Hidden treasures of our limestone caves

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Hidden treasures of our limestone caves

Postby jonsdigs » Sep 26, 2006 7:49 pm

Here's one from down under.


Hidden treasures of our limestone caves

Tuesday, 26 September 2006

By Doug Booth

CAVES in the Macleay Valley are some of the most significant in NSW and need to be effectively managed and protected for future generations.

And born-and-bred Kempsey conservationist Stephen Meehan is playing a key role in making sure this commitment is recognised nationally.

Stephen is the manager of the newly created Karst Conservation Unit with the Department of Environment and Conservation in Bathurst.

Karst is the generic term used to describe landforms, predominantly limestone, which are formed by the dissolving action of water and which typically consist of caves.

On his recent inspection of Mid North Coast karst environments, Stephen visited Yessabah and Willi Willi caves.

He places these caves as of equal conservation significance to the better-known caves at Jenolan, which attract more than 250,000 visitors a year.

See the whole article at
http://kempsey.yourguide.com.au/detail. ... m=9&y=2006

-Jon Barker
NSS# 28435
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Postby fuzzy-hair-man » Sep 26, 2006 9:32 pm

:kewl: :banana: :calvin: :omg: I used to go caving up in Kempsey area I know it well (not as well as the locals but...) it's one of my favorite places the potential for exploration is enormous there are tracts of land in the limestone belt that no one goes which are covered in rainforest so the caves are very hard to find added to which there are few roads and the area it's self is pretty isolated.

Yessabah, Moparabah, and others I have also been to Ashford (also mentioned) which was formerly mined for guano.

:omg: I still can't get over the fact my old caving ground is being mentioned on the other side of the world!!!!

The guys in KSS are nice guys and were always keen to take us caving (I was in UNEMC Armidale a university mountaineering club, not large enough to be a dedicated caving club most members were new to caving so we didn't have a huge amount of knowledge of local caves so we were reliant on KSS as guides, but a great friendly club all the same)

The Macleay is a beautiful area and one of the few truly wild rivers. To illustrate a helicopter company (Fleet Air) runs fly fishing adventures where you pick your bit of river they drop you off and pick you up a week later otherwise the area is all but inaccessible. You could easily spend a week or more trekking in a straightish line and see no one the whole time.

OMG: I had my school camps on the Macleay. :banana: that just made my day! :grin:
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