Day 21: A world heritage site and lots of caves

This morning we set off early for the Wonambi Fossil Centre, where we booked into four cave tours.

The Alexandra Cave was Andrew's favourite because we were the only ones on the tour and so had Matt, the guide, to ourselves. The cave had several lovely formations and there was ample opportunity to take photos and ask questions.

Alexandra Cave

The Victoria Fossil Cave was next on the agenda, and it is here that we saw some of the fossils that have been found, the reason that the Naracoorte caves is important enough to be a World Heritage Site. The fossils here are of the megafauna that used to live in Australia, and we were shown the skeleton of a marsupial lion that used to roam these lands.

A marsupial lion skeleton/fossil

The Bat Cave tour included a half hour look at the bats in their caves. This was done in the bat observation centre by way of infrared remote controlled cameras. We were dubious about watching some bats on a TV, but the picture from the infrared cameras is so clear, that it was really very interesting to watch. The second half of the tour was through the Blanche Cave, which is more open and is a dry cave. There are some really old formations in this cave and it was awe-inspiring to see.

Blanche Cave

After a picnic lunch, we did the self-guided tour of the Wet Cave and had a good look at the Wonambi Fossil Centre where they have recreated some of the megafauna of the past.

This evening we went back to the caves to see the bats exiting the bat cave for their night's feeding. We were fortunate in that a fellow came and set up the infrared camera for the Flinders University students to see how they are using the technology to count the bats. Thank goodness for that, otherwise we would not have seen a whole lot. The bats are very quiet.

The whole day was very interesting and well worth the stop over in Naracoorte. Tomorrow we move to Adelaide...

Diprotodon optatum - Australia's largest ever marsupial about 50 000 years ago.