We thought it was about time we put in a few kilometres on this trip (we do have a fair ways to go) and so decided to drive up the inland route from Robe to Adelaide (about four hours). We took the time to go via the Naracoorte caves and fossil site though. It’s a World Heritage Site (the only one in South Australia) and has the largest population of Southern Bentwing bats in the country (about 40,000 in this colony).
There were a number of tours to choose from but we went for the Bat Tour (‘to the Bat Cave!’ was the obvious remark and the guide kindly chuckled wearily at it – clearly not for the first time) and it was a great choice. We spent half an hour watching the thousands of bats in their cave via infra-red camera and learned about their life and habits (and the many things that are threatening their population) and then spent half an hour touring their ‘winter’ cave where they ‘hibernate’ (or go into a deep sleep) over winter. They are tiny bats – about the size of your thumb – and the babies when they are born are about the size of a jellybean.
After the tour we did a self-guided tour of the ‘Wet Cave’ – another spectacular cave with plenty of ornaments and interesting things to explore.
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| Locals used to party in the caves - even hosted weddings here! - before the park system took it over. |
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