milowka

 Cave diving, Other  5 Responses »
Jul 112011
 
Agnes Milowka

  I joined the Melbourne University Underwater Club in 2003; Ag was President that year. It wasn’t until a few years later, when I was President, that I better understood and envied the natural talent she had for getting hungover students enthused about getting up early and going diving. In February 2005 we did our first cave course together. In mid-2005 I headed off to England for 18 months. Back in the country in 2006 Dean, Ag and I were over in Mt Gambier every 2 to 3 weeks, practising for the third and final cave course. We were all still determinedly wearing our tanks on our backs at this point, removed by Ag on one notable occasion to facilitate [read more…]

Torpedos on the J4 submarine

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  3 Responses »
Jul 042011
 
Torpedos on the J4 submarine

About the wreck The J class submarines were built by the British in a hurry during WWI in response to a rumour that the Germans had invented a faster submarine. After the war, the remaining 6 of the original fleet of 7 was gifted to the Royal Australian Navy, and travelled across the world to eventually be based out of Geelong. After a very expensive refit on arrival, the running costs for the J class subs was found to be a fair bit higher than estimated. Built using old technology, they also became obsolete in fairly short order. With budget cuts for the Navy, the subs were handed over for salvage and scuttling. Two of the six subs ended up [read more…]

Hanging Roots in Olwolgin Cave

 Cave diving, Roe Plains  1 Response »
Jun 272011
 
Hanging Roots in Olwolgin Cave

  About the dive Olwolgin Cave is located on the Roe Plain, Western Australia, not far from Burnabbie Cave. As I posted previously, the Roe Plains caves are quite different from the white walled, blue water, big tunnels of the better known Nullarbor Plain caves. The first thing you notice is the yellowish tint to the water (but not to the walls) and the narrow, twisting, multilevel nature of the cave. With the water level close to the surface, tree roots from the desert above intrude into areas of the cave. However, the Roe Plains cave also have unique salinity characteristics. Instead of a single halocline with a distinct mixing zone between layers of fresh and salty water, like might [read more…]

Bathtub in Warbla Cave

 Cave diving, Nullarbor  No Responses »
Jun 202011
 
Bathtub in Warbla Cave

About the dive Warbla Cave is a scientific reference cave located on the Nullarbor in Western Australia which is closed to general access. With pure white walls and interesting formations, not to mention the colonies of bacteria found in protected areas, it was a dream cave for photography. A scientific permit is required for entry, along with excellent fitness to transport our dive gear through the cavernous dry cave area. Ducking under a low ledge towards the end of this huge space, we negotiated a steep slope of dried bat guano to get to the water. This scientific trip was set up to replicate and measure some of the variables that had been studied in 2000. Our goals included setting [read more…]

Wreck of the George Kermode

 Ocean diving, Wrecks  2 Responses »
Jun 132011
 
Wreck of the George Kermode

About the wreck The George Kermode was a bucket dredge of 1,380 tonnes, known as the Sit William Matthew when she was built in 1914 for the Ceylon Government, Colombo. After being acquired by the Australian Government in 1917 and then the Melbourne Harbour Trust in 1941, she was scuttled on April Fool’s Day 1976, off the southern coast of Phillip Island. She lies upside-down in about 20m of water, coming up off the bottom to nearly 12m in some places. Being so shallow compared to most of the wrecks accessible out of Port Phillip Bay you get plenty of time to explore. The Kermode is broken up in the middle, with big buckets lying out on the sand in [read more…]

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