Underwater junk in sinkholes

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Apr 292013
 
Underwater junk in sinkholes

About the cave These two photos were taken in a small sinkhole south of Mt Gambier. I dropped down on a rope from the paddock above, stopping half way down to survey the entrance lake covered in floating bottles and other debris. Directly under the entrance is a huge cone of stuff…a lot of old fencing wire, bottles and tins, 44 gallon drums and other unidentifiables. The water around all of this was crystal clear, so the challenge was working out how to get dive gear on and get in without spiking myself or my drysuit on anything sharp. About the dive Having navigated my way off the pile and into the water with dive gear attached we set off [read more…]

Rocks, reflected

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Mar 252013
 
Rocks, reflected

About the cave The photo above was taken under “Lake Ayre”, which is on the gold line in Tank Cave. Given its convenient location I usually swim under it at least once on a weekend in Tank, on the way home from the further reaches of the cave. It’s a completely enclosed air space composed of bubbles exhaled by passing divers. When first approached from back in the tunnel, you can look up and see the still, mirrored surface. Once divers swim underneath and exhale the ripples begin, spreading outwards to the walls on either side. About the shot As I was putting together my talk for OZTeK last weekend I spent a lot of time trawling back through my [read more…]

A winning shot in the Shaft

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  9 Responses »
Mar 182013
 
A winning shot in the Shaft

Many thanks to all those who dropped by to see me at OZTeK 2013 this weekend…I had a truly excellent time, and I hope you did too! For those who couldn’t make it, my photograph above won first prize in the cave category of the photo competition. I’ve been keeping it under wraps until the show and I’m very glad to be able to share it with you now. In my talk on Saturday morning I walked through a little of the effort that went into creating this shot. After initial attempts at a tripod based shot in the bottom of the Shaft way back in August 2011, and two separate dedicated trips in summer 2012, this January I put [read more…]

Hero shots in Kilsby’s Sinkhole

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Mar 042013
 
Hero shots in Kilsby's Sinkhole

About the site We’re very lucky to have the easily accessible and stunning Mt Gambier sinkholes so close to home. Piccaninnie Ponds, the Shaft and Kilsby’s are all huge spaces filled with crystal clear water. In all three you can hang mid-cave and see from one side to the other (unless the sun is too low or your torch isn’t big enough). From a diver’s point of view, they’ve got clear water all year round. From a photographer’s point of view, all three get silty and milky (although non camera holding visitors might not think so). By the time a bunch of divers have been through Kilsby’s on a weekend the water takes on a hazy quality. About the dive [read more…]

Soft foreground lighting in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  3 Responses »
Feb 252013
 
Soft foreground lighting in Tank Cave

About the site Tank Cave consists of several miles of interlinking tunnels and passages north of Mt Gambier. The cave has shallow, clear water and changes character as you swim through the different tunnels and rooms. I suspect I’m now well past 25,000 photos in there and familiarity gives me a great opportunity to experiment. About the dive With camera wrapped up and a mission in mind, Ken and I headed down the line, up the Goat Track and to the Elephant Room. We were trying a new strobe set up with an off camera strobe mounted on the top of each sidemount. This worked well through the restrictions, with Ken able to reach back and rearrange the strobes as [read more…]

Split shots in Engelbrechts Wests

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Feb 042013
 
Split shots in Engelbrechts Wests

About the cave Engelbrecht’s Cave run right under Mt Gambier itself, with houses and roads sitting over the cave up on the surface. They’re also a tourist attraction with excellent coffee and an hourly cave tour during the day. Being closer to town means there’s a little more substrate on top of the water table, and thus a few more stairs on the way down to the dive. We were diving Engelbrecht’s West on this occasion, which has a first sump leading through to an internal dry chamber with three more short underwater tunnels radiating off it. I’ve taken split shots in the chamber before, partly because it’s nice and peaceful – no tourists to disturb you on the other [read more…]

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