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Paul and I arrived outside the tunnel on a rather grey afternoon, and found
the hole quite quickly. At first it is a small
rabbit hole,
with a pit at the back that drops down into a lower level, some four feet
further down.
This lower cave is the main tunnel proper. At this point,
we were kneeling on the
clay tiles used to backfill the
tunnel (some several million
clay slabs were used to shore up the tunnel
after it fell into disuse). The clearance here is nearly a metre, enough
space to crawl on hands and knees. We found a couple of strings vanishing
in to the tunnel, and crawled on. The going was fairly easy, as the clay
is a bit soft and there is good clearance above.
After about 15 metres there was a bath sized depression in the
clay bricks - a good place to stop, we thought,
as we could sit down without braining ourselves on the ceiling.
We christened it "The Lounge"
We shone the torches ahead into the much narrower gap that awaited us,
and wondered if it was worth going on, or indeed if it was possible.
We then made a discovery .......We Were Not Alone.
Out of the darkness
ahead we could just see lights reflecting off the ceiling of the tunnel.
We sat and waited as they got closer, and soon two sweaty and grimy souls
eased themselves out of the gap and joined us in the lounge. They were,
to say the least, surprised to see us there. We traded information for
peppermints (never know when you will need one !). They told us which
points they had found, and how far they had got into the system.
They then headed back to the entrance - we slid into the opening of the
next section. This bit gets fairly tight, and we were squirming on our
bellies, heads down. Estimate of height here is about 70cm - wide, but
flat. After about 40m, we came to an area with more space - the "baffle".
When the tunnel was made there were two side paths made around the main
tunnel, each heading off at right angles for 5m, then turning parallel,
then rejoining the main tunnel. The central area is a jumble of
clay bricks,
rotted timber, securing hooks, power insulators, and bits of
rock that have fallen from the ceiling.
While we were sitting here admiring the view, we saw a light coming up
behind us. Getting busy in here, we thought, perhaps we should sell
tickets. The light was attached to the helmet of our third intrepid
troglodyte, Andrew. He had met the other two explorers at the exit and
said they seemed to be very glad to be back outside.
Onward and Inward. The right tunnel was choked with debris, there was a
hill of rubble ahead of us, and the left path looked most accessible. I
took the leftmost of the baffles - fairly clear going in here, but some
disconcertingly large "flakes" of ceiling were lying on top of the tiles.
Round the bend and back into the main tunnel. Paul and Andrew could see
my torchlight and then came over the top of the rubble in the main tunnel.
The tunnel then went back to normal size and we squeezed along on
top of the tiles again.
Very soon we came to the first side tunnel-
no more than 10 metres from the baffle. This area had been dug out into a
pit, and there was quite a volume to move in.
Some dudes had been there before us, as there was a lot of graffiti
sprayed on the walls, and the air in the pit was mostly solvent and
propellant. I bailed out of there quickly.
Paul then took the lead and we went into the really narrow section of
the tunnel. Ceiling height here is about 55cm - real low, and there
are big flakes of ceiling on top of the tiles. At intervals, there are
the remains of timber beams in the top of the tiles - the filling in here
was pretty complete. There was still space to crawl through - in fact
there was space to crawl past each other, as Andrew came past me to take
over the lead from Paul, who had found the next tunnel entrance on the left.
We were now about 80m from the entrance.
This second tunnel was in reasonable condition,
although not excavated, and there was a steady drip of water that had
formed a small stalactite.
We moved on, perhaps half way along to the next side tunnel. I stopped here
and returned to form a base by the baffles.
Paul decided to hole up and Andrew went for the push into the unknown.
We watched the light fade slowly out as Andrew squirmed further into the
main tunnel. The air was getting fairly chewy in there, so we sat, sweated,
and waited...
As soon as Paul could see Andrews light returning (perhaps 15 minutes)
he moved back and joined me panting in the baffle entrance.
After another 15 minutes Andrew's light could be seen again,
and we were all reunited for a debriefing.
Andrew had gone onward and had found the toilet and first aid room.
Beyond there, the main tunnel had gone on only a short distance before
the ceiling and tiles merged in a dead end.
The left hand room was almost empty of tiles and quite comfortable.
At this point, Andrew had been able to hear noises, which tied in with
the report of the two people we had met - they had said that they could
hear rock falls, and had felt rather than heard rumbling noises. From
what we can tell, Andrew was under the intersection of Anzac Avenue and
Symonds St, about 140m to 150m from the entrance.
Much to his surprise, he found a large stash of empty beer bottles up at
the end of the tunnel.
We wondered long and hard about who would drag beer bottles all the
way up a narrow slit in the ground. The only assumption was that they
thought that it would be thirsty work tunneling through. We then decided
to leave further exploring for another day, and went back out to the
entrance, finding a squished packet of fags in a dip in the floor.
Daylight- yay !. Leaving the tunnel gave us a rabbits-eye view of the
world, peering through a hole between tree roots.
Andrew then realised he had left his backpack down the hole, and had to go
back about 50m to find it. While he went back in, Paul scored some nice
cool juice and we chatted about the journey.
The tunnels are in remarkably good condition. There has been flaking
off the ceiling, but most of these pieces are less than 10cm thick. The
old timbering has decomposed - some of the beams can only be found because
of the position of the iron mounting brackets. Over the years, the tunnel
has been used on several occasions - some of the drink bottles were 5-10
years old, but some of the graffiti was fairly fresh.
If development of the tunnels is undertaken, it would be good if some
sections of the tunnels were left in their current condition, for
adventure caving. If some of the air vents were opened a flow of
fresh air would be ensured.
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