WineWalkabout, Naracoorte Caves

For those of you who travel with someone not into wine as much as you are, and need to have some travel balance, we are sorry to hear that. Ok, that all sounds good and well but seeing a bit of whatever else is of interest in any area you visit can be fun. Yeah, even if it cuts into the wine time a bit. Recently, while in the Limestone Coast area of South Australia such an opportunity presented itself and a trip to the Naracoorte CavesNational Park was experienced. This park is South Australia's only World Heritage site. The site was officially recognized in 1994 because of the importance of the fossils in the caves.

The Naracoorte Caves National Park is located on Hynam-Caves Road, 10 kilometers south of the main township of Naracoorte. One thing to keep in mind is there are only so many tours a day and if you miss your time slot you will wait a few hours for the next one, assuming there is room for you. There are a few choices and purely by chance we ended up on the tour in the Victoria Cave. The Victoria Cave is the most studied cave and as such makes for an interesting tour with lots of information and history. The tour takes you through a series of decorated chambers on the way to the Fossil Chamber where a fair amount of time is spent discussing the accumulation of bones in the caves, excavation techniques, as well as research. While there you'll also get the chance to get a close up look at a couple complete skeletons of mega fauna species.

The Fossil Chamber talk is suitable for all ages and is very informative, but does run a good 30 minutes or thereabouts, so may not be suitable for some young energetic children (reduce the kids sugar content and make them run from the Center to the tour start, please). It is an easy and enjoyable walking tour with some steps going in and a relatively easy slope coming out. There are about six different cave tours to be enjoyed along with the Fossil Center.

There is also a camp ground for those so inclined and a series of walking trails where all kinds of nature can be seen. Rumor has it that you may see western grey kangaroos, echidnas, wombats and sugar gliders that also live there. In the evening you may be lucky enough to see brushtail possums in the trees going about their nocturnal business. The park's walking trails are also a bird watcher's paradise with thornbills, rosellas and honeyeaters in large numbers.

A great spot to go check out if you are in the Limestone Coast area. If you like this sort of adventure this is a ‘Recommended’ spot to check out. If perhaps this type of thing is not your cup of tea, it is “Good, would go back’ so either way check it out.

Happy Adventures,

Cheers,

WineWalkabout

Kiwi & Koala