Semester 2 Beginner Caving - Caves Timor 1-2/9/18

LET’S GO CAVING!!!!!

This trip has places for 12 peeps to come to Timor caves, not far from Mururruruurrurundi (Funny name for a place, ikr?). 

When: 1-2/8, leaving about 2pm on Saturday, camping Saturday night and driving back to Newcastle Sunday evening. There are no toilets, showers or other facilities at the camp site. The nearest toilet is an hour drive away. 

What: Now this is the fun part. First, we find the damn things, which is much easier said than done. This requires a reasonable level of fitness, we will be carrying light packs through light bushland up and down hills, though it is only about 10 minutes walk between each cave. Second, we put on our helmets, switch on our torches and dive (almost literally in my case) into the underground world of rock, darkness and awesomeness. Once inside we walk, crawl, slide, and swear our way through the tunnels, trying to see what we can find and where we can get. It’s the ultimate in terms of exploration, the only thing stopping you finding out what’s around the corner or in that tunnel is you. If you are claustrophobic, this is not the trip for you. 

Skills: No skills required, just bring clothes you never want to see again. They will never be the same colour as they were when you started. 

What to bring:

- Food for one day including breakfast, lunch and snacks. A McDinner (dinner on the road, potentially from McDonalds or Hungry Jacks) will be had on both Saturday and Sunday nights. Saturday night will be relatively early for dinner, so if you'd prefer to bring your own dinners you are welcome to do so. You must bring your own lunch and snacks.

- Water for one day (at least one litre in a sturdy or plastic bottle, each car will have a 10 or 20 litre water container for refills, but you NEED a bottle)

- Clean clothes for the trip home

- Camping gear (can be hired from the NUMC gear store or BYO)

- Torches (can be hired or BYO) ***Head torch ESSENTIAL***

- Overalls (optional, limited number and sizes for hire, otherwise old clothes will do)

- Spare batteries (Club torches take 4 AAA or 4 AA batteries, you MUST have a complete spare set.) ***ESSENTIAL***

- Backup torch (phones are not allowed in the cave, a $5 hand torch is fine) ***ESSENTIAL***

- Helmets (Store)

- Sturdy and/or cheap shoes. Following the “they gon’ get dirty” theme. (You get the point by now, there is dirt. Everywhere. Like, EVERYWHERE. And also water. Water and dirt make mud. You get the picture.)

- Wet wipes/baby wipes SERIOUSLY recommended. 

- Cheap gardening gloves (Also highly recommended)

For additional information, send me an email or Facebook message.

You do have to be a club member to come, so if you've been holding out waiting for a trip, make sure you sign up at numc.org.au first. Additionally, you'll be required to sign a waiver before we leave Newcastle.

That's all the info you need, so once you've got your ticket, make sure to be at the gear store by AT LEAST 1:30 pm on Staturday 1/8 for our departure at 2. 

Gear can be hired on the Tuesday night prior, it's a first-in-first-served system. 

That's all from me, get keen, sign up, you know the drill.

Cheers,

Cooper

~Prez