Cave diving through history: Cocklebiddy Cave, 1979 (Part 1)

 Back in the Day, Cave diving, Nullarbor  2 Responses »
Oct 182012
 
Cave diving through history: Cocklebiddy Cave, 1979 (Part 1)

In addition to my usual Monday photo posting schedule, over the coming weeks I’m going to share some more historical cave diving photography with you. With my cave diving photography I’m following in the steps of my Dad. With a Nikonos II and later a Nikonos V, Dad documented the exploration cave diving out on the Nullarbor through the 80s.  He was part of the 1982 and 1983 push dive teams in Cocklebiddy, the trips on which Toad Hall was discovered and the third sump dived for the first time. Cocklebiddy held the world record for the longest cave dive at the time, and the expeditions out there were using cutting edge techniques and technologies. As trip photographer, Dad captured [read more…]

Video in Murra-El-Elevyn

 Cave diving, Nullarbor, Other  2 Responses »
Aug 202012
 

About the site I dived in Murra-el-Elevyn cave in Easter this year, and wrote up one of my favourite shots from our dive here. Compared to the other Nullarbor caves, Murra has smaller, shallower passages with red, orange and pink walls. The limestone scalloping and shapes in the rock make for stunning pictures. The remote location means its rarely dived and when we arrived the water was crystal clear. About the dive In total we had four dives over three diving days in Murra. Of these, I spent two taking still photos, one exploring small nooks and crannies (camera free!) and one taking video footage. The aim of the video dive was to find the end of a side tunnel [read more…]

Through the window in Murra-el-elevyn

 Cave diving, Nullarbor  1 Response »
Jun 252012
 
Through the window in Murra-el-elevyn

About the cave Murra-el-elevyn begins as a large doline, or hole in the middle of the desert. Once you’ve lowered yourself 10m below the ground level, scrambled down a scree slope of tumbling rubble and picked your way through the boulders, the water is so clear it’s easy to miss. Stepping down from one rock to what looked like a good place to put the dive gear together gave me a wet foot, and even once I knew where the water line was it was hard to see. Despite my wet foot, it seemed like a good omen. From the entrance pool seen in the photo below, tunnels extend in multiple directions. Several come back up to air chambers with [read more…]

Nullarbor Night Skies

 Cave diving, Other, Roe Plains  No Responses »
Jun 042012
 

Don’t be fooled by the video above….it’s actually a series of photographs. I took this timelapse of the Milky Way spinning through the Australian night sky while camping on the Roe Plains. After a productive day of diving, we returned to camp, stoked up the fire, and settled in to tell tall stories. Despite the crystal clear skies, it was a warm night and I wandered down the track to find a good vantage point for the camera. The warm evening meant I didn’t have to worry about dew settling on the camera, although I did use a small drybag as protection from any unforeseen change in the weather. In this video you can see the shadows of the trees [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…]

Tommy Graham’s Cave Doorway

 Cave diving, Nullarbor  3 Responses »
Apr 302011
 
Tommy Graham's Cave Doorway

About the cave Tommy Grahams Cave is located on the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. A large tunnel leads down from the initial entry point, moving through a more restrictive collapse area, before opening up again. This second tunnel area has an entrance to a lower section of the cave, and also ascends to an enclosed air space. With high CO2 levels, not many divers clamber over this rockpile to reach the sump on the other side. After a brief attempt at carrying my twin 100s over, I was one of the ones who decided turning back would be more sensible. Probably the most memorable feature of this cave is the access to the water. The surface of the Nullarbor [read more…]

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