Tasmania to Tokyo – At Sea – Day 27 can be found here.
Today’s Chronicles can be found here.
I’m going to stop talking about breakfast. From here on, you can just assume that we go to La Terrazza, there’s a line to get a table, it takes a while to flag a server, and that we eventually get what we need. The food has been solid, the servers are doing their best, and the end result is workable.
Off on our excursion – the Ngilgi Cave and Cape Naturaliste, one of the included tours. We depart at 9 am, which seems reasonable under the circumstances. Sadly, this is another day for tenders.
I’ve decided I don’t like tenders very much. They take too long to load, and everyone is crammed together. They are also too hot, and too rocky. They remind me that I am not instead on a zodiac – where we joke with our fellow passengers and the expedition team member driving the vessel. Tenders make me feel like spam in a can. And there’s a near-zero chance of spotting wildlife.
This will – with luck – be one of our last tendering stops this cruise.
But once off the tender, we stepped onto perhaps the most beautiful jetty I’ve ever seen:
It does indeed hold the record for the largest timber-piled jetty in the Southern hemisphere.
We head on to the giant coach bus, and are bound on a 45 minute drive to the Ngilgi caves.
Our guide shares some of the history of Busselton during the drive. There was a history of dairy farming in the area, but that has since changed over largely to wineries and beef cattle farming. Also, it’s not uncommon for residents to end up with rare and endangered possums in their attics. And that is why you can’t cut down peppermint trees. (I’m sorry, I’m not very good at taking notes during bus tours.)
We arrive at Ngilgi caves around 9:45 am, and we are given the timing of 11:40 am to be back on the bus. The caves tour itself is self-guided, for which we are eternally grateful as trying to move as a mass of 40 odd people through a cave sounds like its own special version of hell.
We rapidly move through along the walkways and their various educational displays:
There will be time for you later!
And make our way to the the cave entrance itself, where we are given the safety briefing. I seem to recall that it boiled down to no pushing, watch your step, don’t touch any of the cave formations and no selfie-sticks are permitted. Also no food or drink other than water.
We then descend into the caves – which have an otherworldly beauty to them:
I could explain all about the caves, but their website does a good job so I’m just going to quote that instead:
“Ngilgi Cave is located within the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge, a limestone formation approximately 90 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide.
“Formed over the past million years, the ridge is made primarily of Aeolian calcarenite—a type of limestone that began as coastal sand dunes, seashells, and coral, blown inland by strong westerly winds and gradually cemented by rainwater. Today, this landscape of limestone has been shaped by water and time into dramatic ridges, cliffs, and the caves we explore.
“Inside the caves, you’ll find intricate natural features known as speleothems (pronounced spe-leo-thems). These formations include straws, stalactites, stalagmites, columns, shawls, helictites, and flowstone. All speleothems are made from calcite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate.
“As rainwater seeps through the limestone, it dissolves small amounts of calcium carbonate. When this mineral-rich water enters a cave, it begins to deposit calcite crystals, slowly building the stunning decorations that line the cave walls and ceilings today.”
Source: Ngilgi Caves Website
The caves became Western Australia’s first tourist attraction in 1899. It was considered an unlikely honeymoon destination with many bridal-themed elements, like a wedding cake and bridal veil-shaped formations.
The caves were wildly popular until the 1920s, when a man named Heinrich Harney got stuck in one of the caves. It’s said to have taken eight hours to free him, and that he was stripped of his clothing and slathered in cooking oil in the process. That passage became known as “Harney’s Pinch.”
(I know you may not believe this, so I am including a source.)
This problem was eventually solved in the traditional fashion – with explosives. And it has not been a problem since.
A woman named Dorothy Williams also set a 90 day sit-in record for the caves, breaking the previous 87 day record established by a man. Not only did Williams beat the record, but she also discovered a 7’6″ megafauna kangaroo. This sparked increased interest in the natural history of the cave, which resulted in the discovery of a wombat-type creature that was as big as a cow, known as a Zygomaturu.
The caves take roughly 45 minutes to explore, and they are quite warm inside. No need for extra jackets or anything like that.
There’s also a Children’s Tunnel to explore:
Some of the more adventurous adults tackle this – but not us!
I’d say that the passengers as a whole quite enjoy the caves, though some find them more challenging than others. It can be a claustrophobic experience, and some of even the post-explosives passages are quite narrow.
We explore the main chamber, which is staffed with a guide.
We do a loop, then head back up toward the entrance:
And then we head back to one of the sub-chambers:
Though this sub-chamber has some challenges steps, I’d still recommend it for anyone who isn’t sure if they could tackle the main passage. It provides some of the most awe-inspiring views of the visit, even from the top.
Though it’s well worth the trip to the bottom:
After, we go through and explore each of the educational elements of the Ngilgi pathways:
An echidna!
And the kids find a natural playground!
Our guide catches up with us and explains that she made a mistake – we should be back onboard the bus at 11:10 am instead of 11:40 am. Not a problem – we wrap up at the playground a few minutes later, and then head to the gift shop where we pick up a 3D postcard, a keychain, and some ice cream for the kids.
Back on the bus – except we’re missing someone. The guide and the Silversea staff contact the other bus to see if she ended up there instead, but no such luck. There’s no one in the cave or on the pathways, either. Maybe they went for a walkabout?
Time ticks on. Eventually the passenger turns up – they had, understandably, stuck to the original timing of 11:40 am. So it goes. We end up departing at 11:25 am, a mere 15 minutes later expected. But full credit to our guide and to the Silversea staff for running down all possible contingencies.
Off to the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse!
And – it’s fine. It is interesting to see the structure and the original first-order Fresnel lens made by Chance Brothers. The lighthouse was automated in 1978, but remained staffed until 1996.
The lighthouse museum, on the other hand, is excellent – plenty of interactive exhibits. We practically have to pull my son away from the ship identification challenge at which he’s scoring 100%, and he never even gets to attempt the Morse code simulator. One day, perhaps.
Then – back to the Busselton jetty, pulling in moments before the bus is due for yet another excursion.
The verdict? This is perhaps the best included excursion we’ve done yet, and makes a strong case for the tour bus as a mode of transportation. The attraction was well able to accommodate large numbers, and it would have cost a small fortune to head out here on our own. Highly recommended.
There are some remarkable trees here that look like something you’d fine in Whoville:
We take the kids off to an epic playground:
And then it’s decision time. Do we want to go visit the Bussetlon Underwater Observatory? It’s a constructed reef at the end of the jetty, and the website claims that the only way to visit it is by booking a lengthy and expensive tour – but maybe there’s another way?
There is – they sell 15 minute mini-tours for those so inclined, though you do not get to ride on the small electric train as part of that deal. The total for all four of us works out to something like AUD$90. Fair deal, in our opinion. We also need our steps, so the lack of train access is not an issue.
The one problem – the kids are currently running on waffle fumes and manufactured ice cream. So we head to The Goose to see what’s good and cheap.
The answer? Chicken nuggets and fries.
But they are good. Hot, crispy, and just what we needed to tide us over before our long walk down the jetty:
We pass the train as we go:
We get to the Observatory early, so I pick up a coffee and we wander around for a bit. Overall, though, they are not kidding when they give you a time on your ticket – that is when you head down, so don’t be late.
But it’s well worth the cost:
What a beautiful experience, though we would have loved to have done one of their introductory SCUBA ‘Try Dives.’
But we’re doing what we can with the time we have. (Plus, you have to sign up for the Try Dive at least 24 hours in advance, and jump through some other hoops that we were not prepared to navigate immediately before our arrival.)
After, we pick up some more ice cream and head back down the jetty. One tender (groan) is heading to the Moon, while another is on its way to pick us up:
It looks like it might be full, but they manage to squeeze on more people than you’d think possible. We’d prefer that they had three tenders going instead of two, but mostly we’re just happy to be headed back to the Moon.
We’re back in time for Bingo – and my wife wins! (What she wins and how she wins are lost to the mists of time, as the prize points are soon handed off to our kids.)
Then comes trivia. We correctly identify the largest island in the Atlantic Ocean (Greenland) and five countries bordering Colombia (Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, and Panama), but learn that the wheelbarrow was first invented in China and that the first Beetle to get married was John Lennon. We again tie for third place – another podium finish! (But we hunger for gold.)
We also manage to get a copy of the redemption schedule for prizes – we’re looking at one of the backpacks, but they are currently out of stock. They’re hoping to get more in before we get to Tokyo.
Off for dinner! Just pizza, because we are feeling lazy – and because we’d promised the kids we’d have pizza for lunch before changing our game plan.
Here is my calzone:
It is absolutely jam-packed with ham. It’s tasty, but I think that will do me for calzones for a while to come.
And then it’s time to retire for the night. Off to Fremantle tomorrow for (hopefully) a full day on Rottnest Island.