Mammoth cave

The rain overnight and forecast for continuing throughout the day meant that Peter received an early morning phone call to say that harvest was not happening today and he consequently had another day off work. Shame he had set his alarm for 5am as a sleep in would have been a real treat. Claire likes to get out of the house most days and as Pete was available suggested a trip to Mammoth Cave and asked if I would care to join them. Yes please!!

Mammoth Cave is off Caves Road and is about 15 minutes drive from Margaret River. The entry price is $22 per adult which makes it a little expensive for single income families but it is really well maintained with boardwalks and stairs throughout. You go on a self guided tour armed with mp3 audio guide which we all donned but didn't end up using as we were happy to just look and enjoy. I was amazed at how Max (2) managed the hundreds of stairs and used his imagination in seeing different objects in the shapes of the stalagmites and stalactites. I refrained from mentioning the Gruffalo in case if frightened him but half way through he saw something that reminded him of it and he was quite happy to point it out. He also saw a rhino, a turtle, a fish (I didn't get that one). I on the other hand was seeing wedding cakes, spaghetti...think I should have had breakfast.

We walked through the cave and came out to the other end to face a climb of 170 steps up and down hill....that was much easier than I thought it might be. I was completely disorientated though and was really surprised when we came to Caves Road and had to cross it to get back to the entrance. Amazing to think that these caves (and there are over 150 in the region between Yallingup and Augusta) crisscross the subterranean landscape and that we are often driving over a great cavernous cave (hmmm...cavernous cave..well that is what caves are isn't it...cavernous). Might not think about that too much.