CAVE exploration looks to be the newest addition to the Noorla Yo-Long Outdoor Adventure Program after a recent survey has tentatively determined it is viable.
Noorla Yo-Long personnel were joined by members of the Caves Exploration Group of South Australia on an expedition of the underground system in Rendelsham last weekend.
Snr Cst Ringshaw said the exploration was undertaken to determine the caves’ feasibility as an activity for youth at the adventure-based facility.
He said cave explorers had given a “preliminary okay” to opening the unique system up to youth, but said trials were still required, policies developed and risk assessments conducted before it could be incorporated in the course.
“We have the high ropes course at the moment and we wanted to value add to that by taking kids to a different level,” Snr Cst Ringshaw said.
“Everyone has a fear – some people are scared of heights, some people might be claustrophobic.
“What we want to do is take kids both up high and down low and get them out of their comfort zone, when they are taken out of their comfort zone and make the realisation they can do things, it gives them a huge scope to grow as an individual and as part of the community.
“Because the caves are on-site, it makes it a lot easier to be able to do.
“We are still waiting for the report from Cave Exploration Group of South Australia and obviously there are environmental factors as well that have to be considered, like staying away from the migratory bats, but it definitely looks to be viable.”
Snr Cst Ringshaw said an unexpected find during the survey was currently being analysed by paleontologists after a preliminary examination suggests it may be the skull of a now extinct marsupial.
The skull of what may be a broad-faced potoroo was found by Snr Cnst Ringshaw, Noorla Yo-Long’s Blane Combarngo and cave explorer Patrick Fitzgerald in a tight crevice below the main chamber.
Last recorded alive in 1875, fossil evidence suggests the enigmatic kangaroo-like animal was once distributed throughout coastal South Australia.
The kangaroo-like macropod is believed to be an early victim of introduced species following the expansion of European settlement.
A colony of bats and a number of vintage collectible bottles were also found by members of the Caves Exploration Group of South Australia and Noorla Yo-Long personnel during the exploration.
“I was pretty excited by some of the finds in there,” Snr Cst Ringshaw said.
“The potoroo is totally preliminary and it has been identified just from museum records, so they still have to be measured and confirmed.
“We found a few old bottles and there was one in particular which is quite valuable, so we are thinking about putting some of them in a display cabinet so the kids are able to see what we found there.
“Anything else we find is going to be sent to the Adelaide museum or kept on site and put on display.”
