Buchan Caves and the Prom

  Toora, Victoria, Australia
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

05.05.09:  After discovering a new way to get free Internet (library!!! we only had McDonald's so far and their free Wifi!) we headed to the Buchan caves. We visited the Fairy cave, which was the most incredible one we even visited. They have been discovered only 100 yrs ago. Imagine the guy going down his rope with the light of the candle...scary. The caves were huge, and this amount of stalactites and stalagmites are unbelievable. The shape and colours of some of them are so particular that some are nicknamed the bacon strips or the blankets. Some of the lime covers sprinkle like crystals. We even managed to see the the fossil of a fish! The guide said that after a big rain, the underground river flows again. Apparently, you do not damage the limestone by passing by with your clothe, but with your skin! The oil in the skin is bad for it! We then drove all the way to Wilson Promitory National Park, one of the most famous park in Australia, aka "the Prom".  The campsite had a heated swimming pool and jacuzzi...Felt great!!



06.05.09: Oh no! I am old! I feel so tired today after watching Dexter in the TV room pretty late (on est des vieilles loques, Meunik)  but also because I just turned 28!! Thank you everyone for the emails and the texts...even those during the night were much appreciated!!! We went to the Prom and it was very sad. The National Park has been greatly damaged during the last bush fires (less than 2 months ago) and it looks a war zone after a battle. We have all seen the pictures on TV, especially the little koala who was given water by a fireman.  A lot of the walks were closed and parts restricted. We learned that the trees have a emergency system of reproduction during these extreme cases. Leaves start to grow all over the trunk to keep being able to do photosynthesis and survive.


During the day we have seen many animals (alive this time!): wombat (you need to hide the food from them, otherwise they wreck your tent to find something to eat), a snake (happened to be poisonous after we checked a book in the visitor centre), emus (comme à Amnéville) and kangaroos. We still haven't found any koala. They are so hard to spot. After the jacuzzi, we went to the only restaurant in Toora to celebrate my bday. It looked like a western bar from outside and an Irish pub from the 60's inside.


We proudly brought our bottle of wine with us to drink only to be turned down by the waitress. Because they are a hotel and therefore have a full licensed, you are not allowed to BYO drink. Cringe!! Someone gotta explain the rules to us again. The dinner was lovely, though and we watched the end of the Dexter season in the TV room with our portable heater and some vino!!